Derek Charke profile picture

Derek Charke

About Me

DEREK CHARKE is a composer, flutist and professor of music at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada. His music is circling the globe thanks to commissions from the Kronos Quartet, the Katona Twins and the National Flute Association; performances by such luminary ensembles as the Group for Contemporary Music in New York City and the Xanthos Ensemble in Boston, and current commissions from ensembles such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. His music has been heard in such diverse venues as Carnegie Hall, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Guggenheim Museum of Art, The Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, The Yukon Arts Centre and The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts.

Derek's music bridges a divide between a play of pure sound, he collects natural and environmental sounds, and the continuation of the western tradition, albeit with contemporary influences. His interest in the north and the environmental space around him play pivotal roles in many of his compositions. Ecological sound as an artistic statement on environmental issues has increasingly become the impetus for new works. In addition he is focused on furthering the sound words of instruments by using "extended" techniques and electronics (live processing and soundtracks) to extend sonic possibilities.

Please visit www.charke.com for more information.

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/10/2006
Band Website: http://www.charke.com
Band Members: Derek Charke
Sounds Like: "The admirable simplicity of the concept kept the audience riveted on catching the tiniest details."

- Stephen Pedersen, The Chronicle Herald

"Charke's style is not far out. He has a command of likable post-Minimalist techniques. He creates grooves. He matches string textures, through devices such as circular bowing, with atmospheric sounds.... “Tundra Songs” is the 600-and-somethingth piece written for Kronos over more than three decades – and another keeper. "

- Mark Swed, LA Times

"Among four newer pieces, only Derek Charke's “What Do the Birds Think?” could be said to extend the modernist tradition... While physical separation was impossible here, the layered sounds still proved fascinating."

- Steve Smith, The New York Times

"Structure is important to Derek Charke... Although his description of What Do the Birds Think? is almost impossibly complex, the results would be engaging no matter how they were created."

- Bruce Hodges, Seen and Heard International Concert Review

"The three-hour concert began with a few non-Indian works, including arrangements of short pieces by the Icelandic rock band Sigur Ros and an Ethiopian composer, Getatchew Mekurya, as well as "Cercle du Nord III," an inventive, rich-textured score for quartet and electronic sound by the Canadian composer Derek Charke."

- Allan Kozinn, The New York Times


Type of Label: Indie

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