Night Owl: Erica Roozendaal, accordion
| Sunday, June 8 @ 7pm | SUM gallery | Pay-What-You-Wish |
We’re thrilled to present the QAF debut of Dutch accordionist Erica Roozendaal. Visiting us from the Hague, Roozendaal shares an intimate program at SUM gallery that includes music written and inspired by Pauline Olivieros, plus Erica’s own autobiographical showpiece, Night Owl (Nachtuil). This beautiful and moving performance subtly addresses the theme of abuse and growing up in an unsafe environment. Erica Roozendaal—performer, visual artist, and accordionist—created the script and performs the monologue in a restrained, captivating manner while alternating with playing the accordion. Presented in partnership with Vancouver InterCultural Orchestra.
About Erica Roozendaal
Within the versatility of all art forms, Erica Roozendaal sees herself primarily as a “storyteller”: expressing a story, an experience or emotion, using the medium that best serves that purpose. As a classically trained accordionist, music is her biggest focus and always plays a role on stage, though she is equally at home in the worlds of visual art and theatre.
As a musician, Erica enjoys collaborating with composers, which has resulted in dozens of new solo pieces and chamber music works. After studying classical music, she further developed in folk and improvised music. Curiosity about (still) unknown music, culture, history, brings a broad musical palette, which she also likes to interconnect. So she prefers to play concerts in which the common thread is a theme or a story, with music from all sorts of angles and eras. In 2016, she founded Roadrunner, an ensemble that sits between contemporary, folk and improvised music with an emphasis on her own written work. Every year they organize the Roadrunner Academy week, a week for young composers concluding with a concert featuring the new pieces.
In addition to being a performing artist, Erica has been affiliated with the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague since 2020. Among other things, she teaches accordion within PI: a program designed specifically for preschoolers, and Young KC, a preliminary program for children ages 6 to 10. Empathizing with young children’s experiences, teaching aurally, stimulating curiosity and creativity: these are the key elements of her teaching practice.