Anya M. Wassenberg's Blog: Art & Culture Maven, page 114
April 5, 2015
New Single from Calgary Hard Rock Duo The Unraveling - Revolt (April 25, 2015 - Independent)
New Single from Calgary Hard Rock Duo
The Unraveling - Revolt
(April 25, 2015 - Independent)
• Check out the single & Name Your Own Price
The Unraveling is Steve Moore on vocals and lyrics and Gustavo de Beauville on pretty much everything else, a Calgary-based hard rock duo whose latest single and upcoming CD you could say have truly been forged in fire.With a sound that happens somewhere where hard rock and industrial collide, the band first came to the media and public's attention in 2010 with the release of 13 Arcane Hymns, a full-length concept album that was listed in Suite 101's Top Heavy Metal Albums of 2010. Pitch Black Magazine called it "a 13-track emotional and industrial-infused metal masterpiece.”
Move Forward Until You Are Dead, from the last CD:
A diagnosis of cancer, that battle and recovery sidelined singer Steve Moore for a few years but his recovery has been marked by a return to music - and the recording studio for the band. During the hiatus, Gustavo developed his production skills and worked with a number of other projects.
The vocals on the single, appropriately entitled Revolt, are raw and edgy, contrasted by soft male voices in chorus. The emphasis here is on the words and the message, hammered home by a powerful drum line and staccato guitar work that puts all the focus on the voice.
Revolt by The Unravelling
The lyrics are poetic and pessimistic - revolt is the only answer to society's corruption.
The dogmas we call learningI see a strawman burningBlack smoke is crying foul
But the convincing beast will prowl
Youth feeds on itself like the mantis bride
Poised for endless future with the baby inside
It's not an unfamiliar theme in the hard rock genre, but The Unraveling give the sentiment a sense of sincerity and authenticity in the delivery. I would have preferred a more organic than electronic drum sound, although I'll admit that the electronics that drown the song's ending are a nice touch.
Websites:
theunravelling.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theunravelling
A preview of the new studio album - of which this is the first single...
Banjo & the Avant-Garde: Paul Elwood - Nice Folks (January 27, 2015 - Innova Recordings)
With material from a media release:
Banjo & the Avant-Garde:
Paul Elwood - Nice Folks
(January 27, 2015 - Innova Recordings)
• Check it out/Buy it
It's virtually impossible to do any justice to this latest release by the ever eclectic Paul Elwood in mere words. As a writer, I acknowledge that they can only hint at the kind of sounds a listener might expect from
his sonically striking collaboration between banjo virtuoso Elwood and percussionist Famoudou Don Moye along with many others - The Invisible Ensemble, Kelsey Shiba, Pierre Fenichel, Raphael Imbert, Jean-Marc Montera, Thomas Weirich, Simon Sieger and finally The GRIM/Montevideo Choir - that took place in Marseille.
Famoudou is the renowned percussionist with the legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC), a major innovative voice in the history of jazz. Elwood's recordings use the group's facility for improv and his compositions are intercut with short improvisational sections.
The name of the album - Nice Folks - is a riff of AEC's 1970 album, Nice Guys. As Elwood describes it, this group - the Invisible Ensemble - came together quickly after he met Moye by chance at a music festival in Marseille. He assembled a group of high level young French musicians just for this recording project.
On his last recording:
As a banjoist, it was the culmination of Elwood's lifelong dream to play an an avant-garde jazz ensemble.
"This project enabled me to bring to realization a dream I had for many years of using my instrument within the context of an avant-garde jazz ensemble; Famoudou Don Moye’s presence on the recordings is a direct connection to the vanguard of the experimental jazz movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. I believe that this recording will be of interest to others in that it will offer fans of the AEC the opportunity for an aural update on this legendary percussionist and to hear him in a new context."
The recording came together in a whirlwind during the summer of 2014.
Banjo & the Avant-Garde:
Paul Elwood - Nice Folks
(January 27, 2015 - Innova Recordings)
• Check it out/Buy it
It's virtually impossible to do any justice to this latest release by the ever eclectic Paul Elwood in mere words. As a writer, I acknowledge that they can only hint at the kind of sounds a listener might expect from
his sonically striking collaboration between banjo virtuoso Elwood and percussionist Famoudou Don Moye along with many others - The Invisible Ensemble, Kelsey Shiba, Pierre Fenichel, Raphael Imbert, Jean-Marc Montera, Thomas Weirich, Simon Sieger and finally The GRIM/Montevideo Choir - that took place in Marseille.Famoudou is the renowned percussionist with the legendary Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEC), a major innovative voice in the history of jazz. Elwood's recordings use the group's facility for improv and his compositions are intercut with short improvisational sections.
The name of the album - Nice Folks - is a riff of AEC's 1970 album, Nice Guys. As Elwood describes it, this group - the Invisible Ensemble - came together quickly after he met Moye by chance at a music festival in Marseille. He assembled a group of high level young French musicians just for this recording project.
On his last recording:
As a banjoist, it was the culmination of Elwood's lifelong dream to play an an avant-garde jazz ensemble.
"This project enabled me to bring to realization a dream I had for many years of using my instrument within the context of an avant-garde jazz ensemble; Famoudou Don Moye’s presence on the recordings is a direct connection to the vanguard of the experimental jazz movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s. I believe that this recording will be of interest to others in that it will offer fans of the AEC the opportunity for an aural update on this legendary percussionist and to hear him in a new context."The recording came together in a whirlwind during the summer of 2014.
14 Hours of Nonstop Hot Jazz: The 3rd Annual New York Hot Jazz Festival #NYHJF May 3 2015
From a media release:
THE 3rd ANNUAL NEW YORK HOT JAZZ FESTIVAL #NYHJF
Fourteen Hours of Nonstop Hot Jazz at The Players - 16 Gramercy Park South, Manhattan
Sunday, May 3 2015 - 12:00pm to 2:00am
Featuring
WYCLIFFE GORDON & FRIENDS, BILL CHARLAP, AFTER MIDNIGHT ORCHESTRA with REBECCA KILGORE, BRIA SKONBERG AND HER JAZZ COMPATRIOTS, EVAN CHRISTOPHER'S CLARINET ROAD, NICKI PARROTT TRIO with WARREN VACHE, STEPHANE WREMBEL, THE HOT SARDINES - Plus another one and a half dozen acts and surprise special guests!
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
EARLY BIRD - $30 for Half-Day Passes / $55 Full Day
ADVANCE - $35 for Half-Day Passes / $65 Full Day
AT DOOR - $45 for Half-Day Passes / $80 Full Day
NEW YORK CITY - Following the success of the previous two festivals, the 3rd Annual New York Hot Jazz Festival -- produced by the impresario Michael "Misha" Katsobashvili, performer Bria Skonberg, and composer/producer Patrick Soluri (of Prohibition Productions and The Salon) -- returns to The Players this year and promises some of the biggest stars of the Hot Jazz and swing scenes in a summit of uptown and downtown talent spanning three generations.
In his annual JazzTimes "The Year In Gigs" column, Nate Chinen listed the festival as one of the best jazz shows of 2014, where he called it "... a marathon overspill of trad-jazz enthusiasm." Bill Milkowski in his Downbeat Magazine review described the event as the "Woodstock for the Hot Jazz set." This year's festival will be no exception, boasting fourteen hours of continuous music, three stages with twenty five acts, and an
exhilarating party atmosphere.
Hot Jazz, once the 20th century's dominant pop music, has found a 21st century home in New York City. As Will Friedwald notes in Vanity Fair, "Hot Jazz is so prevalent now that New York has almost become like New Orleans in the fin de siecle period ..." While retaining Hot Jazz in its core, this year's festival is solidly expanding into later swing with bands, such as Andy Farber's 17-piece AFTER MIDNIGHT ORCHESTRA (formerly know as Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars) from the eponymous Tony-winning blockbuster Broadway show, as well as WYCLIFFE GORDON's & FRIENDS, the trombone superstar's hard-swinging musical outfit. Additionally, Australian bassist and award-winning vocalist NICKI PARROTT, who was a member of the Les Paul Trio for a decade, will lead a trio featuring cornetist WARREN VACHE. Trumpeter JON-ERIK KELLSO will bring the EARREGULARS with guitarist MATT MUNISTERI and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire SCOTT ROBINSON.
Aside from Vaché and Kellso, this year's festival will highlight some of the top horn players of the younger generation, such as RILEY MULHERKAR and ALPHONSO HORNE, who are bringing their new band the GOTHAM KINGS; GORDON AU, the leader of the GRAND ST. STOMPERS, which is one of the
pioneering bands of New York Hot Jazz and swing dance revival; and, consistent trailblazer BRIA SKONBERG with her JAZZ COMPATRIOTS.
To balance out the brass talent, the festival will feature some of the top young string stars of "le jazz hot" currently residing in New York: French guitar wizard STEPHANE WREMBEL, whose "Bistro Fada" is on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack of Midnight in Paris, and a Finnish Django Reinhardt acolyte OLLI SOIKKELI, who co-leads RHYTHM FUTURE Quartet with violinist JASON ANICK.
Rhythm Future Quartet:
Among the outstanding vocalists taking part in the festival for the first time will be a rare New York appearance by an exceptional songbook stylist and recording artist REBECCA KILGORE and rapidly rising, powerhouse young jazz singer MICHAEL MWENSO.
