Vancouver New Music, Roy Kiyooka

From CBC News, Vancouver New Music wins $60,000 production award. Vancouver New Music, a group that fosters creation and performance of contemporary music, has won the $60,000 Alcan Performing Arts Award. The award, which rotates annually among music, theatre and dance, will enable the music society to create a set of compositions based on the works of author and visual artist Roy Kiyooka. Roy Kiyooka was one of the central figures in Vancouver's flourishing arts community for many years until his death in 1994 at age 68. Artist, poet, musician . . . he was deeply involved, as participant and observer, in many creative pursuits, including jazz. Four BC composers will be commissioned to write pieces based on Kiyooka's work: Hildegard Westerkamp, Jocelyn Morlock, Stefan Smulovitz and Stefan Udell. Links: Roy Kiyooka bio at BC Bookworld Roy Kiyooka reading at the Vancouver Art Gallery, 1991 (mp3, 35 minutes)