Hillary Jean Young is a musician, vocalist, and improviser working in experimental music, new opera, and contemporary chamber music. Hillary has performed with numerous ensembles and collectives, such as kallisti chamber opera, OperaQ, red fish blue fish, Quintagious!, FAWN Chamber Creative, Din of Shadows, and The Happenstancers. In 2019, Hillary earned their Doctor of Musical Arts in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where they studied with Grammy award-winning soprano Susan Narucki. In addition to their work as a performer, Hillary has held curatorial and administrative roles with Continuum Contemporary Music, Paper Bag Records, and Oxingale Music.
I am absolutely thrilled to be representing Ontario on the CNMN board of directors. I believe whole-heartedly in CNMN’s mission, and I look forward to helping to shape the future of this organization. I have a deep admiration for the ways in which CNMN encourages collaboration and connection through music and sound while still prioritizing accessibility, and I am excited to have the opportunity to both continue and build upon that invaluable work.
As a Franco-ontarian living in Germany for more than ten years, I terribly miss the two solitudes that make up my linguistic and cultural identity. For this reason, I‘m extremely happy to be a part of the CNMN board and to connect with dedicated artists from sea to sea. Furthermore, I look forward to sharing knowledge from my experiences working in a predominantly European context and from my areas of expertise, works for the stage and for younger audiences (ages 3 to 16).
Thierry Tidrow (*1986, Ottawa) is an award-winning Canadian composer of instrumental and vocal music, with a predilection for opera. His music has been described as “embracing many musical worlds, in which explorations of noise, expressionist lyricism, pastiche and parody form a discursive and richly detailed whole.” (ECM+ Generations Jury 2018) This audacious synthesis of styles gives rise to a chiaroscuro of meaning, often playful, but where the humourous can quickly turn to the horrific or tragic and back. His studied approach to text and sound reveals hidden meanings and erects new ones, and his dramatic instinct leads to an intrinsically narrative mode of expression packed with surprise and intrigue.
Thierry has collaborated with many performers across Europe and North America, including the Asko-Schönberg Ensemble, Ensemble Modern, Klangforum Wien, the Quatuor Bozzini, Continuum, Ensemble Paramirabo, Sarah Maria Sun, Thomas Hampson, Johannes Fischer, Heather Roche and many others. Their most recent Canadian premiere, Entre Nous, for Quasar and four actors, is a concert-length music theatre that explores what the Quebec/Franco-ontarian language does and doesn’t say about our past, our values, our traumas, our prejudices, our need to belong and to laugh.
Thierry has written more than ten operas, including many for younger audiences and amateur performers. From 2019 to 2022 they were composer-in-residence at Oper Dortmund, and their operatic works have also been played in many opera houses in Germany and Austria, including Bonn, Cologne, Dresden, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and the Vienna State Opera. Thierry has received many distinctions, including the 1st prize of the inaugural Graham Sommer Competition for his string quintet Quicksilver (2018), and the Canada Council for the Arts’ Governor General’s award, the Jules-Léger Prize for Au fond du Cloître Humide (2014).
I share with CNMN a personal commitment to developing and supporting new music works and experimentation in music and sound across Canada. As a national community of artists, we all benefit when we have more opportunities to connect and learn about one another’s work. A new music network is an exciting and growing concept.
Anju Singh is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, noise/sound artist and video artist based in Vancouver. Her sound and image-based works focus on texture, density, and extreme dynamics. She uses traditional instruments, extended or experimental techniques, electronic processing, non-musical materials and objects, and custom built tools and instruments to experiment and develop her works. A core aspect of her practice is to use methods of deconstruction and reanimation to repurpose and contextualize materials in new compositional environments.
Anju is an active touring artist and has presented and performed her work across Canada, in Europe, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States in a variety of spaces including at Fylkingen in Stockholm, Sweden; Send + Receive Festival in Winnipeg; Vancouver Jazz Festival; Polygon Gallery; New Forms Festival; and most recently on tour in Japan.
I’m delighted to join the CNMN board of directors to serve as a representative of the West Coast. The vision and mission of the CNMN are very much in alignment with my practices as artist and arts administrator. I believe we can always do better when it comes to raising the bar for equity in arts organizations and I’m here to further that conversation at the CNMN. I’m a great admirer of the work that CNMN does on the ground and have participated in the PCM Hub. I hope to work with other members of the board to expand on such initiatives and build new and exciting adventures for our growing new music community.
JUNO and WCMA award-winning violinist and composer Meredith Bates has thoroughly embedded herself in the Canadian musical landscape, both as a generous collaborator and increasingly as a powerful and idiosyncratic solo artist.
