Ben Duinker
Percussionist Ben Duinker is equally active in music performance and academics. In 2009 he won first prize for Percussion at the OSM Standard Life Competition, where he also received the prize for best interpretation of a Canadian work. He has performed as a soloist in Canada, USA, Germany, and Switzerland, and with L’Orchestre Francophonie Canadienne, the McGill Symphony, and Symphony Nova Scotia. As a chamber musician Ben has recently performed at MusiMars (Montreal), Montreal/Nouvelles Musiques, X-Avant Festival (Toronto), NIME 2011 (Oslo), and EMS-EMF 2011 (New York), with various Montreal groups such as The McGill Percussion Ensemble, Sixtrum, Big Zang Percussion, and the EP trio.
Ben holds Master’s degrees in percussion performance and music theory from McGill University, under the joint supervision of Aiyun Huang and Fabrice Marandola. His diverse research interests include methods of analysis for popular music, renaissance vocal polyphony, and contemporary percussion literature. In 2010/11 he presented his research at the Xenakis Arts/Science conference (Montreal), New Interfaces for Musical Expression (Oslo), and Confounding Expectations conference (Calgary).
Aiyun Huang’s “Save Percussion Theater” (mode 242)