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Peter Hatch, Open Ears Artistic Director
Theatrical and multi-media elements have been incorporated into many of his works, an interest which has grown from extending traditional concert music performance practices and from collaborations with director David McMurray Smith, architect Dereck Revington and choreographers David Earle and Bill James. The writings of Gertrude Stein have also played an important role in his compositions and has resulted in such works as the full evening instrumental theatre piece 'Mounting Picasso' and his very short opera 'Asks Alice'. Recent works have investigated 'revisiting' masterworks in Western music, as heard through modern ears - affected by constant exposure to these works through movies, television and other media as well as in doctor's offices and shopping malls, in elevators and while on hold on the telephone. As well as his compositional work, Peter has been very active as the artistic director of new music ensembles and festivals. In 1985 he founded NUMUS Concerts, a Waterloo based new music organization. He has been the Artistic Director of several festivals of new music, including the 1989 '5th Stream' Festival and the 1995 'Coming Together' festival. Peter was Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony from 1999-2003 and is currently Artistic Director of the Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound. Peter is also Professor and coordinator of the composition programme at The Faculty of Music, Wilfrid Laurier University. Recent and upcoming highlights includethe arrival of a second CD devoted completely to the works of Peter Hatch on the Artifact label ( 'Gathered Evidence, featuring performances by The Canadian Chamber Ensemble, The Penderecki Quartet and Cynthia Hiebert, harpsichord), a full evening performance of the chamber music of Peter Hatch by Ensemble KORE at the Sala Rossa in Montreal (March 2003) and an article by James Harley on the music of Peter Hatch for Musicworks Magazine (Summer 2003). The Ontario Arts Council has chosen Peter as one of twelve 'Ambassadors for the Arts' from across the disciplines to help celebrate their 40th anniversary. He and his work will be featured on both the OAC website and in printed publications.
Edwin Outwater was Resident Conductor of the San Francisco Symphony from 2001-2006. While there, he worked closely with Michael Tilson Thomas, accompanied the orchestra on tour and conducted numerous concerts each season. He made his subscription debut in 2002 with Kurt Masur conducting Britten’s War Requiem, and has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Evelyn Glennie, and many others. His programs were consistently innovative and featured the works of composers such as John Adams, Thomas Adès, Chen Yi, Gabriela Lena Frank, HK Gruber, Lou Harrison, Robin Holloway, Nathaniel Stookey, and Tan Dun. During the 2003-2004 season, Mr. Outwater stepped in on two subscription programs for an ailing Michael Tilson Thomas, conducting performances of Stravinsky’s complete Pulcinella, as well as works by Beethoven and Cherubini. In July 2006 Mr. Outwater conducted the world premiere performance and recording of The Composer is Dead, by Nathaniel Stookey and Lemony Snicket for an eventual HarperCollins release. In 2008, his recording with the San Francisco Symphony of the music of Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate was released to wide acclaim. From 2001-2005 Mr. Outwater was Wattis Foundation Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. During his tenure, he led the orchestra in all of their concerts as well as on tour to Europe in the summer of 2004. During the tour, the orchestra made its debut at Vienna’s Musikverein, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and returned to Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. In the 2008-2009 season Mr. Outwater returns to the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony and the San Francisco Opera. He has also conducted the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as the Symphony Orchestras of Baltimore, Houston, Detroit, Seattle, and Indianapolis, among many others. International appearances include the New Zealand Symphony, the Adeliade Symphony, the Malmö Symphony, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Orquestra Sinfonica de Xalapa, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. This season he also makes his debut with the Toronto Symphony, Victoria Symphony, Oregon Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Memphis Symphony. Before joining the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Outwater served as Resident Conductor and Associate Guest Conductor of the Florida Philharmonic. He has also held posts as Associate Conductor of the Festival-Institute at Round Top (a renowned music-training program based in Texas), Principal Conductor of the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Molise, Italy, and Assistant Conductor of the Tulsa Philharmonic. Mr. Outwater’s work in music education and community outreach has been widely acclaimed. In 2004 his education programs were given the Leonard Bernstein award for excellence in educational programming, and his Chinese New Year Program was given the MET LIFE award for community outreach. At the San Francisco Symphony, he conducted Family Concerts, Adventures in Music performances, which are heard by more than 25,000 students from San Francisco schools each year, and Concerts for Kids, which serve students from throughout Northern California. In Florida, Mr. Outwater designed the Florida Philharmonic Family Series and its Music for Youth program, which was heard annually by more than 40,000 fifth-grade students in South Florida. He appears frequently with training orchestras and music festivals throughout the United States and across the world, including the National Youth Orcehstra of New Zealand, the Music Academy of the West, the National Orchestral Institute, the Festival-Institute at Round Top, and the Mannes Conservatory Orchestra. Mr. Outwater has served as music director of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony, and has been on the faculties of the University of Tulsa, the Idyllwild Arts Academy, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. A native of Santa Monica, California, Edwin Outwater attended Harvard University, graduating cum laude in 1993 with a degree in English literature. While at Harvard, he was music director of the Bach Society Orchestra, the Harvard Din and Tonics (an acclaimed a cappella group), and wrote the music for the 145th annual production of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals. He received his master’s degree in conducting from UC Santa Barbara, where he studied with Heiichiro Ohyama, and Paul Polivinick. He also studied music theory and composition with John Stewart, Joel Feigin, and Leonard Stein. |
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Composer, concert organiser and teacher, Peter Hatch's works are in a large number of genres, from orchestral and chamber music to instrumental theatre, electroacoustics and installations. He received a DMA degree from the University of British Columbia following MusBac and MusM degrees from the University of Toronto. 
Edwin Outwater is Music Director of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Ontario, Canada. In his first season there, he revitalized the orchestra and created some of the most innovative formats and imaginative programs in North America.