Gratefully basing herself on unceded Coast Salish territory in “Vancouver”, the multiple-award winner has developed a reputation for both refined introspection and unfettered virtuosity on her instrument. She has spent the past twenty years recording and performing around the world in ensembles such as JUNO and Western Canadian Music winning instrumental band Pugs and Crows, and the avant-chamber pop outfit Gentle Party. She’s also involved in projects led by Vancouver scene stalwarts such as Peggy Lee, Tony Wilson, Leah Abramson,Lan Tung, Ruby Singh, CR Avery, Joshua Zubot, and Ford Pier.
A big part of Bates’ enduring versatility is her commitment to staying artistically curious. She has studied privately with everyone from renowned classical music pedagogue Philippe Djokic to acclaimed experimentalist Carla Kihlstedt, and has continued to invest in the expansion of her sound through opportunities such as the late Jerry Granelli’s legendary Creative Music Workshop in Halifax, and residencies in crucial centres for creative exploration including Stockholm’s Fylkingen, Western Front (Vancouver), and the Banff Centre.
This inquisitive spirit can also be witnessed in the considerable range of Bates’ artistic projects. She is the founder and leader of Like the Mind, a sextet of celebrated female improvisers from Vancouver and Stockholm—namely the aforementioned Lee, Lisa Ullén, Lisen Rylander Löve, Elisa Thorn, and Emma Augustsson—and of Sound Migrations, a collaborative endeavour combining multi-channel electroacoustic soundscapes with processed photography. In 2019, Bates founded the Improvised Arts Society which supports process-based interdisciplinary experiences throughout the year and two multi-day festivals of performing arts: Listen, Listen Festival and the West Coast String Summit. Meredith also serves on the Seagrass Music Society and Canadian New Music Network board of directors and is participating in the BC Arts Council’s Pathways Program.
In 2019, Meredith released her ambitious solo debut, the 2‑disc If Not Now on Phonometrograph, which garnered both praise in the media and a Polaris Prize long-list mention. Her similarly expansive follow-up,Tesseract, released in 2023, was also met withacclaim in notable press outlets. Vancouver Sun’s Stuart Derdeyn called it “haunting and completely addictive” while veteran critic Marc Masters listed it among The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp for June 2023. “Tesseract is ultimately mood music in the best sense,” Masters noted. “It not only can alter your current mood but conjure unfamiliar ones. That’s especially true on the 46-minute title track, a monumental collage of hums and roars that could be revisited forever.” Tesseract was nominated for Best Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2023 JUNO Awards.
Éric Normand is on the board of directors because he believes in networking and in the music community’s ability to promote practices of resource and skill-sharing to foster equity and emancipation within the diversity of sound practices.
Éric Normand is an improviser, bassist, composer, and printer. He resides in the small town of Rimouski in Eastern Quebec. He leads Tour de bras, an organization dedicated to improvised music, and engages in cultural activities on both local and global scales. He is one of the founders of the Grand groupe régional d’improvisation libérée (GGRIL, 2007), an ensemble dedicated to the exploration of “compositions for improvisers.”
Normand has released over 30 albums on Canadian and foreign labels, and his music has been featured in various festivals in more than 20 countries. Through Tour de Bras, Normand has been advocating for improvisation practices for 20 years, creating an impressive international network that intersects with improvisation hubs worldwide and includes co-productions with countries like Australia or Slovenia.
Like many, my first experience with the CNMN was at a Forum (2014 in Calgary, AB), which was such a wonderful experience of community and knowledge-sharing. I am thrilled to be part of the board, amongst amazing colleagues, contributing to the work of fostering connection, diversity, and activism.
Flutist Chenoa Anderson is a settler artist living and practicing in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan/Edmonton. She has commissioned and premiered dozens of solo and ensemble pieces, and is an active improviser who has worked with musicians, dancers, and spoken word artists. Current projects include UltraViolet — a mixed quartet specializing in new repertoire; Garden – multidisciplinary works set in her permaculture garden; Mixtur with composer Ian Crutchley, performing experimental repertoire for flute(s) and found objects/instruments/electronics; and damn magpies, a free improvisation sextet. She holds performance degrees from the University of Toronto (B.Mus.) and the University of British Columbia (M.Mus.).
In addition to an active performing and teaching career, Chenoa has been the General Manager for New Music Edmonton since 2012, and in 2014 was nominated for Syncrude Award for Excellence in Arts Management at the Mayor’s Awards for the Arts. When not playing flute, Chenoa can often be found gardening, knitting, cycling, cross-country skiing, or reading with a cat on her lap.
