The Flower Sermon (2013) by André Mestre

the array ensemble:

stephen clarke (piano), lydia munchinsky (cello)
adam scime (bass)
rick sacks (conductor)

workshop mentors:

henry kucharzyk
linda catlin smith

The Flower Sermon is a story that lies in the heart of Zen. It is told that Siddhartha
Gautama once gave a wordless sermon to his disciples by holding up a white flower. The
sermon touched on the ineffable nature of tathātā (suchness) and was only understood
by Mahākāśyapa, who smiled.

André Mestre (b.1986) is a Brazilian composer based in Canada. His works reveal a
deep interest for acoustic sonorities and the indexical potentialities they carry. André’s
works have been performed in Brazil, Italy, United States and Canada, where his work for acoustic ensemble “Zikr” has been awarded the 1st Prize at the 2013 CUMS/SMUC
Competition. Since 2008 he has been participating in new music festivals and workshops such as the soundSCAPE Festival, the Brazil-France Winter Academies and the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop. André holds a Master’s degree in Music Composition by the University of Alberta and Bachelor’s by the State University of Campinas. His main professors were Howard Bashaw, Scott Smallwood, Mark Hannesson, Claude Ledoux, Jônatas Manzolli, José Mannis and Silvio Ferraz.