The NY Hot Jazz Fest continues to present local Hot Jazz "institutions" that have fueled the city's scene with their long term residencies such as EDDY DAVIS NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND, who play every Monday at Cafe Carlyle with Woody Allen, TERRY WALDO'S GOTHAM CITY BAND, and DENNIS LICHTMAN'S MONA'S HOT FOUR, among others.
This year The Big Easy will have its own ambassador in the fest, with one of the members of New Orleans jazz royalty, EVAN CHRISTOPHER, leading his acclaimed CLARINET ROAD.
Just like last year, the only band returning from the preceding year's marathon is THE HOT SARDINES, who are one of the biggest successes of the current Hot Jazz revival and are stopping by at The Players in
the middle of a sold out national tour.
Festival goers will once again enjoy a dedicated Ragtime, Stride, and Jazz Age Songbook Piano Room with jazz star BILL CHARLAP, NPR Piano Jazz host and stride master JON WEBER, ragtime specialist TERRY WALDO and the "Klezmer Fats Waller" PETE SOKOLOW alongside upcoming young piano stars like CHRIS PATTISHALL.
Throughout the festival, attendees will experience continuous multi-level entertainment. Dancing is encouraged and inevitably irresistible; Swing dancers will be particularly delighted by The Players' optimal Ballroom dance floor. Once again, while three stages on the two upper levels will be devoted to non-stop live music, the lower level of the Players will feature a day-long screening of Hot Jazz and swing film clips with the first half devoted to Hollywood's golden age. Party and dancing continues into the wee hours with
the festival jam session led by DAVID OSTWALD and GORDON AU. Expect surprises galore until the last notes of the night have been played!
THE PLAYERS is a members-only club located at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan, NYC. Overlooking Gramercy Park, this clubhouse holds more than a century of social club history, boasting founding members such as Mark Twain, Laurence Hutton, and William Tecumseh Sherman.
Chris Pattishall:
THE 3rd ANNUAL NEW YORK HOT JAZZ FESTIVAL #NYHJF
Fourteen Hours of Nonstop Hot Jazz at The Players - 16 Gramercy Park South, Manhattan
Sunday, May 3 2015 - 12:00pm to 2:00am
Featuring
WYCLIFFE GORDON & FRIENDS, BILL CHARLAP, AFTER MIDNIGHT ORCHESTRA with REBECCA KILGORE, BRIA SKONBERG AND HER JAZZ COMPATRIOTS, EVAN CHRISTOPHER'S CLARINET ROAD, NICKI PARROTT TRIO with WARREN VACHE, STEPHANE WREMBEL, THE HOT SARDINES - Plus another one and a half dozen acts and surprise special guests!
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
EARLY BIRD - $30 for Half-Day Passes / $55 Full Day
ADVANCE - $35 for Half-Day Passes / $65 Full Day
AT DOOR - $45 for Half-Day Passes / $80 Full Day
NEW YORK CITY - Following the success of the previous two festivals, the 3rd Annual New York Hot Jazz Festival -- produced by the impresario Michael "Misha" Katsobashvili, performer Bria Skonberg, and composer/producer Patrick Soluri (of Prohibition Productions and The Salon) -- returns to The Players this year and promises some of the biggest stars of the Hot Jazz and swing scenes in a summit of uptown and downtown talent spanning three generations. In his annual JazzTimes "The Year In Gigs" column, Nate Chinen listed the festival as one of the best jazz shows of 2014, where he called it "... a marathon overspill of trad-jazz enthusiasm." Bill Milkowski in his Downbeat Magazine review described the event as the "Woodstock for the Hot Jazz set." This year's festival will be no exception, boasting fourteen hours of continuous music, three stages with twenty five acts, and an
exhilarating party atmosphere.Hot Jazz, once the 20th century's dominant pop music, has found a 21st century home in New York City. As Will Friedwald notes in Vanity Fair, "Hot Jazz is so prevalent now that New York has almost become like New Orleans in the fin de siecle period ..." While retaining Hot Jazz in its core, this year's festival is solidly expanding into later swing with bands, such as Andy Farber's 17-piece AFTER MIDNIGHT ORCHESTRA (formerly know as Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars) from the eponymous Tony-winning blockbuster Broadway show, as well as WYCLIFFE GORDON's & FRIENDS, the trombone superstar's hard-swinging musical outfit. Additionally, Australian bassist and award-winning vocalist NICKI PARROTT, who was a member of the Les Paul Trio for a decade, will lead a trio featuring cornetist WARREN VACHE. Trumpeter JON-ERIK KELLSO will bring the EARREGULARS with guitarist MATT MUNISTERI and multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire SCOTT ROBINSON.
Aside from Vaché and Kellso, this year's festival will highlight some of the top horn players of the younger generation, such as RILEY MULHERKAR and ALPHONSO HORNE, who are bringing their new band the GOTHAM KINGS; GORDON AU, the leader of the GRAND ST. STOMPERS, which is one of the
pioneering bands of New York Hot Jazz and swing dance revival; and, consistent trailblazer BRIA SKONBERG with her JAZZ COMPATRIOTS.To balance out the brass talent, the festival will feature some of the top young string stars of "le jazz hot" currently residing in New York: French guitar wizard STEPHANE WREMBEL, whose "Bistro Fada" is on the Academy Award-winning soundtrack of Midnight in Paris, and a Finnish Django Reinhardt acolyte OLLI SOIKKELI, who co-leads RHYTHM FUTURE Quartet with violinist JASON ANICK.
Rhythm Future Quartet:
Among the outstanding vocalists taking part in the festival for the first time will be a rare New York appearance by an exceptional songbook stylist and recording artist REBECCA KILGORE and rapidly rising, powerhouse young jazz singer MICHAEL MWENSO.
The NY Hot Jazz Fest continues to present local Hot Jazz "institutions" that have fueled the city's scene with their long term residencies such as EDDY DAVIS NEW ORLEANS JAZZ BAND, who play every Monday at Cafe Carlyle with Woody Allen, TERRY WALDO'S GOTHAM CITY BAND, and DENNIS LICHTMAN'S MONA'S HOT FOUR, among others.This year The Big Easy will have its own ambassador in the fest, with one of the members of New Orleans jazz royalty, EVAN CHRISTOPHER, leading his acclaimed CLARINET ROAD.
Just like last year, the only band returning from the preceding year's marathon is THE HOT SARDINES, who are one of the biggest successes of the current Hot Jazz revival and are stopping by at The Players in
the middle of a sold out national tour.Festival goers will once again enjoy a dedicated Ragtime, Stride, and Jazz Age Songbook Piano Room with jazz star BILL CHARLAP, NPR Piano Jazz host and stride master JON WEBER, ragtime specialist TERRY WALDO and the "Klezmer Fats Waller" PETE SOKOLOW alongside upcoming young piano stars like CHRIS PATTISHALL.
Throughout the festival, attendees will experience continuous multi-level entertainment. Dancing is encouraged and inevitably irresistible; Swing dancers will be particularly delighted by The Players' optimal Ballroom dance floor. Once again, while three stages on the two upper levels will be devoted to non-stop live music, the lower level of the Players will feature a day-long screening of Hot Jazz and swing film clips with the first half devoted to Hollywood's golden age. Party and dancing continues into the wee hours with
the festival jam session led by DAVID OSTWALD and GORDON AU. Expect surprises galore until the last notes of the night have been played!THE PLAYERS is a members-only club located at 16 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan, NYC. Overlooking Gramercy Park, this clubhouse holds more than a century of social club history, boasting founding members such as Mark Twain, Laurence Hutton, and William Tecumseh Sherman.
Chris Pattishall:
Classical Music News: Artis-Naples to Launch Three-Year Residency with the Vienna Philharmonic
From a media release:
ARTIS—NAPLES TO LAUNCH THREE-YEAR RESIDENCY WITH THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC
The Orchestra Makes Its Florida Debut in March 2016 With Two Concert Programs Conducted by Valery Gergiev
Annual Spring Residency to Comprise Concerts and Outreach Initiatives
Naples, FL — Artis—Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen announced today a three-year residency with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which will consist of six performances over the span of the residency as well as community partnerships and educational initiatives led by members of the orchestra beginning in the 2015-16 season. The residency will bring the venerated orchestra to Florida for the first time
for performances at Artis—Naples, home of The Baker Museum and the Naples Philharmonic, on March 1 and 2, 2016.
“Sharing the impeccable musicianship of this celebrated ensemble with our community is one of the greatest partnerships we’ve established for Artis—Naples,” Ms. van Bergen said. “It’s a rare and exciting opportunity to present an orchestra steeped in European tradition and history. This residency will have a lasting impact on our community and reinforce our city as a cultural destination. Hosting an orchestra of such great stature and reputation exemplifies the artistic excellence for which Artis—Naples has become known.”
The Vienna Philharmonic, led by Valery Gergiev, will launch its residency in the spring of 2016 with two concerts. On March 1, the orchestra will perform Richard Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, Debussy’s evocative La mer and Ravel’s adaptation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The second evening features selections from Wagner’s Parsifal paired with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred, a unique programmatic symphony composed between his fourth and fifth symphonies. Over 100 musicians will be on the Hayes Hall stage.
