Sunday May 25 & Sunday June 1 <br>The Music Gallery and <a href="http://zoilus.com">zoilus.com</a> present<br>CONCRETE TORONTO MUSIC<br>As part of the soundaXis Festival<br><br>*** Toronto indie and contemporary musicians get brutalist on iconic city buildings ***<br>
<br>Two concerts in two special *concrete* locations:<br><br>Sunday May 25 @ Polish Combatants Hall, 206 Beverley St.<br>Doors 7pm, concert 8pm<br>Tickets: $20 regular/$15 member + senior/$10 student<br><br>Sunday June 1 @ Ontario Science Centre, 770 Don Mills Rd.<br>
2-5pm
• FREE with admission to OSC — OR purchase tickets: $20 regular/$15
member + student INCLUDING SCHOOL BUS RIDE from Music Gallery (meet at
12:45pm)<br><br>Advance tickets available at <a href="http://www.ticketweb.ca/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.ticketweb.ca</a><br>More info: <a href="http://www.musicgallery.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.musicgallery.org</a> + <a href="http://www.soundaxis.ca/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.soundaxis.ca</a><br>
<br>Performers: <br>•
Carla Huhtanen (voice) and Wallace Halladay (saxophone) performing a
newly commissioned piece by composer Erik Ross, featuring text by
Darren O'Donnell and Carl Wilson <br>• CCMC (legendary improvising trio: Paul Dutton, voice; John Oswald, saxophone; Michael Snow, keyboards) *** May 25 only<br>• Sandro Perri (electronics) and Tony Dekker (guitar and voice)<br>
• Smith & Wiernik (electronics and visuals)<br>• Knurl (contact mic'ed concrete slabs with effects)<br><br>About Concrete Toronto Music <br>Concrete
Toronto Music is a concert of original new music, created by Toronto
composers and musicians, in response to Toronto's Concrete
Architecture, as catalogued in the 2007 book Concrete Toronto (ERA
Architects/Coach House Books, Michael McClelland and Graeme Stewart,
editors). Many iconic buildings, such as City Hall and the Ontario
Science Centre, used concrete as their primary material during the
building frenzy that gave expression to the growth of Toronto in the
decades of the 1950s to the 1970s. The Music Gallery has commissioned a
significant handful of Toronto-based composers and musicians to create
new works that pay tribute to Toronto's concrete legacy, experiment
with concrete's mutability and explore these buildings' role in the
city's psycho-geography. These two concerts take place in two of the
actual concrete buildings – the Polish Combatants Hall (Wieslaw
Wodkiewicz, architect) and the Ontario Science Centre (Raymond
Moriyama, architect). Curated by Jonathan Bunce and Carl Wilson
(<a href="http://zoilus.com">zoilus.com</a>, author of Let's Talk About Love).<br><br>CCMC: This free
improvisational band and true Toronto institution has been reinventing
itself, with shifting constellations and consistent questing spirit,
for over four decades. For the last 13 years, CCMC has been the trio of
Michael Snow (piano and synthesizer), John Oswald (alto sax), and
"concrete" poet Paul Dutton (soundsinging and harmonica), who carry on
the iconoclastic practice of the original CCMC formed in 1975 by Snow
and four others. Please note: CCMC will be performing on May 25 at the
Polish Combatants Hall ONLY.<br><br>Tony Dekker <br>Tony Dekker is a
singer/songwriter who explores the worlds of indie folk, roots music
and alt-country, with a focus on lyrics and songwriting, making unique
references to the City of Toronto's geography. Known for haunting,
somber ballads, Dekker's sound blends natural reverb with folky
arrangements and inspirational lyrics. Three albums have been released
to date (the latest, Ongiara, named for the Toronto Island Ferry),
which have had Dekker and his the band on the move for the past few
years, playing venues across Canada, the United States, Europe, and
Australia. <a href="http://www.weewerk.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.weewerk.com</a><br><br>Wallace Halladay<br>Canadian
saxophonist Wallace Halladay captures the qualities of the modern
