Back to Back
Co-presented with the Music Gallery and Toronto New Music Projects, Back to Back is a concert of works for small ensemble by experimentalist extraordinaire Vinko Globokar. This concert testifies to Globokar’s interest in the theatrical implications of musical performance, where the perfectly absurd is crafted, revered, celebrated, and absurdly perfected.
Au-dela d’une etude pour percussion (Beyond an Etude for percussion) is a work for percussion instruments but also a work which explores the interests of the percussionist who performs it. There are entire sections of the piece devoted to the hobbies of the performer such as “fencing, karate, gymnastics, boxing, ballet or modern dance, tap dancing, the production of noises with the body, the recitation of poems, a variety of cries or mime.” I very much look forward to seeing what percussionist David Schotzko has in store for us!
In Dos à Dos, featuring Wallace Halladay (saxophone) and Dave Pell (trombone), an interpersonal dynamic is flamboyantly dramatized onstage as the musicians walk about, confront each other and shout. As Michele Lomuto writes, “Attraction and repulsion, hate and love, identity and opposition. Are these human relationships represented by the music or originated by it, so that the man can understand them from the music itself? Dos à Dos might be played by two musicians that don’t know the answer to this question or even contest its own legitimacy”.
This first half of the concert also includes a once in a lifetime opportunity to witness a group improvisation with Globokar (he has been known to include the audience … be prepared!).
After intermission is the epic Terres Brullees, Ensuite … (Burned Lands, Then … ). Prepare for global annihilation! This trio for Saxophone, piano and percussion featuring Wallace Halladay, Stephen Clarke (piano) and myself, is of legendary proportions and is rather difficult to describe: 6 saxophones, a prepared (and lightly abused) piano, over 70 percussion instruments (i.e. #43 plank) spread around the stage in 7 stations, 115 performance instructions (i.e. #21 Saw the plank and hammer in a nail), with lighting designed by Sandor Ajzenstat and live electronics performed by Thomas Kessler, a legend in his field. What else? Hmmm … a motet … a foghorn … oh, and explosions with fire (well, we’re working on that).
This event, together with a New Music Concerts performance on December 11, creates a rare concentration of Globokar’s work that is not to be missed.
For more information or to purchase tickets, go to the Back to Back concert page.
Back to Back
Friday, December 9, 8 pm
The Music Gallery, 197 John Street
$30 adults / $15 students, seniors, arts workers & Music Gallery members
Ryan Scott
Co-Artistic Director