“It will be our great pleasure to come to Naples, sharing our music, reaching out to audiences, and interacting with the community,” said Harald Krumpöck, managing director of the Vienna Philharmonic. “As our motto, taken from Beethoven, says, ‘from the heart, to the heart’.”
Ms. van Bergen continued, “As Southwest Florida’s premier arts organization, Artis—Naples is committed to presenting the highest quality music performances and art collections. Two years ago we appointed esteemed conductor Andrey Boreyko as Music Director and he is taking the Naples Philharmonic’s level of
music-making to new heights, and we currently have on exhibit in the Baker Museum Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris – the first such exhibition in the U.S. in more than 40 years. The Vienna Philharmonic residency in Naples is yet another step in our effort to bring the best cultural arts of the world to our community.”
During each residency, members of the Vienna Philharmonic will interact with the community in a variety of initiatives ranging from public master classes with members of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Orchestra to lectures on Viennese culture and traditions as part of Artis—Naples’ popular Lifelong Learning continuing education series, which has more than 7,500 participants each year. Further initiatives may include panel discussions and symposia to be announced at a later date.
ARTIS—NAPLES TO LAUNCH THREE-YEAR RESIDENCY WITH THE VIENNA PHILHARMONIC
The Orchestra Makes Its Florida Debut in March 2016 With Two Concert Programs Conducted by Valery Gergiev
Annual Spring Residency to Comprise Concerts and Outreach Initiatives
Naples, FL — Artis—Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen announced today a three-year residency with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which will consist of six performances over the span of the residency as well as community partnerships and educational initiatives led by members of the orchestra beginning in the 2015-16 season. The residency will bring the venerated orchestra to Florida for the first time
for performances at Artis—Naples, home of The Baker Museum and the Naples Philharmonic, on March 1 and 2, 2016.“Sharing the impeccable musicianship of this celebrated ensemble with our community is one of the greatest partnerships we’ve established for Artis—Naples,” Ms. van Bergen said. “It’s a rare and exciting opportunity to present an orchestra steeped in European tradition and history. This residency will have a lasting impact on our community and reinforce our city as a cultural destination. Hosting an orchestra of such great stature and reputation exemplifies the artistic excellence for which Artis—Naples has become known.”
The Vienna Philharmonic, led by Valery Gergiev, will launch its residency in the spring of 2016 with two concerts. On March 1, the orchestra will perform Richard Wagner’s Overture to The Flying Dutchman, Debussy’s evocative La mer and Ravel’s adaptation of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. The second evening features selections from Wagner’s Parsifal paired with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred, a unique programmatic symphony composed between his fourth and fifth symphonies. Over 100 musicians will be on the Hayes Hall stage.
“It will be our great pleasure to come to Naples, sharing our music, reaching out to audiences, and interacting with the community,” said Harald Krumpöck, managing director of the Vienna Philharmonic. “As our motto, taken from Beethoven, says, ‘from the heart, to the heart’.”Ms. van Bergen continued, “As Southwest Florida’s premier arts organization, Artis—Naples is committed to presenting the highest quality music performances and art collections. Two years ago we appointed esteemed conductor Andrey Boreyko as Music Director and he is taking the Naples Philharmonic’s level of
music-making to new heights, and we currently have on exhibit in the Baker Museum Masterpieces from the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris – the first such exhibition in the U.S. in more than 40 years. The Vienna Philharmonic residency in Naples is yet another step in our effort to bring the best cultural arts of the world to our community.”During each residency, members of the Vienna Philharmonic will interact with the community in a variety of initiatives ranging from public master classes with members of the Naples Philharmonic Youth Orchestra to lectures on Viennese culture and traditions as part of Artis—Naples’ popular Lifelong Learning continuing education series, which has more than 7,500 participants each year. Further initiatives may include panel discussions and symposia to be announced at a later date.
March 27, 2015
21C Music Festival in Toronto: A Festival of Newly Minted Music - 8 Concerts/5 Nights/34 Premieres - May 20-24 2015
From a media release:
21C MUSIC FESTIVAL
A FESTIVAL OF NEWLY-MINTED MUSIC
IN WHICH TODAY'S MOST FEARLESS MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS
BRING US FRESH NEW SOUNDS AND IDEAS
May 20 to 24, 2015
8 CONCERTS - 5 NIGHTS - 34 PREMIERES
Kaija Saariaho, Stewart Copeland & Jon Kimura Parker, Gryphon Trio & Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Afiara Quartet & DJ Skratch Bastid, Jennifer Koh, Don Byron, The ARC Ensemble, Soundstreams
• Check it Out
TORONTO - After a successful launch in 2014, the 21C Music Festival returns with a new line-up of artists from May 20 to May 24, 2015. The festival will again run over five nights and consist of eight concerts, featuring music composed mostly during the 21st century, which once again crosses boundaries and genres:
rock and hip hop musicians share billing with classical artists and the music of seminal electroacoustic pioneer Kaija Saariaho is celebrated.
“We are very much looking forward to the second installment of 21C, featuring close to 60 works, 34 of which will be world, Canadian, or Ontario premieres,” said Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory of Music.
In this festival of newly minted music, audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today and experience works by Canadian as well as international composers and musicians who are mining new musical territories, breaking down barriers, and introducing us to new virtuosic music creations. This year The Royal Conservatory is thrilled to welcome Kaija Saariaho, one of the world’s great composers. In partnership with Soundstreams, we celebrate the Finnish composer’s extraordinary output in three different concerts, including four Canadian premieres of her works. Other highlights include Royal Conservatory commissioned compositions by Stewart Copeland (well known as a member of The Police), Vancouver composer Jordan Nobles, and eight-time Juno Award nominee Michael Occhipinti. Additional world premieres include works by Andrew Staniland, Dean Burry, Chris
Thornborrow, and Raphael Weinroth-Browne among others.
Festival benefactor, Michael Koerner remarked last year: “Charles Ives, the American composer-iconoclast wrote outrageously courageous music about 100 years ago and when asked what he was up to, he would say ‘I want to stretch your ears.’ This 21C Music Festival is just about that: ear stretching.” This year’s festival features one of Ives’s seminal works heard in juxtaposition with three new works by Quebec-based composers, proving Ives’s philosophy in the moment.
The festival opens on May 20 with Off the Score, a sizzling collaboration between drum legend Stewart Copeland of The Police and visionary Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Works by Copeland and Parker collide with renditions of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach, Ravel, Piazzolla, and Paul Schoenfield, for an inspiring look at a musical universe that transcends genres. The highlight of the evening will be a Conservatory-commissioned world premiere by Copeland, titled Coincidence or Convergence? The two musicians are joined by Metropolitan Opera violinist Yoon Kwon, rising star bassist Marlon Martinez, and champion of the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI) Judd Miller.
The Conservatory welcomes the great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho to Toronto on May 21. As part of a concert titled Light and Matter, Saariaho’s Sept papillions (for solo cello played by Anssi Karttunen) and Frises (for solo violin played by Jennifer Koh and electronics by Saariaho) receive their Canadian premieres, and pianist Benjamin Hochman performs Ballade and Prelude (for solo piano). On the same evening, The Conservatory’s own ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) will present two pieces: Jerzy Fitelberg’s String Quartet No. 2 and You are where you are, a work for piano quintet and bass (Robert Pomakov) by Omar Daniel, with text by Man Booker Prize-winning author Yann Martell. The evening concludes with the North American premiere of Saariaho’s Light and Matter, a piano trio written for Koh, Karttunen, and Hochman.
The Bicycle Opera Project is dedicated to bringing Canadian talent performing new, accessible Canadian opera works to communities across Ontario, travelling exclusively by bicycle, and, on May 21, they bring their programming to The Conservatory. To begin the evening, the world premiere of Chris Thornborrow’s Ride of the Bicycle Bells will be performed outdoors, in our Reta Lila Weston Music Court, prior to the Koerner Hall mainstage concert. Immediately following the Koerner Hall concert, After Hours #1 features Bicycle Opera’s Larissa Koniuk, soprano; Stephanie Tritchew, mezzo-soprano; Graham Thomson, tenor; Alexander Dobson, baritone; Ilana Waniuk, violin; Erika Nielsen Smith, cello; Wesley Shen, music director & piano; Liza Balkan, staging; and Sonja Rainey, projectionist, in Mazzoleni Concert Hall, located in historic Ihnatowycz Hall. They will perform works by composers James Rolfe, Cecilia Livingston, Ivan Barbotin, Tobin Stokes, and the world premiere of “The Dreaming Duet” from The Bells of Baddeck by Dean Burry.
On May 22 The Conservatory will present the Ontario premiere of a major new multimedia work called Illusions, which is being written for the Gryphon Trio, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, and baritone Vincent Ranallo. This 70-minute work is comprised of three new pieces by Canadian composers Nicole Lizée, Gabriel Dharmoo, and Simon Martin, interspersed with Charles Ives’s Piano Trio, one of the great 20th century trio works. The music will be accompanied by visuals created by Kara Blake and Corinne Merrell, and projections designed by Jacques Collin, a long-time associate of Robert Lepage. To open the concert, The Royal Conservatory has commissioned jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti to write a new work for himself, the Gryphon Trio, and legendary clarinettist Don Byron, titled Street Scene at the Centre of the Multiverse. The Gryphon Trio will also play three pieces by Byron: Basquiat, Shanty, and Russian.
