Inverness Oran Entertainment

Entertainment

MacMillan talks about origins of Woodland Revival

Composer/guitarist Scott Macmillan


-by John Gillis

    Scott Macmillan recalls the last time Sister Margaret MacDonnell played a big role in one of his creative projects.
    “It was back in 1991 and I don’t think our Celtic Mass for the Sea would have happened without her.
    Now 97, the good friend of Scott and his wife Jennyfer Brickenden has come to play a prominent role in the inspiration for his latest composition and project, Woodland Revival, which will soon see its world premiere at The Inverness County Centre for the Arts in Inverness on Saturday, October 5th.
    Macmillan told The Oran this week that Sr. MacDonnell, now living in Sydney, challenged MacMillan and Brickenden to create a piece of music for the trees.
    MacDonnell said she was concerned about the state and health of our forests here in Nova Scotia – a fact not surprising given one of her first doctoral papers at Harvard University was on the topic of the Sacred Trees of Ireland.
    The result of this creative endeavour will be revealed as part of a four-day series of concerts and events during this fall’s InFlux Festival at Inverness County Centre for the Arts October 3-6th.
    “My desire as a composer was to write new original music for acoustic guitar and string quartet. I’d been wanting to do that for some time. Sr. MacDonnell motivated me and Jennyfer to take this and do something with it. I had been working along with some Persian folks in Halifax and we found a way to coordinate that into it. I’m surrounded by trees at home and they’re just a big part of my life. So, I thought, let’s get the Persians in there and represent the international concerns about the forests. We also have a guitar ensemble, which I’m always dealing with at Dalhousie University and that piece, because the guitar is really everywhere, represents the community. Back in the 1990s, I also worked with a lady named Kim Bishop, now Rayworth, who wrote a song called ‘The Trees,’ which was really a plea for saving the hardwoods, a beautiful song that we will be incorporating into the piece,” said Macmillan.
    Macmillan also has piper Kevin Dugas on board and Gaelic poet and songwriter Lewis MacKinnon is featured in another concert throughout the weekend along with the We’koqma’q Mi’kmaw drummers. MacKinnon has recently translated some of the poetic works of Rumi into Gaelic.
    “There will be a lot of modal and droning structure to the work; a departure from much of what I’ve written before. Much of the work is written in DADGAD tuning on guitar, which is a droning tuning as you will also see in the pipes and in some of the instruments played by the Persian musicians. So, there’s a modal approach to the composition,” Macmillan added.
     The festival is comprised of a combination of four ticketed concerts at $20 each and three free ticketed events, and is designed as an immersive, four-day event with audiences as an integral part of the experience.
    All concerts will take place at Inverness County Centre for the Arts, 16080 Highway 19, Inverness, starting on Thursday, October 3rd, at 7:30 p.m. with Halifax’s foremost string quartet, Blue Engine String Quartet performing Haydn’s The Lark and music of Beethoven. Scott Macmillan will join them for sprightly jigs and reels.
    On Friday, October 4th, at 7:30 p.m. the Gaelic bard Lewis MacKinnon will meld Gaelic translations of Sufi mystic Rumi with ancient melodies performed by Persian artists Mohammad Sahraei, Saeed Faroughi, and Scott Macmillan. Bring your art supplies and let the music ignite your inner artist.
    On Saturday, October 5th, at 3:00 p.m., features the world premiere of Scott Macmillan’s Woodland Revival: A musical happening celebrating forest diversity. Bring your sense of curiosity, and be carried by the music as you explore the environment around you. Scott has composed Woodland Revival for himself on guitar/banjo, the Blue Engine String Quartet; Mohammad Sahraei, tar/daff; Saeed Foroughi, santur/flute; Nikoo Masourifar, daff; Kim Rayworth, songwriter/vocalist; Tom Roach, percussion; Kevin Dugas, pipes; Jamie Gatti, bass; Brian Doyle’s guitar ensemble; and the We’koqma’qewiska Drummers.
    The last concert on Sunday, October 6th, at 7:30 p.m. is a perfect ending to your inFlux experience. Brian Doyle, Jamie Gatti, and Scott Macmillan go “all terrain,” playing a wide variety of music interspersed by forest and nature-inspired readings by local writers and poets.
    Sunday, October 6th, is Day inFlux with three free events, a guided hike, a film screening, and the inFlux picnic!
    For more concert and event details, or to purchase tickets (available online or at the door) go to: https://www.scott-macmillan.ca/music/2019-influx-cross-cultural-arts-festival/.
    For more information contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
    Scott Macmillan and the Inverness County Centre for the Arts acknowledge the support of Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and Scojen Music Productions Ltd. They acknowledge that the festival takes place on the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw people.

 

 




 

 


    

 


Oran Dan - The Inverness Oran - www.invernessoran.ca

The Inverness Oran
15767 Central Avenue. P.O. Box 100
Inverness, Nova Scotia. B0E 1N0
Tel.: 1 (902) 258-2253. Fax: 1 (902) 258-2632
Email: [email protected]