Thursday, April 11, music starts 21:00, € 9 / students € 6

MERCURY
Mercury is a Montreal-based improvising duo, a product of a long-time collaboration between Lori Freedman and Nicolas Caloia. After some 15 years of playing, recording, writing and talking together Mercury decided to develop a concert repertoire that reflects the ideas of “open form” composition specific to the current approach in Montreal. With seamless welding of both written and improvised parts this singular sound comes from music that is dynamic and conversational in structure, rich with polyphonic and gestural elements. Each piece has its own particular playful quality and is animated by these two veteran musicians.

Lori Freedman is one of the most important Canadian avant-garde musicians of her generation and her bass clarinet playing is unprecedented. Highlighted among her performances she has played wth Steve Lacy, Roscoe Mitchell, Misha Mengelberg, Joe McPhee, Toshimaru Nakamura, Rohan de Saram, John Butcher, Joëlle Léandre, George Lewis, Axel Dörner, Phil Minton, Frances-Marie Uitti and Richard Barrett.

Nicolas Caloia, with his surprising and unique musical voice is an unparalleled force in the Canadian creative music scene. As bass player, composer, and bandleader Caloia’s music can be heard in ongoing collaborations with Tristan Honsinger, Joe McPhee, Matana Roberts, Malcolm Goldstein, Sam Shalabi, Jean Derome, Joshua Zubot, and Yves Charuest, and in past projects with Roscoe Mitchell, Marshall Allen, Steve Lacy, Hassan Hakmoun, William Parker, and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Check it out.

Lori Freedman – clarinets | Nicolas Caloia – double bass

MARTIN VAN DUYNHOVEN
Martin van Duynhoven is one of the most renowned jazz drummers of the Netherlands, and has been since he graduated the conservatory of Tilburg in 1962. He composed for television, worked as a graphic designer, and was one of the first drummers to experiment with time signatures, a.o. in his own Percussion Ensemble. He won the Buma Boy Edgar Prijs in 1984.

Martin van Duynhoven – drums

ANDERS ABELSETH
With a background in classical music and often feeling constrained, the Norwegian saxophone player Anders Abelseth has found his own way of playing music. Working with inspiration from different genres, art forms and other things, he creates music in his own image. The music is playful and experimental while exploring the possibilities of solo saxophone and how to develop a varied solo
performance. Anders has a master’s degree in music performance from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway. Throughout the years he has also studied in Denmark and Spain. He performs regularly with different ensembles and bands as well as doing his own solo material. He is a versatile musician with roots in contemporary music but is also to be found in other music scenes such as jazz, folk and classical.

With his solo project Anders wishes to explore his own musical voice through improvisation and the performance of his own tunes.

Anders Abelseth – saxophone