After Hours #2 on May 22 in the Conservatory Theatre will include six works in development by six emerging composers featured in Soundstreams’s week-long Emerging Composers Workshop. The works will have been developed under the guidance of Kaija Saariaho and French cellist and composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière, and all will include video and/or electronic elements. The composers selected for this year’s workshop are Helga Arias (Spain), James O’Callaghan (Canada), Núria Giménez-Comas (Spain), Santa Bušs (Latvia), Steven Whiteley (USA/Canada), and Tawnie Olson (Canada). The works will be performed by Canadian artists Carla Huhtanen (soprano), Leslie Newman (flute), and Stephen Sitarski (violin).
The Saariaho thread continues as Carla Huhtanen and Kwagiulth and Stó:lo First Nations mezzo-soprano Marion Newman collaborate in a North American premiere of Saariaho’s Grammaire des rêves on May 23 in Cinq à Sept / performance in the Conservatory Theatre. Also on the program are two world premieres: one by cellist, composer, and Glenn Gould School student Raphaël Weinroth-Browne, and a Conservatory-commissioned new work for chamber ensemble and soprano from Vancouver composer Jordan Nobles, known for creating music filled with an “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine). The Visit, comprised of Weinroth-Browne and Heather Sita Black (voice), also performs Weinroth-Browne’s Offering, a combination of classical chamber music with the intricacy of Middle Eastern and Persian music.
Spin Cycle, a three-stage, ground-breaking project that curates a 360-degree conversation with four of the hottest young composers in Canada, the award-winning Afiara Quartet (The Glenn Gould School Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at The Royal Conservatory), and the renowned scratch DJ, Skratch Bastid, is presented on May 23 in Mazzoleni Concert Hall. During the first stage of the concert, Afiara plays the world premieres of works composed by Dinuk Wijeratne, Laura Silberberg, Rob Teehan, and Kevin Lau, which
form the bedrock of the project. The works are then repurposed and re-envisioned by the scratch stylings of DJ Skratch Bastid. His ability to put together different sounds, songs, and genres, and make the works into something wholly new is one of the rarest talents in his field. The idea of remixing is not new, but rarely does the original artist or composer hear a remix and feel inspired to write a response or bring something new to the conversation. This dialogue of innovation and creation is the third stage of this project. Each composer has heard what Skratch Bastid has done and has responded by writing parts for the Afiara to play with (or against) the DJ’s remix. This innovative, 100% Canadian project bristles with new energy and collaboration, and offers a total of 12 world premieres in one concert!
The festival closes on May 24 with Encuentros, presented by Soundstreams, a Toronto-based music presenter that commissions, develops, and showcases the work of contemporary Canadian composers and their international counterparts. Tango, flamenco, bossa nova, fandango, Afro-samba, and jazz will be heard in this afternoon of musical encounters featuring internationally acclaimed guitar virtuosos Grisha Goryachev and Fabio Zanon, Argentine bandoneon player Héctor del Curto, Colombian singing sensation Maria Mulata, and Juno Award-winning pianist and composer Serouj Kradjian. Highlights of the afternoon will be world premieres by Canadian composers Andrew Staniland and Mark Duggan. Staniland’s Choro was commissioned by Stan & Ros Witkin in honour of Martin Offman. Also on the program will be works that Kradjian and some of the performers are currently composing based on tango, flamenco, fado, and bossa-nova masterworks. These new pieces are commissioned by Soundstreams and The Royal Conservatory of Music in partnership. Also on the program will be the popular Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Several pre- or post-concert talks will feature composers and performers in discussion offering further insight into the works being presented.
21C MUSIC FESTIVAL
A FESTIVAL OF NEWLY-MINTED MUSIC
IN WHICH TODAY'S MOST FEARLESS MUSICIANS AND COMPOSERS
BRING US FRESH NEW SOUNDS AND IDEAS
May 20 to 24, 2015
8 CONCERTS - 5 NIGHTS - 34 PREMIERES
Kaija Saariaho, Stewart Copeland & Jon Kimura Parker, Gryphon Trio & Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Afiara Quartet & DJ Skratch Bastid, Jennifer Koh, Don Byron, The ARC Ensemble, Soundstreams
• Check it Out
TORONTO - After a successful launch in 2014, the 21C Music Festival returns with a new line-up of artists from May 20 to May 24, 2015. The festival will again run over five nights and consist of eight concerts, featuring music composed mostly during the 21st century, which once again crosses boundaries and genres:
rock and hip hop musicians share billing with classical artists and the music of seminal electroacoustic pioneer Kaija Saariaho is celebrated.“We are very much looking forward to the second installment of 21C, featuring close to 60 works, 34 of which will be world, Canadian, or Ontario premieres,” said Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory of Music.
In this festival of newly minted music, audiences have an opportunity to experience fresh new sounds and ideas from the greatest musical minds of today and experience works by Canadian as well as international composers and musicians who are mining new musical territories, breaking down barriers, and introducing us to new virtuosic music creations. This year The Royal Conservatory is thrilled to welcome Kaija Saariaho, one of the world’s great composers. In partnership with Soundstreams, we celebrate the Finnish composer’s extraordinary output in three different concerts, including four Canadian premieres of her works. Other highlights include Royal Conservatory commissioned compositions by Stewart Copeland (well known as a member of The Police), Vancouver composer Jordan Nobles, and eight-time Juno Award nominee Michael Occhipinti. Additional world premieres include works by Andrew Staniland, Dean Burry, Chris
Thornborrow, and Raphael Weinroth-Browne among others.Festival benefactor, Michael Koerner remarked last year: “Charles Ives, the American composer-iconoclast wrote outrageously courageous music about 100 years ago and when asked what he was up to, he would say ‘I want to stretch your ears.’ This 21C Music Festival is just about that: ear stretching.” This year’s festival features one of Ives’s seminal works heard in juxtaposition with three new works by Quebec-based composers, proving Ives’s philosophy in the moment.
The festival opens on May 20 with Off the Score, a sizzling collaboration between drum legend Stewart Copeland of The Police and visionary Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Works by Copeland and Parker collide with renditions of Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bach, Ravel, Piazzolla, and Paul Schoenfield, for an inspiring look at a musical universe that transcends genres. The highlight of the evening will be a Conservatory-commissioned world premiere by Copeland, titled Coincidence or Convergence? The two musicians are joined by Metropolitan Opera violinist Yoon Kwon, rising star bassist Marlon Martinez, and champion of the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI) Judd Miller.
The Conservatory welcomes the great Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho to Toronto on May 21. As part of a concert titled Light and Matter, Saariaho’s Sept papillions (for solo cello played by Anssi Karttunen) and Frises (for solo violin played by Jennifer Koh and electronics by Saariaho) receive their Canadian premieres, and pianist Benjamin Hochman performs Ballade and Prelude (for solo piano). On the same evening, The Conservatory’s own ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) will present two pieces: Jerzy Fitelberg’s String Quartet No. 2 and You are where you are, a work for piano quintet and bass (Robert Pomakov) by Omar Daniel, with text by Man Booker Prize-winning author Yann Martell. The evening concludes with the North American premiere of Saariaho’s Light and Matter, a piano trio written for Koh, Karttunen, and Hochman.
The Bicycle Opera Project is dedicated to bringing Canadian talent performing new, accessible Canadian opera works to communities across Ontario, travelling exclusively by bicycle, and, on May 21, they bring their programming to The Conservatory. To begin the evening, the world premiere of Chris Thornborrow’s Ride of the Bicycle Bells will be performed outdoors, in our Reta Lila Weston Music Court, prior to the Koerner Hall mainstage concert. Immediately following the Koerner Hall concert, After Hours #1 features Bicycle Opera’s Larissa Koniuk, soprano; Stephanie Tritchew, mezzo-soprano; Graham Thomson, tenor; Alexander Dobson, baritone; Ilana Waniuk, violin; Erika Nielsen Smith, cello; Wesley Shen, music director & piano; Liza Balkan, staging; and Sonja Rainey, projectionist, in Mazzoleni Concert Hall, located in historic Ihnatowycz Hall. They will perform works by composers James Rolfe, Cecilia Livingston, Ivan Barbotin, Tobin Stokes, and the world premiere of “The Dreaming Duet” from The Bells of Baddeck by Dean Burry.
On May 22 The Conservatory will present the Ontario premiere of a major new multimedia work called Illusions, which is being written for the Gryphon Trio, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, and baritone Vincent Ranallo. This 70-minute work is comprised of three new pieces by Canadian composers Nicole Lizée, Gabriel Dharmoo, and Simon Martin, interspersed with Charles Ives’s Piano Trio, one of the great 20th century trio works. The music will be accompanied by visuals created by Kara Blake and Corinne Merrell, and projections designed by Jacques Collin, a long-time associate of Robert Lepage. To open the concert, The Royal Conservatory has commissioned jazz guitarist Michael Occhipinti to write a new work for himself, the Gryphon Trio, and legendary clarinettist Don Byron, titled Street Scene at the Centre of the Multiverse. The Gryphon Trio will also play three pieces by Byron: Basquiat, Shanty, and Russian.After Hours #2 on May 22 in the Conservatory Theatre will include six works in development by six emerging composers featured in Soundstreams’s week-long Emerging Composers Workshop. The works will have been developed under the guidance of Kaija Saariaho and French cellist and composer Jean-Baptiste Barrière, and all will include video and/or electronic elements. The composers selected for this year’s workshop are Helga Arias (Spain), James O’Callaghan (Canada), Núria Giménez-Comas (Spain), Santa Bušs (Latvia), Steven Whiteley (USA/Canada), and Tawnie Olson (Canada). The works will be performed by Canadian artists Carla Huhtanen (soprano), Leslie Newman (flute), and Stephen Sitarski (violin).
