Mark Haney has been attached to a double bass for over 25 years, and there are no indications he will escape anytime soon. During that time Mark has been fortunate to perform across Canada with a wide variety of artists and groups enabling him to explore Canada’s vast terrain, musical and physical, and develop his passion for Canadian stories.
As the Artistic Director for The Little Chamber Music Series That Could, Mark (along with Diane Park) developed “11”, a large scale community project that brought over 1000 people to Vancouver’s Falaise Park for Remembrance Day 2014. This event also served to cap off Mark’s 2.5 year term with the Vancouver Park Board’s Field House Residency Program.
Mark has recently become the Composer in Residence for Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery; the only cemetery in Vancouver and a beautiful public space. With Little Chamber Music as Ensemble in Residence, watch for some exciting and unique projects in 2015/16.
As a composer Mark Haney is best known for ‘Aim for the Roses’ (2010); an avant-garde double bass suite that tells the true story of Canadian daredevil Ken Carter through narration, layers of double bass and a musical representation of 499 digits of pi. (“A daring aim, well jumped.”- The Globe and Mail, “Aim for the Roses is, to say the least, a singular achievement.”- The Victoria Times-Colonist).
Producer / writer / director John Bolton and Opus 59 Films are making a musical docudrama about Aim For The Roses and its creation, in association with Super Channel, and with project assistance from the BC Arts Council. For two weeks this fall the production shot on the banks of the Fraser River, with a replica of Ken Carter’s rocket car, a ramp and all the characters from the album.
In 2012 Mark premiered “3339”, a multi-media work for mixed quartet and narrator that placed Canada’s greatest story into the context of the mythical hero’s journey (presented by Redshift Music at the Cultch’s Historic Theatre).
In 2012 Mark toured western Canada, performing a set of music and storytelling (featuring his own music along with that of Claude Lassonde, Jon Siddal and Walter Boudreau) in an attempt to reconcile the gap that has developed between the general audience and contemporary classical (or ‘new’) music. By presenting new music with a personal and emotional context, a sense of humor and a look into Mr. Haney’s own creative process, these performances served as a warm welcome to the world of the avant-garde. In the spring of 2015 Mark will again have this opportunity as he tours with poet/songwriter Rodney Decroo.
Mark’s next major project, “Omnis Temporalis” is a musical treatment of the cartoonist Seth’s picture novella “George Sprott”.
As part of the Richmond Art Gallery’s exhibition “Temporary Assignment” (Nov 19-Dec2, 2012), Mark was in the gallery for two weeks with his bass, composing and creating the structure for “Omnis Temporalis” directly onto the walls, beneath and beside images from the book.
Mr. Haney is also an active freelance double bassist, in demand in a host of genres from orchestral to experimental theatre for Vancouver’s largest theatre companies new music concerts and more.
