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Mike
Cumberland, was born in Toronto and currently resides in Port Hope
with his wife, Patti; two sons, Iain and Charlie; and daughter, Sarah.
He received his Bachelor of Music in Performance, tuba, and Bachelor
of Education Degrees from the University of Toronto; and his Master of
Music from the University of British Columbia. He continued his
studies at McGill University, Montreal where he continued to work with
Dennis Miller, Principal tubist with Orchestre symphonique de
Montréal. He was also a participant in the 1985 and 1986 summer
programs at the world renowned Banff Centre School of Fine Arts ─
where he received the Edith Ramsay Memorial Scholarship; and the
internationally recognized Keystone Brass Institute in Keystone
Colorado. Later, he received a prestigious Killam Fellowship to
continue with Doctoral studies. After being Secretary to the Board of
Patria Music/Theatre Projects for twelve years Mike Cumberland is now
currently Vice-President of the Board of Patria Music/Theatre
Projects.
His principal teachers have been: Mark Tetrault, Principal tuba for
the Toronto Symphony; Dennis Miller Principal tuba with Orchestre
symphonique de Montréal; Daniel Perantoni, Professor of Tuba, Arizona
State University; and Don Harry, Principal tubist with the Buffalo
Philharmonic Orchestra. He has also studied and collaborated
extensively with world renowned composer and educator R. Murray
Schafer.
In July 1999 he received a scholarship to travel to Switzerland and
was chosen to play first alphorn in the “cours de perfectionnement de
coe des Alpes a La Tzoumaz/Mayens-de-Riddes” in Switzerland while
studying with master alphornist Jozsef Molnar.
He has been a guest soloist with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony “Pops
Series” 2000 under the director of Brian Jackson, The Open Ears
Festival of The Arts, The Northumberland Orchestra Society, The
Peterborough Festival of The Arts, and The Toronto Sinfonietta
Orchestra. As well he has premiered a number of Canadian works by
composers: R. Murray Schafer, Bengt Hambraeus, Lothar Kliene and
Ronald Royer. He has performed numerous solo and chamber recitals in
Montreal, Toronto (The Ford Centre) and Vancouver, and he and his
alphorn have been in film and television ─ Bravo, Disney movie of the
week, and “21 Jumpstreet”.
Mr. Cumberland began playing the Swiss alphorn in 1984. He received
his first alphorn from a family friend, Bobby Gimby, “Mr. Can-a-da,
creator of the 1967 Canada Cenntenial Song. It was “love at first
sound” when he first heard the alphorn. He now plays an alphorn made
by master Swiss craftsman Gérald Pot. He has traveled in Canada, the
United States and Europe discovering and recording interesting and
unusual natural soundscapes and echoes.
His field studies in natural resonance and echoes have led him to be a
pioneer and world leader for studies in acoustic ecology in the
discipline of what Mr. Cumberland has discovered and coined “natural
pitch-resonance properties”. This concept, based upon the natural
physics of a given outdoor space and the acoustics made possible by
the alphorn is a new discovery by Mr. Cumberland made after careful
observations during his twenty years of field research into acoustics
and natural resonance. His academic findings have been formally
presented and acclaimed with great enthusiasm at the “Sound Escape”
International Conference on Sound Ecology in June of 2000 and are now
being published.
Mr. Cumberland currently teaches and freelances with alphorn, tuba,
trombone and didgeridoo in Southern Ontario and has recorded and
performed with his alphorn numerous times for the CBC, as well as
Radio Patapoe - Amsterdam, and the West German Radio.
Canada’s pre-eminent composer, R. Murray Schafer, wrote the first
Canadian composition for alphorn entitled “Tapio” for Mr. Cumberland
to premiere in Schafer’s Patria series Epilogue: “And Wolf Shall
Inherit The Moon”. Los Angeles born Ronald Royer, has also written a
Millennium Fanfare for Alphorn and Orchestra, which Mr. Cumberland
premiered in 2000.
In 1999 Mr. Cumberland received an individual Canada Council Grant to
commission Canadian composer Bengt Hambraeus to write a new work for
alphorn and organ. This was premiered by Mike Cumberland and
Christopher Dawes (one of Canada’s leading organists). This Canada
Council Grant was a Canadian first for an alphorn player. This
contemporary piece has been developed into the worlds first
contemporary classical music alphorn video.
During August 2002, Mr. Cumberland and his family performed a concert
tour of Eastern Canada: they performed 11 concerts from Milton,
Ontario; to Sutton, Quebec; to Halifax and Cape Breton Island in Nova
Scotia. This was the first tour of its kind in Canada.
Mr. Cumberland is currently commissioning three new pieces for
alphorn. Two pieces are by Princeton University Doctoral students
Emily Doolittle and Ted Coffee. These are to be performed in New
Jersey and New York. The third piece is by R. Murray Schafer titled
“Roland of Roncesvalles” for alphorn, choir and percussion. This new
commission retells the mythic Battle of Roland at Roncesvalles and
Roland’s heroic last battle during an ambush of the Saracens. Roland’s
horn is played by the alphorn.
Mike Cumberland can be heard on the Canadian Music Centre’s CD release
in the Canadian Composer Portrait series titled R. Murray Schafer; as
well as the DVD music video “Le Cor Magique”.
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