As a member of the CNMN board I aim to take advantage of my own experience as a music performer to actively support the organization’s mission of connecting and enriching the Canadian music scene and improving its impact in the world.
Eclectic and award-winning cellist Marina Hasselberg “has become a standout presence on Vancouver’s music scene” (Georgia Straight). Like her new Jesse Zubot-produced album Red, her performances are a provocative, deeply personal mix of classification-resistant written works and adventurous improvised excursions, with Hasselberg employing extended techniques, a variety of bows and accessories, and electronics to skirt the fine line between the known and the unknown.
I’m happy and excited to play a part as CNMN board-member, as it is a valuable cross-canadian network builder. Gathering a wide variety of artists: musicians, performers, improvisers, composers, interpreters, cultural workers, bridge builders and beyond, is a motivating mission. The meeting of these various practices, throughout diverse cultural practices and traditions, can and will most always humble, enrich and liberate our individual experiences. I’m looking forward to partake in the work of the CNMN, aiming to exemplify and bolster the rich cultural diversity that makes up the Canadian landscape, and cater to the well-being of these interconnected communities.
Liberté-Anne Lymberiou is a composer, pianist and bandleader from Montreal. Her artistic process focuses on a holistic vision of music, considering the traditions, the environment, the physics, the movement, and the spirituality of the sounds with which she is engaging in the moment. Her work being principally informed by jazz music, Liberté Anne poses a particular attention to improvisation and rhythmic structures from the African diaspora, along with the concepts and philosophies that surround these practises.
Liberté-Anne began her career in 2013 in New York City, founding her orchestra the “Liberté Big Band”, performing her original works. She received mentorship from composer and pianist Arturo O’Farrill who first encouraged her to pursue a composing and bandleading path. It is through her studies with percussionist Chief Baba Neil Clarke that she begins engaging more seriously with pan-african percussion ensemble concepts and a holistic vision of art.
In 2017, she rebuilt the Liberté Big Band in Montreal and pursued various self-produced performances and collaborations across styles and formations. Between 2017 and 2019, she travelled extensively to Cuba to research and study under Irian Lopez, focusing on Batà drumming.
Lymberiou’s most recent works span across traditions and genres, and include a 50-minute opus for 20-piece jazz orchestra, as well as repertoire for saxophone duos, choir, and multi-disciplinary projects involving dance, textile art and film.
I have been practising various kinds of music both new and old for 3 decades now and I’m looking forward to sharing and networking with the next generation.
Originally from New York, Andrew studied in Ottawa and Toronto and eventually toured with The Canadian Opera Company, the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Andrew has performed at many venues, including Open Ears Festival (Kitchener), New Music Calgary, Sound Symposium (Newfoundland), the Scotia Festival of Music, Ensemble Kore (Montreal) The Music Gallery (Toronto), Western Front (Vancouver), and Tonic (New York). Miller has written music for orchestra, dance, chamber music, film, television, and theatre.
“Miller is a superb player, a master and a creative inventor……” ‑Stephen Pedersen The Chronicle Herald (Halifax) Jan 10, 2011
For me, joining the board of the CNMN is about fostering a thriving community of creative musicians across many regions. When I moved back to Manitoba in 2021, after twenty years in Montreal, I was uncertain about what it would be like to continue my artistic practice outside of the strong creative community I had become a part of. I revelled in that artistic hotbed and relied on its possibilities and opportunities to develop my work.
Moving to Winnipeg, it has become particularly important to me to stay connected to a wide network of musicians, while also discovering the excellent scene here and wanting to share it with others. I now also have a position as artistic director of a classical chamber music series in Winnipeg, so am newly involved in programming and presenting. I need support and connection to continue doing the work I want to do, and I know others need this too. The CNMN addresses exactly this need. I look forward to working alongside wonderful friends and fellow artists I’ve met over the years and to meeting others for the first time through our work together.
Mixing new sounds with instruments of the past, Jennifer Thiessen is known for improvising and commissioning new works on the viola and the viola d’amore as well as interpreting their historical repertoire. She creates new music as singer-songwriter Daily Alice and with her duos Park Sounds, S[ILK]S and Toninato/Thiessen, as well as many other collaborations. Jennifer has worked extensively as a violist with contemporary, classical and historical ensembles in Montreal, Winnipeg and across Canada. She is a creative writer and contributes music journalism to Musicworks magazine.