virtuoso, being at home in numerous styles, from the traditional to
jazz and beyond. A specialist in the performance of contemporary music,
he has commissioned and premiered numerous works. As soloist, he has
performed concerti by Ibert, Schmitt, Husa, Scelsi and Donatoni, as
well as premieres of Colgrass, Kagel and Scott Good. Wallace recorded
the two saxophone Sequenzas of Berio and the Colgrass concerto for
NAXOS. He has been presented by and performed with new music groups and
orchestras across Canada and the US. Wallace holds a doctorate from
Eastman, and studied in Amsterdam with Arno Bornkamp. Wallace is a
Conn-Selmer Artist and plays Selmer (Paris) saxophones.<br><br>Carla Huhtanen<br>Carla
began her professional career at Teatro La Fenice (Venice) in
Gershwin's Lady, Be Good! and Cherubini's Anacreon in 2000. She sang
Angelica in Handel's Orlando and the title role in Purcell's Fairy
Queen, touring Provence. Her UK debut was for Garsington Opera —
Lisetta in La Gazzetta (2001) and Serpetta in La Finta Giardiniera
(2003). Other highlights include Bernstein's Candide with the BBC
Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic and the National Orchestra of Malta.
At home in Toronto, she sings with Opera Atelier and Tapestry New
Opera. Recent performances include Salonen's Five Images after Sappho
(KW Symphony) and Tapestry's Opera to Go. Future engagements include
Blizzard Voices (Moravec) with Opera Omaha and Opera Atelier's Die
Entführung.<br><br>Knurl, a.k.a. Alan Bloor, is one of the premier
noise artists in Canada. Knurl began as a solo project in late 1994
with the idea to take music as we know it and strip it entirely of what
we know music to be: its rhythm, melody, and vocals. Using contact mics
and scrap metal, his work is at times reminiscent of the likes of
Daniel Menche and Haters. Knurl has released work with Alien8
Recordings, RRR and Self Abuse, among many other labels. Recordings of
Knurl are always without the assistance of computers, synthesizers or
samplers. <br><br>Sandro Perri is a Toronto-based musician/producer
who has been steadily developing a unique voice since his 1999 debut as
Polmo Polpo. Utilizing percussion, electronics, lap steel guitar or
harmonica to create a rich world of sound like dub without the reggae,
his music moves across a spectrum of styles including dance, drone,
pop, minimalism, noise, jazz and more. Recently he has dipped further
into improvisation and vocal-based songwriting, both solo and in
collaboration with Great Lake Swimmers, Glissandro 70 and Double
Suicide. <a href="http://www.sandroperri.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.sandroperri.com</a>.<br><br>Erik Ross<br>Dr.
Erik Ross composes for all media. He has had performances of his works
in Canada, the United States, Mexico, England, Japan and Australia. He
recently completed an accordion and audio piece for Joseph Petric as
well as an ensemble piece for Toca Loca's P*P Project. Projects for
this year include a large work for the Evergreen Club Contemporary
Gamelan, an audio/chamber piece for Wallace Halladay and Ryan Scott,
and a piece for the Hannaford Street Silver Band. <a href="http://www.erikross.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.erikross.com</a>.<br> <br>Smith
& Wiernik is a multi-media project dedicated to the
recontextualization of urban space. A venture between Neil Wiernik
& Greg J. Smith, the collaboration is a creative vehicle for the
duo's diverse backgrounds in architecture, audio art, drawing and
musical composition. The project is an experiment in the creation of
"site specific" audio-visual pieces which document the experiential
qualities, history, geometry and character of the architectural and
infrastructural spaces of the city around us. Concrete Toronto marks
the first performance of what will be an ongoing collaboration. <a href="http://serialconsign.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://serialconsign.com</a> + <a href="http://phoniq.net/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://phoniq.net</a>.