Arraymusic has shifted its artistic leadership model away from a single Artistic Director to a group of specialized curators, while still providing the experienced artistic, production, and administrative oversight necessary to successfully create and execute compelling and coherent artistic programming consistent with Array’s organizational vision over the short- and long-terms. The new structure features three curators with staggered three-year terms. Each curator will program an annual series that Arraymusic will produce through the course of their term.
THE ARRAY ENSEMBLE has been bringing cutting edge contemporary chamber music to audiences since 1972 and in 2022|23 celebrates its 50th Anniversary! One of the founding members of Canada’s new music scene, Array’s Ensemble is foremost a virtuosic chamber group that exists to take risks and push the boundaries of musical expression.
The Array Ensemble is widely recognized for its innovative, eclectic repertoire and for consistently virtuosic performances. The Ensemble is also prized for commissioning composers young to old, new to established, from all cultures, and working with them to create the ultimate performance experience.
Array’s group has premiered hundreds of works by notable Canadian and International composers who have written for them, including Jo Kondo, Walter Zimmermann, Christian Wolff, Terry Riley, James Tenney, Claude Vivier, Gerald Barry, Raven Chacon, Dai Fujikura, Nicole Lizee (and former Artistic Directors) Linda Catlin Smith, Martin Arnold, and Allison Cameron. Arraymusic’s members have studied the rich patrimony of classical music, as well as many other traditional and emerging musics but, collectively, are fully contemporary, open and unorthodox in their approach.
Tours have included appearances at the Athens, Huddersfield, Belfast, and Vienna Modern Festivals, Festival Musiques en Scène in Lyon, New Music America, and the North American New Music Festival. Arraymusic has released 5 compact discs under its own name – Strange City/Ville Étrange, Chroma, New World, Music from Big Pictures, 25 Miniatures, Arraylive! and Array Legacy – all acclaimed for their artistic excellence and high production values; other performances are available on compilation discs.
At its heart, this ensemble is full of wit, humanity and imagination in possession of a distinctive vigour that makes it one of Canada’s true, if under-discovered, national treasures.
WHAT THEY SAY…
“One of Canada’s finest new music groups.” — Glen Hall, Exclaim
“One of North America’s more astonishing founts of new music…” — The Village Voice
“Some of the most exciting performance works of this century…” — The Globe and Mail
“… a virtuoso display of timing and technique.” — The Toronto Star
“… leaves the audience speechless before they stand to break into applause. This ensemble is a model for all musicians — ‘contemporary’ or not.” — Bulletin de Collectif et Cie, Annecy
“… this sophisticated and refined septet of first-rate players from Toronto would compel and fascinate any pair of ears… Arraymusic’s sound was radiant.” — The Mail-Star, Halifax
“Their ensemble playing is of enviable precision…they function like a music machine, but above and beyond this they prevail and breathe life into the performance. … Arraymusic’s musicians… seduce with expansive, sensuous sounds.” — Basel (Switzerland)
“A serious ambassador of the [North] American avant garde.” — Mannheimer Morgen
“I want to thank and congratulate you on a fine performance yesterday in the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre. It was the perfect program for that crowd and, judging by the audience response, you won over some new supporters for the contemporary cause. The combination of your artistic integrity and the warm, insightful, entertaining commentary with the obvious joy of your music making made for a really dynamic and engaging hour.” — Nina Draganic, Former Programming Director, Canadian Opera Company’s Noon-hour Series
Bruce Russell
Bruce A. Russell aka Ibrahim El Mahboob (he/him, b. 1968) is a composer and self-taught pianist living and working in Toronto (Tkarón:to, the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat). He studied at York University with James Tenney and Phillip Werren. His early years were spent playing in bands and releasing DIY cassettes of art pop and experimental music, as well as composing predominantly electronic scores for dance, theatre and interdisciplinary productions.
Frustrated by systemic racism, personal struggles, and a lack of interest in his work, he stopped seeking a career in music. He continued composing in private, however, sometimes sharing his work through social media. Interest in his work increased in 2020, resulting in performances by Second Note Duo, Prism Percussion, the San Juan Symphony, Idaho Falls Symphony, Grant Park Orchestra and Regina Symphony Orchestra. Arraymusic presented the first full concert of his music in November of that year, and he will be Composer in Residence at Array for three seasons from 2022 through 2025.
