Welcome
Hildegard Westerkamp is a composer, radio artist and sound ecologist.
She presents soundscape workshops and lectures internationally, performs and writes.
…narrative alchemy… The Wire, Issue 460
"A magical fusion of sounds."
Globe & Mail, Toronto
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"A magical fusion of sounds."
Globe & Mail, Toronto -
"There was more than just a hint of oracular mysticism in Westerkamp's art. There was a magic in those sounds.” Stephen Pedersen, Chronicle-Herald, Halifax
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"Westerkamp's music balances a poetics of sound with social commitments that include feminism and environmental politics. Her compositions are critical enactments of acoustic space....All invoke attentive listening." Donna Zapf, Beiträge zur Neuen Music, Germany
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"Westerkamp creates new possibilities for listening. One can journey with her sound to inner landscapes and find unexplored openings in our sound souls. The experience of her music vibrates the potential for change.”
Pauline Oliveros,Kingston, N.Y., USA (about CD transformations) -
"Mere words are inadequate to describe what took place when the symphony began....Waves of sound rolled back and forth across the harbour bringing thousands of downtown office workers to their windows. The Canada geese from Stanley Park were aroused and circled through the boats, honking loudly as they joined in." Ken Drushka, Harbour and Shipping) about the Harbour Symphony)
Latest News and Upcoming events
Mark Your Calendar: KLAVIERKLANG Goes Live April 21
KLAVIERKLANG, our cinematic tone poem is on its way to becoming public video art.
On April 21, it will be posted on the Music on Main's YouTube Channel – available for all to enjoy. For free. Forever.
Mark your calendar now and tell your friends – musicians, teachers, students, artists of all disciplines, music and film lovers alike. And get ready on April 21 to experience KLAVIERKLANG, a 15-minute feast for the eyes and ears.
KLAVIERKLANG follows a young girl in post-war Germany who falls in love with the piano, only to have her passion silenced by the fear of making mistakes. Years later, she finds an abandoned piano in a ghost town in British Columbia, a ruined instrument where no sound could be wrong, which sets her free to learn and experiment. That girl went on to become celebrated composer Hildegard Westerkamp.
In this experimental music video, Hildi joins forces with renowned pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa. KLAVIERKLANG is edited by Michael Brockington and very proudly directed by Nettie Wilde. Cinematography by Jeremy Cox and Andriy Lyskov.
KLAVIERKLANG’s world premiere was on opening night of Music on Main’s Modulus Festival (2025) and was just screened as part of the official program of Montreal’s prestigious International Festival of Films on Art (2026).
On April 21, KLAVIERKLANG will be available to watch online. If you’re up for it, watching and sharing the film helps it reach a wider audience. Thanks, as always, for spreading the word. Your word of mouth and personal outreach is golden.
Hildegard Westerkamp at 80 at Music on Main April 21, 2026
Details here: https://www.musiconmain.ca/eve...
TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2026
FOX CABARET | 2321 MAIN STREET | Google map
Doors at 7:00PM | Concert starts at 7:30PM
General admission seating. 19+ only.
featuring:
Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano
Norman Adams, cello
Terri Hron, recorder and electronics
TICKETS | from $25
or Pay-what-you-will, student/arts worker
This special evening at the Fox Cabaret celebrates the groundbreaking work of Hildegard Westerkamp, a pioneering composer whose music transforms the act of listening into an art form.
From the urban buzz of city streets to the stillness of wilderness, Westerkamp’s compositions invite audiences to hear a new world. Drawing from the intricate relationship between living beings and sound, her music features voices of children, adults, noise, silence, electronic sounds, songs from different cultures, and more.
Award-winning performers Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, piano; Norman Adams, cello; and Terri Hron, recorder and electronics; will bring Westerkamp’s music to life, weaving sound, space, and emotion into an unforgettable live experience.
Whether you’re a devoted contemporary music fan or simply curious to experience sound in a new way, this concert promises to be immersive, thought-provoking, and deeply moving.
KLAVIERKLANG WORLD PREMIERE SCREENING
Modulus Opening Night Concert
November 7, 2025, 7:30 pm,
Annex, 823 Seymour Street
KLAVIERKLANG, a cinematic tone poem, follows a young girl in post-war Germany who grows up loving the piano. She takes piano lessons—but instead of freeing the girl to play, the lessons make her frightened of making mistakes. The girl’s ears shut down, making music an uninspiring chore.
Later as a young woman, she travels to central British Columbia, to a ghost town and an abandoned house. There she spots a piano—perfectly ruined, a piano on which no note could be a mistake. She learns to listen again—and the girl and her music are free.
That girl went on to become celebrated soundscape composer / activist Hildegard Westerkamp. In this experimental music video, she joins forces with performer Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, a renowned pianist who also performs Klavierklang’s text. Together, they explore the liminal space between music and sound.
In a celebration of the piano as an extraordinary instrument, Iwaasa plays both its keys and plucks its strings, as if exploring a sound sculpture. Her non-linear spoken narrative interacts with intricate soundscapes evoking Westerkamp’s childhood in Germany. These are layered and digitally manipulated with Iwaasa’s recorded reflections on the piano, “this creature, this instrument, that you think you know.”
Filmmakers and installation artists Nettie Wild (director) and Michael Brockington (editor) capture this performance, interpreting the composition’s drama with lyrical imagery coloured and shaped by the music itself.
Duration 17 mins 35 secs including credits
[Film Still from KLAVIERKLANG
Jeremy Cox, Cinematographer; Michael Brockington, editor]