NEXUS was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of R. Murray Schafer, the eminent Canadian composer, on August 14. NEXUS was fortunate to have crossed paths with Schafer and his music repeatedly over the years since their first performance together in 1972 at the Metropolitan United Church in Toronto.
Particularly memorable were performances by NEXUS of Schafer’s haunting Epitaph for Moonlight with the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, as well as Shadowman, a theatrically-staged concerto composed for NEXUS and premiered in 2001 with the University of Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Raffi Armenian. Both NEXUS and R. Murray Schafer shared similarities in their life-long quests to expand the conventional definition of “music” by broadening the palette of acceptable sounds and experiences.