The Saariaho thread continues as Carla Huhtanen and Kwagiulth and Stó:lo First Nations mezzo-soprano Marion Newman collaborate in a North American premiere of Saariaho’s Grammaire des rêves on May 23 in Cinq à Sept / performance in the Conservatory Theatre. Also on the program are two world premieres: one by cellist, composer, and Glenn Gould School student Raphaël Weinroth-Browne, and a Conservatory-commissioned new work for chamber ensemble and soprano from Vancouver composer Jordan Nobles, known for creating music filled with an “unearthly beauty” (Mondomagazine). The Visit, comprised of Weinroth-Browne and Heather Sita Black (voice), also performs Weinroth-Browne’s Offering, a combination of classical chamber music with the intricacy of Middle Eastern and Persian music.
Spin Cycle, a three-stage, ground-breaking project that curates a 360-degree conversation with four of the hottest young composers in Canada, the award-winning Afiara Quartet (The Glenn Gould School Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at The Royal Conservatory), and the renowned scratch DJ, Skratch Bastid, is presented on May 23 in Mazzoleni Concert Hall. During the first stage of the concert, Afiara plays the world premieres of works composed by Dinuk Wijeratne, Laura Silberberg, Rob Teehan, and Kevin Lau, which
form the bedrock of the project. The works are then repurposed and re-envisioned by the scratch stylings of DJ Skratch Bastid. His ability to put together different sounds, songs, and genres, and make the works into something wholly new is one of the rarest talents in his field. The idea of remixing is not new, but rarely does the original artist or composer hear a remix and feel inspired to write a response or bring something new to the conversation. This dialogue of innovation and creation is the third stage of this project. Each composer has heard what Skratch Bastid has done and has responded by writing parts for the Afiara to play with (or against) the DJ’s remix. This innovative, 100% Canadian project bristles with new energy and collaboration, and offers a total of 12 world premieres in one concert! The festival closes on May 24 with Encuentros, presented by Soundstreams, a Toronto-based music presenter that commissions, develops, and showcases the work of contemporary Canadian composers and their international counterparts. Tango, flamenco, bossa nova, fandango, Afro-samba, and jazz will be heard in this afternoon of musical encounters featuring internationally acclaimed guitar virtuosos Grisha Goryachev and Fabio Zanon, Argentine bandoneon player Héctor del Curto, Colombian singing sensation Maria Mulata, and Juno Award-winning pianist and composer Serouj Kradjian. Highlights of the afternoon will be world premieres by Canadian composers Andrew Staniland and Mark Duggan. Staniland’s Choro was commissioned by Stan & Ros Witkin in honour of Martin Offman. Also on the program will be works that Kradjian and some of the performers are currently composing based on tango, flamenco, fado, and bossa-nova masterworks. These new pieces are commissioned by Soundstreams and The Royal Conservatory of Music in partnership. Also on the program will be the popular Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 by Heitor Villa-Lobos.
Several pre- or post-concert talks will feature composers and performers in discussion offering further insight into the works being presented.
Avant-Garde Jazz: French-Japanese Quartet Kaze Releases Adventurous Third CD Uminari (Circum-Libra - May 5 2015)
From a media release:
French-Japanese Quartet Kaze Releases Adventurous Third CD
Two-trumpet ensemble unleashes storm of inventive sound on Uminari
Out May 5, 2015 from Circum-Libra
• Coming May 5, 2015
"Twists and turns, noise followed by lyrical beauty; nuanced percussion followed by powerhouse drumming; and wild cacophonies that lead into introspective solo slots. Expect the unexpected." - Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
"An expansive set captivating and in some instances, mind-bending pieces, sans any limiting factors." - Glenn Astarita, Jazz Review
Uminari is a Japanese word that refers to a sound rising from the sea, a low-frequency roar that portends a coming storm or tsunami. The poetic word serves as an ideal title for the third CD, available in the US and Canada on May 5, 2015 on Circum-Libra, from the unconventional international quartet Kaze. The two-horn quartet is equally adept at the calm and the storm, with expressive subtleties giving way to overwhelming torrents of sound.
Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura reunite with French trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins for the band's most evocative and inventive outing to date. The music for Uminari was developed over the course of a 12-day tour of Japan during which skeletal compositions by each of the quartet's members were elaborated and experimented on by the group as a whole.
"Every day we decided to play with different ideas," Fujii recalls. "Today we'll play the piece one way, the next day a completely different way. We wrote very simple music beforehand and developed it together."
Uminari opens at gale force with "Tioky Atsimo," the first piece to date contributed to the ensemble by Pruvost. The heady whorl of sound ultimately subsides to a stutter-stop rhythm by Fujii and Orins, accompanied by breathy rasps and brassy bleats by the trumpeters, who ultimately fall in line with the insistent beat. A second eruption ensues, as the piece becomes an exercise in forming order out of chaos.
Orins' "Vents Contraires" follows from the opposite extreme, starting from a place of shimmering stillness with the drummer's scraped cymbals and a low murmur from the horns. The piece builds gradually in intensity over half of its 14 minutes before dissolving into pointillistic shards. "Running Around," the first of two Fujii compositions on the album, begins with a circuitous melody articulated by the trumpeters, ceding to a fragmented groove from the rhythm section. At the midpoint it becomes a play of dynamics and silences among the four musicians.
Tamura's "Inspiration" - at 20 minutes, the album's longest piece - showcases the trumpeter's trademark humor with a textured array of percussion, extended techniques, prepared piano and toy instruments. The set closes with Fujii's dark, impressionistic title track combining heartfelt, dirge-like melodicism with tempestuous improvisation.
Fujii and Tamura originally met Orins in 2002 when the pianist's quartet shared a bill with the drummer's collective Impression in his hometown of Lille, France. Nearly a decade later they crossed paths again and Orins suggested a collaboration with Pruvost, inaugurating Kaze's unusual instrumentation.
"We immediately became friends," Fujii says. "We felt like we shared the same kind of musical values. And we had so much fun doing this group we just kept playing together."\
Uminari is one of three new releases scheduled for 2015 from the always- prolific Fujii, whose prodigious output is only rivaled by her remarkable drive to constantly explore new terrain. Also on tap are albums by two new ensembles: Tobira, which expands the pianist's New Trio to a quartet with the addition of Tamura; and the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin, the fifth city-specific large ensemble she's founded, and the first group launched in her newly adopted home.
Kaze is a departure from much of Fujii's output, being a collective rather than a group led by and dedicated to performing the music of the powerful composer. "I don't have much opportunity to be a side musician," she says. "Almost all the time I'm the leader; I write and direct the music and arrange the gigs. Finally, this gives me a chance to play with great musicians who all write music and all sound different. I have so much fun playing their pieces."
One of the most original and wide-ranging voices in modern jazz, Satoko Fujii has documented her abilities on more than 70 CDs in less than 20 years. The Tokyo native relocated to the U.S. to study at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where she was mentored by the likes of Paul Bley, Herb Pomeroy, George Russell and Cecil McBee. Through her touring and collaborations she's truly become a citizen of the world, most recently settling in Berlin. She's founded jazz orchestras there as well as in New York and Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe in Japan. Fujii has also led the quartets Ma-Do and Tobira and an avant-rock group featuring Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. In recent years she's formed fruitful collaborations with such inventive artists as pianist Myra Melford, drummer John Hollenbeck, violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and guitarist Elliott Sharp.
Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for his ability to blend a unique vocabulary of extended techniques with touching jazz lyricism. Since 2005, Tamura has focused on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction with Gato Libre, a quartet featuring Fujii on accordion, Tsumura Kazuhiko on guitar, and the late Koreyasu Norikatsu on bass. In 2006 he co-founded the collaborative trio Junk Box with Fujii and drummer John Hollenbeck, while his most recent quartet, First Meeting, features Fujii, drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and electric guitarist Kelly Churko. Born in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, Tamura studied at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory and has taught at the Yamaha Popular Music School and at private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama.
A generous, insatiable and prolific musician, trumpeter Christian Pruvost has forged meaningful collaborations in jazz, improvised music and live performing arts settings. With Didier Aschour, Pruvost is a co-director of Round the World of Sound, which gathers 14 musicians from the Muzzix collective and Dedalus ensemble to perform the madrigals of eccentric poet/composer Moondog. In a new project called PCM Blat, he explores repertoire from medieval to contemporary and improvised music with Maxime Morel (tuba) and Samuel Carpentier (trombone). He is also a member of Circum Grand Orchestra and La Pieuvre, the improvisational orchestra conducted by Olivier Benoit.
