I’m very happy to announce suddenlyLISTEN Music’s Tenth Anniversary concert season! It’s been quite an adventure building and listening to our collaborations over the years, and I’m really proud that suddenlyLISTEN has managed to present some really fantastic concerts of a huge variety of improvised music. This season will celebrate those past concerts by bringing back some our favorite collaborations as well as presenting guests that I’ve always wanted to introduce to Halifax audiences. All the while we’ll be showcasing some of Halifax’s brilliant improvisers.
suddenlyLISTEN kicks off its celebrations on Friday, September 10th at 1313 Hollis, with SPIN, a concertfeaturing Montreal turntablist Martin Tétreault, Halifax percussionist extraordinaire D’Arcy Gray and me, Norman Adams, suddenlyLISTEN’s Artistic Director.
Martin is one of those people I’ve always wanted to invite to play in Halifax. He’s one of the core members of the Montreal scene, and is a DJ like you’ve never heard before! To Martin the turntable is an electronic music instrument. He creates noise and sonic textures by scratching different surfaces, and amplifying parts of the turntable itself, yet I’ve heard him spin records to create melody and harmonic support to melodic instruments. I think that combining Martin with the colourful playing of D’Arcy and my melodic cello playing will create a collective sound that will be amazing to experience!
The second Main Series concert , in out everywhere and beyond, on November 4th will feature one of my favourite musicians, pianist Lee Pui Ming. The concert will be a recreation of a collaboration we presented in 2005 with Pui Ming, myself, and percussionist Erin Donovan. Pui Ming is an artist with a truly individual voice, she plays with clear, very musical ideas, yet peppers things with moments of sonic anarchy! Erin is one of the original five from suddenlyLISTEN’s first concerts in 2000 – 2002. Her music is usually made on small instruments and sound makers - magically played and achingly beautiful - it’s like bringing thesounds of nature indoors!
Our third concert Having Wandered This Far on February 3rd 2011 will bring the Crofts/Adams/Pearse Trio to our mainstage along with internationally acclaimed percussionist Gerry Hemingway. Hemingway has played with all the American and European stars of improvised music including Anthony Braxton (for several years), George Lewis, Georg Graewe and the Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger, as well as sL “alumni” Marilyn Crispell and Miya Masaoka. The C/A/P Trio: Tim Crofts, myself and Lukas Pearse have toured eastern Canada and released the cd ‘Sonomatopia’, but have never been presented on the suddenlyLISTEN Main Series, so this is a belated debut! We are really excited about sharing the stage with such a major artist and thrilled we will record this concert for a new CD release.
The Main Series concludes May 19th and 20th with Oceans Deep, presenting EHRES featuring Pauline Oliveros. This group brings myself, my brother electronic musician John DS Adams, (another of the original five members of suddenlyLISTEN) and the wonderful American wordsmith Ione together with accordionist Pauline Oliveros, one of the most important musical innovators and thinkers of our time. This collaboration was born in 2005 on the suddenlyLISTEN series, and we have played together in New York, Ontario and Banff since. I’m very happy and honoured to bring them all back to Halifax. Our concerts are an immersive experience, with sounds and words traveling around the performance space, through multiple speakers, and a complex processing network. The music that results is truly transcendent. you will remember this event for a long time!
We will continue our bi- weekly Monday Improvisation Workshops at 1313 Hollis, beginning on September 20th. The Workshop, now in its sixth year, has become a meeting place for a community of musicians to gather to listen, make free music and learn from others.
We are also producing two special projects this season: In celebration of our anniversary, suddenlyLISTEN is commissioning Halifax composer Sandy Moore to create a piece that will be performed at a downtown Halifax shopping mall in the winter of 2011. Be prepared for a musical adventure, with a large cast of musicians of all ages! Some details of this project will be released as they develop, and some details will left a surprise!
suddenlyLISTEN will venture into cyberspace again with another telematic project. This year we will facilitate the collaborative creation of a piece to be performed online. This music will be created and performed by music students from universities in Halifax, California and Taiwan!
Please join suddenlyLISTEN as we embark for the 10th time on our musical adventures, creating events that open your ears and minds to the power of music and collaboration.
Aug 24, 2010 at 17:16