Originally from Manitoba, Jennifer lived in Montreal for two decades before moving to Winnipeg in 2021. She became Artistic Director of Virtuosi Concerts in 2022. From within a multiplicity of artistic adventures, she remains grounded in a passion to create meaningful experiences for herself and her listeners.
It gives me great pleasure to get involved on the board of directors of the Canadian New Music Network as the representative of Quebec. I am very happy to be able to contribute to the functioning of an organization that works to bring together new music artists across the country despite the immense distance that separates us. I admire the work CNMN does toprovide a platform for artists, especially during the Forums, to encourage the emergence of the next generation (ConneXions) and to address important issues that have been ignored for too long in our community with the series Conversations on Decolonization.
An-Laurence Higgins is a Montreal-based new music performer as well as a multimedia artist addressing topics such as transnational identity and relationships. As a musician, An-Laurence has performed as a guitar soloist, chamber musician and improviser across Quebec and Ontario since 2016. In 2019, she independently produced and directed the project “Émergences (f.pl.)”, commissioning 5 news works by emerging women composers and culminating in performances in Montreal and Toronto. As a multimedia artist, An-Laurence has explored her transnational identity as an adoptee of Chinese origin through the multimedia installation “Confidences en trois temps” and the interactive performance “Come Closer, I’ll tell you what I forgot”. An-Laurence is an avid collaborator and believes the act of creation is one of sharing and caring. A daring performer, she has collaborated with artists from various disciplines (visual arts, cinema, dance) and thrives in settings that stretch the limits of traditional music performance. Committed to her community, An-Laurence has been a co-organizer of the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab peer-mentorship program since 2017, and recently joined the Board of directors of the new music concert series Codes d’accès. Photo: Carlos Riobo
I had the good fortune of attending and contributing to a CNMN Sustainability conversation in 2019. I felt a connection with the organization’s values and left excited with the dialogue and the knowledge exchanged. CNMN is providing innovative and exciting events that enrich our music community. I’m honoured to be asked to join the board and am excited to contribute and learn.
Robert Thomson is a musician, music curator, and performer of Haida, Tsimshian, and mixed European ancestry. He is the band leader of soul-pop project Sister Says, an artistic producer at Full Circle: First Nations Performance and the music programmer for the Talking Stick Festival and Múyuntstut ta Slúlum Concert Series. In 2019, Robert received the award for “Emerging Performing Arts Leader” presented by the Canadian Association for Presenting Arts.
Outside of Full Circle and Sister Says, Robert is currently the electric bass player in the projects SOLA, Logan and Nathan, a sound designer/performer/live looper in the experimental musical Morag, You’re a Long Time Deid (2020), part of the Indigifest (2019) artistic team, and co-curated the concert, Giving Voice (2017).
I’m very happy and honoured to serve as a board member of the CNMN. As an active performer and huge advocate of contemporary music and specifically Canadian contemporary music, I’m aware of the importance of networking, communicating with wider communities. I’m hoping to be able to share my excitement and joy of working with composers, performers in creating new works. I’m hoping to utilize my experience in the field to assist in promoting new Canadian music.
Müge Büyükçelen is a passionate violinist known for her multi-genre versatility. Highlights of her recent performances include the premier of Jared Miller’s violin concerto dedicated to Müge, the Beethoven violin concerto, a concert tour through Australia and New Zealand, performances of new works by Jennifer Butler, Paul Frehner, as well as various concerts with the Emily Carr String Quartet.
She is a current member of the Victoria Symphony, Emily Carr String Quartet and the Aventa Ensemble as well as an active violin teacher at the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Müge has been a featured soloist with numerous orchestras around the world. In 2009, she premiered “Archimedes’ Codex’ a Canadian work dedicated to her by composer Michael Oesterle. She holds a Masters degree in music performance from Bilkent University, in Ankara Turkey, an associate teaching diploma from the Victoria Conservatory of Music and was a teaching assistant student at the Toulouse National Conservatory.
As a member of the francophone community in Quebec, it is of interest to me to open my horizons to more global initiatives whose scope and mandates are just as innovative as the causes they support. I am therefore filled with impatience and curiosity as I join the board of CNMN.
Committed musician, composer and cultural worker, Julie Richard has been actively involved in Montreal’s artistic and musical scenes for nearly 20 years. Three-time graduate in classical music, she is also versed in vocal interpretation, jazz, pop, experimental music as well as African, Gypsy, Jewish and Creole music.
Having participated in numerous tours across Canada and the United States, she participated in the SXSW festival and performed internationally in Eastern Europe, France and Colombia. Alongside her musical practice, Julie’s interdisciplinary career led her to work in the areas of artistic management, intervention psychology, and cultural research and animation. She is also known for her involvement in the programming of the Lux Magna festival and the Suoni per il Popolo festival.