From a classical music background, Peter Orins branched out to study the drums at the Conservatoire National de Région of Lille, where he studied with Guy Gilbert, Jean-François Canape, and Gérard Marais. At the same time, he studied improvisation with Fred Van Hove and composition with Jean-Marc Chouvel and Ricardo Mandolini. Beginning in the mid-'90s, Orins played in the bands that would come to form the Circum collective: Impression, Quartet Base, and the Stefan Orins Trio. He coordinated the Circum collective until its fusion with fellow collective CRIME in 2010, and created the 10-piece Circum Grand Orchestra. He also plays in La Pieuvre, a French-Vietnamese project called Hué/Circum, and the Wei3 trio with German pianist Jarry Singla and Polish bass player Maciej Garbowski. Since the creation of Muzzix in 2010, Orins has coordinated the artistic direction of that collective.
French-Japanese Quartet Kaze Releases Adventurous Third CD
Two-trumpet ensemble unleashes storm of inventive sound on Uminari
Out May 5, 2015 from Circum-Libra
• Coming May 5, 2015
"Twists and turns, noise followed by lyrical beauty; nuanced percussion followed by powerhouse drumming; and wild cacophonies that lead into introspective solo slots. Expect the unexpected." - Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz
"An expansive set captivating and in some instances, mind-bending pieces, sans any limiting factors." - Glenn Astarita, Jazz Review
Uminari is a Japanese word that refers to a sound rising from the sea, a low-frequency roar that portends a coming storm or tsunami. The poetic word serves as an ideal title for the third CD, available in the US and Canada on May 5, 2015 on Circum-Libra, from the unconventional international quartet Kaze. The two-horn quartet is equally adept at the calm and the storm, with expressive subtleties giving way to overwhelming torrents of sound.Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii and trumpeter Natsuki Tamura reunite with French trumpeter Christian Pruvost and drummer Peter Orins for the band's most evocative and inventive outing to date. The music for Uminari was developed over the course of a 12-day tour of Japan during which skeletal compositions by each of the quartet's members were elaborated and experimented on by the group as a whole.
"Every day we decided to play with different ideas," Fujii recalls. "Today we'll play the piece one way, the next day a completely different way. We wrote very simple music beforehand and developed it together."
Uminari opens at gale force with "Tioky Atsimo," the first piece to date contributed to the ensemble by Pruvost. The heady whorl of sound ultimately subsides to a stutter-stop rhythm by Fujii and Orins, accompanied by breathy rasps and brassy bleats by the trumpeters, who ultimately fall in line with the insistent beat. A second eruption ensues, as the piece becomes an exercise in forming order out of chaos.
Orins' "Vents Contraires" follows from the opposite extreme, starting from a place of shimmering stillness with the drummer's scraped cymbals and a low murmur from the horns. The piece builds gradually in intensity over half of its 14 minutes before dissolving into pointillistic shards. "Running Around," the first of two Fujii compositions on the album, begins with a circuitous melody articulated by the trumpeters, ceding to a fragmented groove from the rhythm section. At the midpoint it becomes a play of dynamics and silences among the four musicians.
Tamura's "Inspiration" - at 20 minutes, the album's longest piece - showcases the trumpeter's trademark humor with a textured array of percussion, extended techniques, prepared piano and toy instruments. The set closes with Fujii's dark, impressionistic title track combining heartfelt, dirge-like melodicism with tempestuous improvisation.
Fujii and Tamura originally met Orins in 2002 when the pianist's quartet shared a bill with the drummer's collective Impression in his hometown of Lille, France. Nearly a decade later they crossed paths again and Orins suggested a collaboration with Pruvost, inaugurating Kaze's unusual instrumentation.
"We immediately became friends," Fujii says. "We felt like we shared the same kind of musical values. And we had so much fun doing this group we just kept playing together."\
Uminari is one of three new releases scheduled for 2015 from the always- prolific Fujii, whose prodigious output is only rivaled by her remarkable drive to constantly explore new terrain. Also on tap are albums by two new ensembles: Tobira, which expands the pianist's New Trio to a quartet with the addition of Tamura; and the Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin, the fifth city-specific large ensemble she's founded, and the first group launched in her newly adopted home.
Kaze is a departure from much of Fujii's output, being a collective rather than a group led by and dedicated to performing the music of the powerful composer. "I don't have much opportunity to be a side musician," she says. "Almost all the time I'm the leader; I write and direct the music and arrange the gigs. Finally, this gives me a chance to play with great musicians who all write music and all sound different. I have so much fun playing their pieces."
One of the most original and wide-ranging voices in modern jazz, Satoko Fujii has documented her abilities on more than 70 CDs in less than 20 years. The Tokyo native relocated to the U.S. to study at Berklee College of Music and New England Conservatory, where she was mentored by the likes of Paul Bley, Herb Pomeroy, George Russell and Cecil McBee. Through her touring and collaborations she's truly become a citizen of the world, most recently settling in Berlin. She's founded jazz orchestras there as well as in New York and Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe in Japan. Fujii has also led the quartets Ma-Do and Tobira and an avant-rock group featuring Ruins drummer Tatsuya Yoshida. In recent years she's formed fruitful collaborations with such inventive artists as pianist Myra Melford, drummer John Hollenbeck, violinist Carla Kihlstedt, and guitarist Elliott Sharp.Trumpeter Natsuki Tamura is internationally recognized for his ability to blend a unique vocabulary of extended techniques with touching jazz lyricism. Since 2005, Tamura has focused on the intersection of European folk music and sound abstraction with Gato Libre, a quartet featuring Fujii on accordion, Tsumura Kazuhiko on guitar, and the late Koreyasu Norikatsu on bass. In 2006 he co-founded the collaborative trio Junk Box with Fujii and drummer John Hollenbeck, while his most recent quartet, First Meeting, features Fujii, drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto and electric guitarist Kelly Churko. Born in Otsu, Shiga, Japan, Tamura studied at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory and has taught at the Yamaha Popular Music School and at private trumpet studios in Tokyo and Saitama.
A generous, insatiable and prolific musician, trumpeter Christian Pruvost has forged meaningful collaborations in jazz, improvised music and live performing arts settings. With Didier Aschour, Pruvost is a co-director of Round the World of Sound, which gathers 14 musicians from the Muzzix collective and Dedalus ensemble to perform the madrigals of eccentric poet/composer Moondog. In a new project called PCM Blat, he explores repertoire from medieval to contemporary and improvised music with Maxime Morel (tuba) and Samuel Carpentier (trombone). He is also a member of Circum Grand Orchestra and La Pieuvre, the improvisational orchestra conducted by Olivier Benoit.
From a classical music background, Peter Orins branched out to study the drums at the Conservatoire National de Région of Lille, where he studied with Guy Gilbert, Jean-François Canape, and Gérard Marais. At the same time, he studied improvisation with Fred Van Hove and composition with Jean-Marc Chouvel and Ricardo Mandolini. Beginning in the mid-'90s, Orins played in the bands that would come to form the Circum collective: Impression, Quartet Base, and the Stefan Orins Trio. He coordinated the Circum collective until its fusion with fellow collective CRIME in 2010, and created the 10-piece Circum Grand Orchestra. He also plays in La Pieuvre, a French-Vietnamese project called Hué/Circum, and the Wei3 trio with German pianist Jarry Singla and Polish bass player Maciej Garbowski. Since the creation of Muzzix in 2010, Orins has coordinated the artistic direction of that collective.
Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma Toronto Festival a First for International Roma Day April 8 to 12 2015
From a media release:
Toronto festival a first for International Roma Day
April 8 to 12, 2015
Various Venues
• Click on the Poster for Full Details
• The Roma Community Centre for tickets
TORONTO - Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma, a festival of Romani arts and culture, will be held in Toronto on Wednesday April 8 to Sunday April 12, 2015 in celebration of International Roma Day. Organized by the Roma Community Centre, this will be the first festival of its kind in Toronto. Due to its new presence on the Canadian heritage stage, Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma will make a significant contribution to multiculturalism in
Toronto. The event will expand the public’s understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the Roma people and their history in Canada.
International Roma Day was designated at the first World Romani Congress in Orpington UK in 1971. At Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma, Toronto will join international cities in celebrating the artistic achievements and heritage of the Roma people. For Roma, April 8 symbolizes community strength, dignity, and pride. The festival features Romani musicians, visual artists, storytellers, and youth.
April 8 opens at 7:30 pm with an art exhibit at Gallery 50, 50 Gladstone Avenue. An installation by Monica Bodirsky, Riel Brown, Lynn Hutchinson Lee and Hedina Sijercic, as well as Chad Evans Wyatt’s photographs of Toronto Roma will be shown to the accompaniment of guitarist Jozsef Botos.
Award-winning jazz pianist Robi Botos gives a FREE workshop at Bloor Street United Church on Thursday April 9, 7-9 pm. On Sunday April 12 at Lula Lounge from 8 pm to midnight, Robi returns to perform at Opre Roma. Tickets for three performances—the Robi Botos Trio, the Gypsy Rebels, and Romanyi Rota Band—are ONLY $20. After each performance, the musicians will engage festival-goers in a Q&A.
Lula Lounge is also the location of a continuous slideshow about the Roma people, a photography exhibit by Toronto Romani youth with photographer Nihad Nino Pusija, and from 3–6 pm, a youth talent show and storytelling for children and adults. As sponsors, the Toronto Public Library is holding Romani storytelling at the Parkdale and Taylor Memorial branches and is highlighting Romani literature all week.