He has composed new works for Gryphon Trio, the Madawaska Quartet and Thin Edge New Music Collective. He is currently creating music for Ian Kamau’s live multi-media work Loss. He was the host of Radio Music Gallery and has written for Musicworks and I Care if You Listen. His interests are in 20th and 21st century concert music especially postminimalism, and music of the African diaspora.
“Behaviours features artist-musicians who boldly integrate digital technology and interactivity into musical production and performance. Each installment aims to uncover new practices in both creating sound work and relaying new discoveries via performance and presentation. In this series, I will question the traditional performance space and the conditions it creates for listening experiences, challenge those conditions, and create new experiences.
As an artist, I’m greatly inspired by the community and innovation built through the development of collaborative technology. Computer programming and interactive media software, for example, have provided many of us with a more in-depth perspective on the quality and science of sound. These tools have also given us infrastructure to co-create with other musicians and with audiences. In programming, “behaviours” are tasks that are performed based on a given input. They take in information and transmit a corresponding result. They are inherently interactive and function on a user-defined logic.
With or without digital technology, I’m fascinated by artists who are able to create personalized systems of logic in which their sound works exist, and create connections with others.
In my time at Array, I look forward to working with musicians in the fields of sound installation & sculpture, computer programming, sound toys & games, invention, and traditional performance that centers interactivity. In softening the barrier between artist and performer, Behaviours will present novel and impactful sound art performances.”
Zoma Maduekwe
Zoma is a sound and installation artist and new media instructor. She uses experimental technology and practices to create personal, intuitive and didactic experiences with sound production and performance. She explores the digital and electronic tools used to create and experience sonic artwork, conducts research in music technology, and designs and builds interfaces for digital media production. Zoma currently teaches graphic design and new media at OCAD University and TMU.
Enter Duo Cichorium’s Playscape Emporium, a six-part series built around storytelling through cross-disciplinary collaboration. Each event in the series will feature a distinct artistic medium, blending music, dance, theater, visual art, poetry, puppetry, and video games. Duo Cichorium and their guest artists will craft unique narratives that blend their creative styles, resulting in unpredictable and engaging performances.
OF DANCES AND DREAMS explores the surreal nature of existence through choreography in Angela Blumberg’s The Great Dream, followed by an improvised dance and music set featuring Duo Cichorium and the ensemble Teething. ARCADE-PALOOZA merges gaming with live music, with sets by Toronto gaming and music ensemble Render File, culminating in the premiere of Duo Cichorium’s interactive multimedia work, The Sylvan Legacy. THEATRICS showcases theatrical chamber music with Rzewski’s Fall of the Empire and the premiere of Domenic Clarke’s Adore, concluding with Raymond Luedeke’s whimsical Garbage Delight featuring Hee-Soo Yoon and the Toronto Saxophone Collective. PAINT, PLAY focuses on improvisation driven by visual art, including Duo Cichorium’s Canvas Conductor and interactive installations, featuring the work of Constant Yen, Rowan Campbell, and the duo’s own Jasmine Tsui. PUPPET ZONE highlights the collaboration between puppetry and music, featuring Mabel Wonnacott’s Paper Man and the premiere of Cheyenne McLean and Mark Terrett’s Puppet Musical with live foley and music by Duo Cichorium and guest musicians. Finally POETRY GALACTICA presents co-creations between Duo Cichorium and two Toronto-based poets, including a poetry play by Nicci Pryce and poetry opera by Nevada-Jane Arlow, blending theatrical narratives, structured improvisation, and poetic expression.
Duo Cichorium
Duo Cichorium consists of interdisciplinary percussionists Jaz Tsui and Louis Pino. Their participation in diverse artistic communities — spanning chamber music performance, improvisation, theater, DIY instrument creation, and visual media — has allowed them to develop a praxis largely involving cross-disciplinary collaboration. These elements are blended together to create performances that are both visually and sonically captivating, often incorporating whimsical and surreal elements rooted in playfulness, absurdity, and abstraction. Throughout their tenure as curators at ArrayMusic, they will produce concerts focused on storytelling through various forms of media and performance, with each performance blending improvised music with a different artistic practice.