Flux

Flux features Pierre-Yves Martel (Montreal), Norm Adams, Jacinte Armstrong, and D'Arcy Gray. Two duos perform: Jacinte and D'Arcy with pieces by John Cage, and Pierre-Yves and Norm join analog synthesizer and cello for improvised duos.

Pierre-Yves Martel is a Montreal-based musician and composer whose work moves between early music and contemporary experimental practices. A specialist of the viola da gamba, he also explores modular synthesis, field recording, and other instruments, approaching sound as sound—focusing on timbre, texture, and the act of listening itself. His wide-ranging output includes numerous solo albums, long-standing collaborations such as Hübsch Martel Zoubek, film scores (including Marche au pays réel by Marie-France L’Écuyer), and original music for the arts and philosophy podcast Weird Studies. Alongside an active international concert career, Martel develops site-specific and long-form projects (such as the 600-minute Ephemera for Radio Bloc Oral), often blending improvisation, composition, and soundscape.

D’Arcy Gray is a very versatile musician who has played a great deal of orchestral, solo, chamber music, interdisciplinary, and free improv shows in many countries over the last 20 years. Originally from Amherst (well, Tidnish actually), he studied percussion at McGill University and the Juilliard School. He also studied electronic music with David Tudor in New York and at STEIM in Amsterdam. In the last 15 years he has given first performances of over 100 new pieces.

In early 1990's D'Arcy was a performer for Merce Cunningham Dance of New York, and travelled the world playing the music of John Cage and David Tudor.

As an educator, D’Arcy has taught at the university level since 1991. He has been a guest artist or given workshops at many prestigious institutions like the Banff Centre, New Music Concerts, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Cal Arts, and the Lincoln Centre Institute. He taught percussion at McGill University from 1991-2008.

D’Arcy moved back to Nova Scotia in 2008 to teach at Dalhousie University (The Fountain School of Performing Arts) until 2020. He has played frequently with Symphony Nova Scotia, and enjoys other collaborations with suddenlyLISTEN, MusIkon, and many other local artists. D'Arcy is currently the Education and Community Outreach Coordinator at Symphony Nova Scotia.

Jacinte Armstrong is an artist based in Halifax/K’jipuktuk, NS. Her work explores embodied practice through performance, choreography, collaboration, and curation, communicating the experience of the body in relation to objects, materials, sounds and people. She performs regularly with SiNS (Sometimes in Nova Scotia) Dance, Mocean Dance and was Artistic Director of Kinetic Studio from 2014-18. Since 2015, Jacinte has been part of 8DAYS8JOURS, an annual gathering of Canadian choreographers. In 2020 she completed her MFA at NSCAD University. Jacinte has been Co-Artistic Director of suddenlyLISTEN since 2023.

Norman Adams is a cellist who has evolved beyond his training and long career in classical music to reinvent his voice as an interpreter, improviser, sound artist and transdisciplinary performer. He is also an educator, mentor, podcaster, volunteer and cycling coach. Norm is founding Artistic Director of suddenlyLISTEN Music, an organisation that has produced and presented concerts, residencies, outreach and tours of new and improvised music and performance for the past 25 years. Norm is a former Principal Cellist of Symphony Nova Scotia (1991-2018), was guest Principal Cellist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and has performed chamber, new and improvised music across Canada, the US, Europe and the UK.

Norman’s passion is creating, performing and presenting new, improvised and electronic music. Through this work he has had opportunities to collaborate with many leading artists including Joëlle Léandre, Gerry Hemingway, Eddie Prévost, Pauline Oliveros, Sam Shalabi and Marilyn Crispell. He currently tours with Stra:ta (with Brandon Auger), Collateral (with Sam Shalabi and Tim Crofts), and in an as yet unnamed duo with Joe Sorbara.

Tickets:

• Available at the doors

• $25 or PWYC