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Director's Quote of the Day:"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. " Aristotle |
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Robert Aitken
 Recipient
of the 2003 NFA Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Robert Aitken has
been described by Classical Music as "Canadian Musician Extraordinaire...
one of Canada's leading flutists, one with impeccable taste and
extraordinary abilities to define and mold musical concepts." The
Washington Post has called him "one of the world's top flutists... the
embodiment of style." And the Wiener Zeitung " a virtuoso in classic
terrain with brilliance and a clear svelte tone"
As a flutist, composer, conductor, and highly sought after teacher,
Robert Aitken is one of the most diversified and respected musicians of
our time.
This diversity has been characteristic of him since his early years. At
the age of 19, he became principal flute of the Vancouver Symphony and
at the same time studied composition and Palestrina counterpoint with
Barbara Pentland. He left the orchestra the following year to continue
his work in composition with John Weinzweig and electronic music with
Myron Schaeffer at he University of Toronto. Within two years, Aitken
received his Bachelor of Music Degree and then continued with post
graduate studies. During this period, he was very active in the musical
life of Toronto and as a member of the CD Symphony, performed under such
noted conductors as Karl Bohm, Hermann Scherchen, Heitor Villa-Lobos,
Aaron Copland and Igor Stravinsky. Aitken attended five summers at
Rudolf Serkin's Marlboro Music Festival, three at the Stratford Music
Festival under the leadership of Glenn Gould, Leonard Rose and Oscar
Shumsky. In addition, From 1985 to 1989 was Director of the "Advanced
Studies in Music Programme" at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts.
Born in Nova Scotia, Robert Aitken began his flute studies at the age of
nine in Pennsylvania and later continued with Nicholas Fiore at the
Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Following shorter periods of
study with Frederick Wilkins and Julius Baker in New York, in 1964, he
received a Canada Council grant which enabled him to study in Europe
with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Severino Gazzelloni, Andre Jaunet, Hubert
Barwahser and to spend time with the man he considers his principal
teacher and mentor, Marcel Moyse. Throughout this period, he continued
to compose and partake in as many musical experiences as possible.
At the age of 24, Aitken returned to Canada as co-principal flute of the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The then music director, Seiji Ozawa
selected his "Concerto for 12 Soloists and Orchestra" (1962) for
performance on the main subscription series. This exposure established
him as a significant composer in the eyes of the concert public and its
success led to a continuing stream of commissions from such
organizations as the Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec, the
National Youth Orchestra, L' ensemble instrumental du Quebec, the Elmer
Iseler Signers, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and L' Orchestre
de Chambre de Neuchatel.
In 1970, Aitken left the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to devote himself
fulltime to composing and a solo career.
From 1970 to 1972 he was founder/director of the Music Today festival at
Niagara-on-the-Lake and in 1971, with composer Norma Beecroft, he
co-founded New Music concerts, Toronto which he continues to direct
today. From 1986 to 1989 he was artistic director of the Advanced
Studies in Music Program at the Banff Centre and then, to have a closer,
first-hand view of the musical life in Europe, accepted the position of
Professor of Flute at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik, Freiburg im
Breisgau, Germany. In each of these positions he has continued to prove
his dedication to contemporary music by bringing together composers from
all corners of the world to showcase their latest and most innovative
musical creations.
Aitken was a prizewinner in the Concours International de Flute de
Paris, the Concours International de Flute pour la Musique Contemporaine
at Royan. Moreover, Aitken was honoured with the Order of Canada, the
Chevalier de L'Ordre Des Arts Des Lettres from the French Government,
the Canada Music Citation, the Wm. Harold Moon Award, the Canadian Music
Medal and the Roy Thomson Hall Award, all for dedication to Canadian
Music at home and abroad. His recordings on BIS, Sony-Denon, Marquis,
CBC, SM5000 and Koch are distributed world-wide.
With an international reputations a composer, Robert Aitken believes
that a commitment to contemporary music is essential for a soloist
today. His success as a conductor and performer has resulted in some
fifty new works being composed for him by noted personalities including
John Cage, Elliot Carter, George Crumb, Roger Reynolds, Toru Takemitsu,
Thorkell Sigurbjornsson, Arne Nordheim, Manuel Enriquez, John Beckwith,
R. Murray Schafer, Gilles Tremblay and John Weinzweig.
Robert Aitken has concretized throughout the world and with more than
forty recordings to his credit. Aitken is frequently heard on
international radio.
As the music critic Kenneth Winters once wrote, "one can hardly imagine
that a musician as involved in performance and other practical
activities as Aitken would find time and mental energy to write music of
any consequence, not to speak of scores full of inventiveness and
originality, But it is exactly here where he profess his uniqueness. His
music has a distinctive quality of its own, and a spirit of newness an
adventure". To describe his music, one might say that the many years
playing in orchestras have given him a strong sense of colour and a very
acute ear for orchestration. This interest in time-effects and extended
technique.
A four-month trip through the Orient gave him first-hand exposure to
many non-western musical cultures. This influence often shows itself in
unexpected ways. His "Shadow" although the inspiration is generally not
obvious and reveals itself subtly. He also enjoys working with spatial
and stereophonic ideas and makes sensitive use of range as a formal
element.
Robert Aitken says that with his music he would like to take the
listeners to places they have never been before. And when a piece is
over, they should really feel that they have returned from a fascinating
musical journey.
Click Here to Robert Aitken Official Website |
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