Dancing Underwater by Alex Abahmed

About the Artists

John Oliver (guitar) has performed as classical and electric guitarist in solo, chamber and orchestral settings with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Borealis String Quartet, François Houle, Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra (Taiwan), and others, and has appeared at various music festivals in Canada, and the USA, and on the concert series of New Music Concerts, Vancouver New Music, Groundswell, Upstream, New Works Calgary, and Music in the Morning, among others. Since 1991, Oliver has pursued creative projects with electric, classical, and fretless guitars, computer and synthesizers. This project developed into a solo “immersive sound” event by 2005, when Oliver was invited to present a Portrait Concert of his electroacoustic music by Réseaux des art médiatiques (Montréal). He now uses various special guitars whose sounds he transforms by realtime computer processing. Oliver has composed a large number of works for guitar, including a guitar concerto, guitar duos, trios, quartets and solo works, as well as educational pieces. Oliver is a member teacher and performer of the Vancouver Classic Guitar Society. http://www.johnolivermusic.com

About the Instruments

Tar: an aft-fretted lute from Persia (Iran), which emerged in its present form in the middle of the eighteenth century. The long fingerboard has twenty-six to twenty-eight adjustable gut frets, and there are three double courses of strings. Its range is about two and one- half octaves, and it is played with a small brass plectrum.

Zheng: a plucked half-tube wood zither from China, with movable bridges over which strings are stretched. The strings were traditionally made of silk, but today they are usually made of steel or metal wound nylon. The modern Zheng usually has 21 strings, tuned to a pentatonic scale. The performer uses the right hand to pluck the strings, and the tone can be modulated by the left hand pressing the string on the non-speaking side of the bridge.

Video Production Credits

Videography – Alistair Eagle, assisted by Don Xaliman & Camillia Frey

Audio Engineer & Mix – Sheldon Zaharko

Filmed and recorded on December 2-3, 2020 at Deep Cove Shaw Theatre in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

For the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra:

Producer – Mark Armanini

Senior Project Manager – Farshid Samandari

View the full programme for The Longest Night: Music for Solstice (Solace).