Measha Brueggergosman-Lee. Zombie Blizzard. “There you have it: zombie.” Zombie Blizzard is the latest release from soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, so I was surprised to hear novelist and poet Margaret Atwood’s deadpan croak upon pressing “play.” Each of these seven new settings composed by pianist[...] Read more

Recordings Leanne Kaufman Issue 149

2024 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville The extraordinary nature of Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) came into sharp focus this year. Last year Michel Levasseur announced his retirement as artistic and general director of the festival, which he founded and shepherded through thirty-nine editions[...] Read more

Concerts and Events Stuart Broomer Issue 149

2023 Guelph Jazz Festival. The Guelph Jazz Festival celebrated its thirtieth anniversary this year, a significant milestone for the forward-looking festival. The festival presented free park concerts in far-flung neighborhoods, which they began doing during the COVID-19 years, as well as ticketed concerts in multiple[...] Read more

Concerts and Events Stuart Broomer

Mark Takeshi McGregor. Starts and Stops. Mark Takeshi McGregor is more than just a highly skilled virtuoso. Only a handful of musicians out there could match his ability to create music that does not let go until the very end. McGregor interprets every piece as if it were his last, and he does it with wisdom and devotion.[...] Read more

Recordings Piotr Grella-Możejko Issue 147

Cassandra Miller. Traveller Song / Thanksong. The Canadian-born composer Cassandra Miller often uses existing music as the starting point for her own work. In the case of Warblework, written for Quatuor Bozzini, she incorporated the songs of four North American thrushes. She does something similar in the two pieces on Traveller Song /[...] Read more

Recordings René van Peer Issue 147

ICOT Chamber Orchestra. Recurrence. Repetition, in many guises, is the theme of this resonant and evocative new recording from the ICOT Chamber Orchestra, which features some of Canada’s finest chamber musicians playing new works by five Canadian composers.   Nature’s pleasing repetition appears in[...] Read more

Recordings Helen Pridmore Issue 147

Eve Egoyan and Mauricio Pauly. Hopeful Monster. Expanding her reach beyond contemporary notated music interpretations, Toronto’s Eve Egoyan has created her first all-improvised session with these ten selections. Her partner here is Costa Rican-born Vancouverite Mauricio Pauly, who manipulates all sorts of prepared acoustic and[...] Read more

Recordings Ken Waxman Issue 147

Sophie Dupuis. Comme Bon Lui Semble. On Comme Bon Lui Semble, Sophie Dupuis crafts eerie atmospheres with a dreamy haze. The New Brunswick-based composer and violinist is an expert at writing diaphanous melodies using ghostly extended techniques. With this album, which takes its inspiration from visual art, she showcases her[...] Read more

Recordings Vanessa Ague Issue 147

Kris Davis. Diatom Ribbons Live at the Village Vanguard. Kris Davis’s 2019 album Diatom Ribbons was a giant step forward in the Canadian pianist’s discography, if not in the continued integration of electronics and turntables with jazz. She’s hardly been quiet since then. A duo with saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock, a second album from[...] Read more

Recordings Kurt Gottschalk Issue 147

Witch Prophet. Gateway Experience Discovery and understanding are tenets of the work of Witch Prophet, aka Ethiopian-Eritrean Canadian musician Ayo Leilani. Her 2020 album DNA Activation was a prism reflecting the range of the African diaspora experience. On her third album, Gateway Experience, the Toronto-based artist[...] Read more

Recordings Leslie Ken Chu Issue 145

Spektral Quartet, Julia Holter, and Alex Temple. Behind the Wallpaper Behind the Wallpaper occupies the unknown space just before a transformation is complete. Inspired by composer Alex Temple’s gender transition, the album explores themes of renewal and realization and is performed by Chicago’s Spektral Quartet and singer-songwriter Julia Holter.[...] Read more

Recordings Vanessa Ague Issue 145