Most Torontonians do not realize that refugees make up only one segment of the Romani community, many of whom settled here over 100 years ago from Europe and the UK, who speak a dozen different languages, follow different religions, cook many national cuisines, may or may not follow traditions, and have many different occupations just like other members of other ethnic groups. The festival creates a unique crosscultural exchange improving the public’s understanding of the Roma.
“The Roma Community Centre is thrilled to host our first festival for International Roma Day,” says Nazik Deniz, festival coordinator. “The Roma have contributed a great deal to the city’s celebrated multiculturalism but many people aren’t aware of our wonderful culture. Opre Roma is a chance to share our music, our art, and our history with everyone. Come out and meet our people!”
Roma Community Centre(416) 546-2524Fax (416) 519-0443 http://www.romatoronto.org/
Robi Botos Trio:
Toronto festival a first for International Roma Day
April 8 to 12, 2015
Various Venues
• Click on the Poster for Full Details
• The Roma Community Centre for tickets
TORONTO - Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma, a festival of Romani arts and culture, will be held in Toronto on Wednesday April 8 to Sunday April 12, 2015 in celebration of International Roma Day. Organized by the Roma Community Centre, this will be the first festival of its kind in Toronto. Due to its new presence on the Canadian heritage stage, Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma will make a significant contribution to multiculturalism in
Toronto. The event will expand the public’s understanding of the rich cultural heritage of the Roma people and their history in Canada.International Roma Day was designated at the first World Romani Congress in Orpington UK in 1971. At Opre Roma/Rise Up Roma, Toronto will join international cities in celebrating the artistic achievements and heritage of the Roma people. For Roma, April 8 symbolizes community strength, dignity, and pride. The festival features Romani musicians, visual artists, storytellers, and youth.
April 8 opens at 7:30 pm with an art exhibit at Gallery 50, 50 Gladstone Avenue. An installation by Monica Bodirsky, Riel Brown, Lynn Hutchinson Lee and Hedina Sijercic, as well as Chad Evans Wyatt’s photographs of Toronto Roma will be shown to the accompaniment of guitarist Jozsef Botos.
Award-winning jazz pianist Robi Botos gives a FREE workshop at Bloor Street United Church on Thursday April 9, 7-9 pm. On Sunday April 12 at Lula Lounge from 8 pm to midnight, Robi returns to perform at Opre Roma. Tickets for three performances—the Robi Botos Trio, the Gypsy Rebels, and Romanyi Rota Band—are ONLY $20. After each performance, the musicians will engage festival-goers in a Q&A.
Lula Lounge is also the location of a continuous slideshow about the Roma people, a photography exhibit by Toronto Romani youth with photographer Nihad Nino Pusija, and from 3–6 pm, a youth talent show and storytelling for children and adults. As sponsors, the Toronto Public Library is holding Romani storytelling at the Parkdale and Taylor Memorial branches and is highlighting Romani literature all week.
Most Torontonians do not realize that refugees make up only one segment of the Romani community, many of whom settled here over 100 years ago from Europe and the UK, who speak a dozen different languages, follow different religions, cook many national cuisines, may or may not follow traditions, and have many different occupations just like other members of other ethnic groups. The festival creates a unique crosscultural exchange improving the public’s understanding of the Roma.
“The Roma Community Centre is thrilled to host our first festival for International Roma Day,” says Nazik Deniz, festival coordinator. “The Roma have contributed a great deal to the city’s celebrated multiculturalism but many people aren’t aware of our wonderful culture. Opre Roma is a chance to share our music, our art, and our history with everyone. Come out and meet our people!”Roma Community Centre(416) 546-2524Fax (416) 519-0443 http://www.romatoronto.org/
Robi Botos Trio:
Classical Music: May 2015 Releases from Divine Art Recording Group - Gilbert Rowland/Handel & Peter Sheppard Skærved/Telemann
From a media release:
May 2015 Releases
FROM DIVINE ART RECORDINGS GROUP
May 9, 2015 - U.K.
May 12, 2015 - US
• Buy/Check out a Sample MP3
George Frideric Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 3
(Divine Art dda 21225)
Gilbert Rowland (harpsichord)
The third and last set in this series, completing the release of Handel’s Suites in a 2 CD set at mid price.
Of volume 2 (DDA 21220) the critics were fulsome:
“It is impossible to praise this new release too highly. Fabulous playing. The combination of Handel, Gilbert Rowland, Wooderson’s fine harpsichord, the recording and the recording engineer John Taylor is unbeatable providing, as it does, a collection of these wonderful suites that I will return to again and again.” – Bruce Reader (The Classical Reviewer)
“A fine instrument, with silvery, bell-like timbres in the upper register and a richly sonorous bass. Rowland’s changes of registration for repeats are judicious and tasteful, revealing fully the beauties of his instrument. A highly satisfying version of Handel’s Suites … as the final notes die away, one is simply left with a strong temptation to shout “Bravo!”. – Brian Robins (Harpsichord & Fortepiano)
Handel’s solo keyboard music has for too long been overshadowed by his operas, oratorios, and orchestral music. This comparative neglect seems unjust in view of the considerably large quantity of keyboard music which exists amongst his massive output. This third double CD set completes Gilbert Rowland’s survey of these groundbreaking works which began to free the form from the formal constraints of “Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue”. Gilbert Rowland first studied the harpsichord with Millicent Silver. Whilst still a student at the Royal College of Music, he made his debut at Fenton House 1970 and first appeared at the Wigmore Hall in 1973. Recitals, appearances at major festivals in several countries, together with regular broadcasts, have helped to establish his reputation as one of Britain's leading harpsichordists. Reviewing volume 1, John Collins of The Consort said “The standard of playing is very high indeed, with some crisp articulation, appropriately added ornamentation in the repeats ... this is a most enjoyable recording.”
From Vol. 1:
The Great Violins
(Athene ath 23203)
Peter Sheppard Skærved (the Andrea Amati, 1570 violin)
A MAJOR NEW SERIES OF MUSICAL AND HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
As well as being internationally recognised as a leading interpreter of music new and old, Peter Sheppard Skærved is the only violinist to have performed on the personal violins of Viotti, Paganini, Joachim, Kreisler and Ole Bull. In this new series, he plays music on these and many more instruments, many of which only he
has access to. In this first 2-CD set Peter plays the incredible 1570 Amati in the 12 Violin Fantasies and 12 Flute Fantasies of Telemann. The instrument is of course gut-strung, is tuned A:416 and the bow is by Antonino Airenti. The Flute fantasies are also perfect for performance on the violin.
The series is supported by the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and many other museums and institutions. Volume 2 will present the complete solo sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach, played on the renowned ‘Joachim’ Stradivari of 1698.
Volume 2 should be released around the end of 2015, and the series will be open-ended with at least ten volumes planned so far. The Athene label, founded originally for historic piano recordings, has been re-launched to celebrate the commencement of this series.
Peter Sheppard Skærved talks about old instruments at TEDxBergen,
May 2015 Releases
FROM DIVINE ART RECORDINGS GROUP
May 9, 2015 - U.K.
May 12, 2015 - US
• Buy/Check out a Sample MP3
George Frideric Handel: Suites for Harpsichord, Vol. 3
(Divine Art dda 21225)
Gilbert Rowland (harpsichord)
The third and last set in this series, completing the release of Handel’s Suites in a 2 CD set at mid price.
Of volume 2 (DDA 21220) the critics were fulsome:“It is impossible to praise this new release too highly. Fabulous playing. The combination of Handel, Gilbert Rowland, Wooderson’s fine harpsichord, the recording and the recording engineer John Taylor is unbeatable providing, as it does, a collection of these wonderful suites that I will return to again and again.” – Bruce Reader (The Classical Reviewer)
“A fine instrument, with silvery, bell-like timbres in the upper register and a richly sonorous bass. Rowland’s changes of registration for repeats are judicious and tasteful, revealing fully the beauties of his instrument. A highly satisfying version of Handel’s Suites … as the final notes die away, one is simply left with a strong temptation to shout “Bravo!”. – Brian Robins (Harpsichord & Fortepiano)Handel’s solo keyboard music has for too long been overshadowed by his operas, oratorios, and orchestral music. This comparative neglect seems unjust in view of the considerably large quantity of keyboard music which exists amongst his massive output. This third double CD set completes Gilbert Rowland’s survey of these groundbreaking works which began to free the form from the formal constraints of “Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Gigue”. Gilbert Rowland first studied the harpsichord with Millicent Silver. Whilst still a student at the Royal College of Music, he made his debut at Fenton House 1970 and first appeared at the Wigmore Hall in 1973. Recitals, appearances at major festivals in several countries, together with regular broadcasts, have helped to establish his reputation as one of Britain's leading harpsichordists. Reviewing volume 1, John Collins of The Consort said “The standard of playing is very high indeed, with some crisp articulation, appropriately added ornamentation in the repeats ... this is a most enjoyable recording.”