Her latest project, Black Ark Orchestra, inspired her to work with fragments of musical compositions created by black musicians who predominantly came up in the United States in the 1920s. The Black Ark project aims to rehabilitate these marginalized works of classical music produced by African-American women. It is a question of finding, updating and recognizing the value of what remains of these compositions so that they do not remain forgotten, so that they can finally enter into conversation with the history of contemporary music. In composing, she does not seek to accurately reconstruct the contours of these compositions, but aims to draw a living gesture that is non-linear and simultaneously healing, transformative and creative.
I am honoured and excited to be part of the CNMN Board. This is a strong and vital organization that brings together our new music community across Canada. Such a vast land, so many projects and opportunities: CNMN offers a way to connect, to share, to collaborate and to enjoy the depth and breadth of music and sound possibilities in our country. Laissez les bons temps — et la belle musique — rouler!
Helen Pridmore is a singer and sound artist, with a focus on contemporary scored music, experimental music and improvisation. She has performed across Canada and the US, including a solo appearance at Carnegie Hall; Helen has also performed in Europe, Mexico and Japan. She has three CDs to her name, including …between the shore and the ships…, which won the 2013 East Coast Music Award for Best Classical Recording.
Helen’s current focus is on the technology of the voice and the body, with explorations into the concepts of aural beauty, space and silence. She is writing and performing new works for voice that employ both structure and improvisation. One of her current projects is her solo voice work Sor Juana and the Silences, which will be touring Canada in the 2020–21 season. Helen also shares her ideas with students and community members via workshops and improvisation sessions: see http://www.beingastonished.com/voice-lab/ for current work and projects.
With degrees from the Universities of Saskatchewan and Toronto, and the Eastman School of Music, Helen is currently a faculty member in Music and Creative Technologies at the University of Regina. www.helenpridmore.ca
I am always enthusiastic about contributing to the influence of new music in all contexts. I participate every day as a composer, artistic director and teacher.
An organization like CNMN is vital to the cultural ecosystem in which our music evolves. Many issues need discussing and actions need to be taken. I certainly mean to use my experiences in creating and producing events. I sincerely hope that the Quebec region, and the eastern part of the province in particular, will be more involved in the actions of the network.
CNMN projects are exciting and the music field is dynamic. It is with pride that I agreed to put my shoulder to the wheel by sitting on the board of directors.
Pierre-Olivier Roy practices in new music creation and audio production, mainly for live music, live music and sound design. His body of work includes chamber music (instrumental and mixed) and electroacoustic works. In his recent career, mixed music occupies a pride of place. In 2017, Pierre-Olivier Roy was chosen to conduct a research residency for the creation of an interactive musical work in the White House, based on the quality of his work and his vision integrating instrumental composition and musical technologies. His work Machine Music, created in collaboration with SAGA, was exhibited at the Musée de la civilization between April and June 2017.
More specifically, he explores the use of musical technologies as part of the creation & composition of mixed music in concert. His work Under a Fine Sky (electric guitar, percussion, tapes, live video and immersive environment) was nominated at the Opus Gala in the category Concert of the Year — Québec and was recipient of the Université Laval Hommage aux Créateurs Membres Award in 2017. In the summer of 2018, The Time Fracture — Multiple Times (20 percussionists and octophonic bands) was premiered at the Place des Festivals in Montreal as part of Rythmopolis.
Pierre-Olivier Roy is very active on the Quebec new music scene. Since 2015, he has been the general and artistic director of the E27 musiques nouvelles. He currently teaches at the Faculty of Music of Laval University.
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Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industrys standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industrys standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged.
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Lorem Ipsum est tout simplement un texte factice de l'industrie de l'impression et de la composition. Lorem Ipsum est le texte factice standard de l'industrie depuis les années 1500, quand un imprimeur inconnu a pris une cuisine de type et l'a brouillé pour faire un livre de spécimen de type. Il a survécu non seulement à cinq siècles, mais aussi au saut dans la composition électronique, demeurant essentiellement inchangé.
Lorem Ipsum est tout simplement un texte factice de l'industrie de l'impression et de la composition. Lorem Ipsum est le texte factice standard de l'industrie depuis les années 1500, quand un imprimeur inconnu a pris une cuisine de type et l'a brouillé pour faire un livre de spécimen de type. Il a survécu non seulement à cinq siècles, mais aussi au saut dans la composition électronique, demeurant essentiellement inchangé.