From Vol. 1:
The Great Violins
(Athene ath 23203)
Peter Sheppard Skærved (the Andrea Amati, 1570 violin)
A MAJOR NEW SERIES OF MUSICAL AND HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE
As well as being internationally recognised as a leading interpreter of music new and old, Peter Sheppard Skærved is the only violinist to have performed on the personal violins of Viotti, Paganini, Joachim, Kreisler and Ole Bull. In this new series, he plays music on these and many more instruments, many of which only he
has access to. In this first 2-CD set Peter plays the incredible 1570 Amati in the 12 Violin Fantasies and 12 Flute Fantasies of Telemann. The instrument is of course gut-strung, is tuned A:416 and the bow is by Antonino Airenti. The Flute fantasies are also perfect for performance on the violin.The series is supported by the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. and many other museums and institutions. Volume 2 will present the complete solo sonatas and partitas of J.S. Bach, played on the renowned ‘Joachim’ Stradivari of 1698.
Volume 2 should be released around the end of 2015, and the series will be open-ended with at least ten volumes planned so far. The Athene label, founded originally for historic piano recordings, has been re-launched to celebrate the commencement of this series.
Peter Sheppard Skærved talks about old instruments at TEDxBergen,
New Rock, Recently Released: Winchester Revival - Burden's Landing (King of Sticks - March 3, 2015)
Recently Released:
Winchester Revival - Burden's Landing
(King of Sticks - March 3, 2015)
• Buy the EP & Name Your Price
Oakland, CA based Winchester Revival is modern rock - not afraid of electronics and not usurped by them either for a sophisticated sound all their own. These are clearly experienced musicians with a lot of musical
ideas at their disposal.Their sound combines the familiar outlines of several pop/rock music genres, including 70's era pop tunes, shoegaze and alt-rock with a refreshing rhythmic complexity, intriguing lyrics and a combination of organic and electronic instrumentation that doesn't neglect or overwhelm either.
Last Night in Tokyo
Gonna melt your metal core
Palm Springs, take me down easy
Sun rise on the desert floor
It's the first single from the EP:
From Ides of January,
I get the story in fragments as I lay in our bed
Of an infinite highway and a grey limousine
A fan is churning the air across the prow of your head
There’s a white-knuckled driver with a sweat back sheen
David Rosenheim's vocals are expressive with an appropriate rock edge to them, embellished with some nice harmonies from Andrew Lund and Amanda Guilbeaux on some tracks.
Diligence is a stand out track, seamlessly combining chiming electronic notes with sampling over a crisp drum line, with the vocals floating on top of the mix. Keep It Together is a spacey and ethereal interlude that slides right into Salamander, the next track, where the ethereal elements are given movement by the rhythm section. There are catchy, anthemic elements that will have you humming along... then it morphs back into electronic shoegazing. It's a compelling track that epitomizes their kind of musical cookbook.
The EP ends with Ice Water, a track with more than a few shades of prog-rock in the musical mix and a dark sort of romanticism. They're an interesting group that I'll be looking for more from in the years to come.
Recorded with Justin Weis at Trakworx, San Francisco summer 2014.
All songs (C)2015 Winchester Revival - Carpal Tunnel Music (BMI)
Released by King of Sticks Recording Cooperative. Catalog # KOS024 www.kingofsticks.com
Members/Instruments: David Rosenheim: vocals, lyrics; Andrew Lund: guitars, backing vocals; Ron Cruz: bass guitar; Kirk Snedeker: drums; Matt Glick: electronics; with guest Amanda Guilbeaux on backing vocals
Record Label: King of Sticks
Tracklisting:1. Last Night In Tokyo
2. Ides of January
3. Diligence
4. Keep It Together
5. Salamander
6. Ice Water
Websites: https://www.facebook.com/WinchesterRevival
http://twitter.com/TheWinRev
http://winrev.net/
Toronto Artist Jon Sasaki Wins Glenfiddich 2015 Canadian Artist in Residency Prize
Fly Away Home...
Glenfiddich 2015 Canadian Artist in Residency Prize
Jon Sasaki
TORONTO - On March 25, 2015 there we gathered at the Spoke Club to toast the 2015 Glenfiddich Canadian Artist in Residency recipient, Toronto-based artist Jon Sasaki.
The prize is awarded annually and grants the recipients - who hail from eight different countries worldwide - a $20,000 prize and three heavenly months to create art in Dufftown, the Valley of the Deer and legendary home to Glenfiddich scotch.
Applying for the prize was a no-brainer for this year's winner, Jon Sasaki. "I have known a lot of previous recipients," he said. "It seems a perfect and fruitful place to make art." He noted the rich history and picturesque landscape - both elements that are incorporated into his proposed project, one way or another.
His proposal? "I'm going to be building an airplane," Jon says.
Of about 100 entrants, the idea immediately appealed to curator Andy Fairgrieve (left in the image below). "I think it's the insanity of it," he says of its appeal. "The proposals gauge the engagement of the artists with the site," he explains of the judging process.
Jon adds, "There will be a working airplane. The process will help define success and failure. I began thinking about the landscape; I had the idea of taking it all in at once." Once he started doing the research, the connection with Dufftown came into focus. "I was doing my research and realized that many of these elements were Scottish inventions." He points out that braided aircraft cable, the 2-stroke engine and tubular steel were all invented by Scots.
His idea of a single seat, two-stroke aircraft actually comes from the cover of a 1981 issue of Popular Mechanics.
Along with the time, space and opportunity to get away from Toronto's distractions, creating in a community of artists is another attraction. "That's another thing that interests me - there are eight other artists and opportunities to bounce ideas around."
Jon's current work (and he has a show at the Ottawa Art Gallery as we speak) consists of video, installations, objects, interventions and performances and is often tied in with notions of invention and ingenuity. "That's probably a good umbrella for it," he agrees, adding his fascination with Romantic era notions of the solitary pioneer. "It's about making do and perseverance."
In one video, he drives with a map in his face while scenery speeds by outside the window. In another, he's furiously cycling an un-speeded old 10-speed bike in competition with traffic. 'The Romantic Journey' is a tandem bicycle, disassembled and reassembled into a solitary bike. There is a wry sense of humour to much of his work.
"It has the appearance of spontaneity but the choices are conscious," he explains of his pieces. "There is always a tension between what I can control and some things I can't. My work embraces the possibility of failure and sometimes even courts it."
Andy agrees. "I loved the idea of the single seat aircraft. In Jon's work, there's a kind of celebration of failure."
But then he adds, "We have so much confidence in Jon's work that we only bought him a one-way ticket."
@GlenfiddichSMW
#AIR2015
@glenfiddichwhisky
From Jon's piece "I Promise It Will Always Be This Way" for Nuit Blanche 2008
Glenfiddich 2015 Canadian Artist in Residency Prize
Jon Sasaki
TORONTO - On March 25, 2015 there we gathered at the Spoke Club to toast the 2015 Glenfiddich Canadian Artist in Residency recipient, Toronto-based artist Jon Sasaki.
The prize is awarded annually and grants the recipients - who hail from eight different countries worldwide - a $20,000 prize and three heavenly months to create art in Dufftown, the Valley of the Deer and legendary home to Glenfiddich scotch.Applying for the prize was a no-brainer for this year's winner, Jon Sasaki. "I have known a lot of previous recipients," he said. "It seems a perfect and fruitful place to make art." He noted the rich history and picturesque landscape - both elements that are incorporated into his proposed project, one way or another.
His proposal? "I'm going to be building an airplane," Jon says.
Of about 100 entrants, the idea immediately appealed to curator Andy Fairgrieve (left in the image below). "I think it's the insanity of it," he says of its appeal. "The proposals gauge the engagement of the artists with the site," he explains of the judging process.
Jon adds, "There will be a working airplane. The process will help define success and failure. I began thinking about the landscape; I had the idea of taking it all in at once." Once he started doing the research, the connection with Dufftown came into focus. "I was doing my research and realized that many of these elements were Scottish inventions." He points out that braided aircraft cable, the 2-stroke engine and tubular steel were all invented by Scots.
His idea of a single seat, two-stroke aircraft actually comes from the cover of a 1981 issue of Popular Mechanics.Along with the time, space and opportunity to get away from Toronto's distractions, creating in a community of artists is another attraction. "That's another thing that interests me - there are eight other artists and opportunities to bounce ideas around."
Jon's current work (and he has a show at the Ottawa Art Gallery as we speak) consists of video, installations, objects, interventions and performances and is often tied in with notions of invention and ingenuity. "That's probably a good umbrella for it," he agrees, adding his fascination with Romantic era notions of the solitary pioneer. "It's about making do and perseverance."
In one video, he drives with a map in his face while scenery speeds by outside the window. In another, he's furiously cycling an un-speeded old 10-speed bike in competition with traffic. 'The Romantic Journey' is a tandem bicycle, disassembled and reassembled into a solitary bike. There is a wry sense of humour to much of his work.
"It has the appearance of spontaneity but the choices are conscious," he explains of his pieces. "There is always a tension between what I can control and some things I can't. My work embraces the possibility of failure and sometimes even courts it."
Andy agrees. "I loved the idea of the single seat aircraft. In Jon's work, there's a kind of celebration of failure." But then he adds, "We have so much confidence in Jon's work that we only bought him a one-way ticket."
@GlenfiddichSMW
#AIR2015
@glenfiddichwhisky
From Jon's piece "I Promise It Will Always Be This Way" for Nuit Blanche 2008
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