Toronto Area Sites


Organizations & Promoters

The Ambient Ping
Toronto's weekly free live improvisational, ambient and experimental music performance event
ARRAYMUSIC
contemporary music organization specializing in creation and performance of new concert music; studio space hosts (and is available for) performances, improvisations
Art Metropole
visual art centre which also supports audio art and distributes recordings
Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto (AIMToronto)
promoting local, creative, improvising musicians
Autumn Leaf Performance
Producers of new opera
Canadian Music Centre
Canada's primary source for Canadian contemporary music representing 530 composers, promoting and distributing 700+ CDs, and archiving and distributing 15,000 scores
Clonk
Neil Wiernik, Greg Smith: dissemination, diffusion and presentation of bleeding edge experimental electronic music, incl. live events & net broadcasts. Planned: limited edition cd label, more live presentations
Earshot
composers' collective producing concerts of new Canadian concert music with an emphasis on young composers
Glenn Gould Studio
concert venue frequently hosting new chamber music among other events
Guelph Jazz Festival
best small jazz festival in North America
The Leftover Daylight Series
weekly live music series with an emphasis on improvisation
The Music Gallery
Toronto's principal performance space/promoter for new music, improvisation, world music. Music education provider, programs in creative/world percussion, computer-assisted music & multiple guitar ensemble.
New Guitar
concert series devoted to new concert music for the guitar
New Adventures in Sound Art
produces performances, installations, lectures and workshops concerning electroacoustic and sound art
New Music Concerts
presents an annual series featuring contemporary chamber music, electroacoustics, multi-media presentations and sound art
NUMUS
new music society and concert series in Kitchener-Waterloo
Oasis Open Stage (email only)
jump in and play along - you never know what you'll hear, or who you'll be performing with. Oasis 294 College St, Toronto. Tuesdays 8PM.
Open Ears
new music festival in Kitchener-Waterloo
r.i.p.theSystem
founded by .miQ schmidT, the beginnings of a Canadian-based noize/hardcore/industrial/electronica/grindcore label that promotes the digital hardcore underground and DiY spirit; associated sites: ZYMOTIC, clipfit, exist, death force
Rough Idea
Presenter VTO annual May festival and intermittent but intelligent concerts throughout the calendar.
Soundstreams
promoters of new concert music
Stained Productions
independent promotions partnership that presents live music events in electronic, experimental and related genres
Tapestry
producers of new opera
Toronto Max User Group (MUG)
Max/Msp a graphical programming environment for music and media applications. The Toronto MUG shares not only of technical knowledge but also critical understandings of artistic issues and process issues.
Ulterior
improvisers' pages
Wavelength
weekly live music series and monthly zine, dedicated to uncovering underground music from Toronto and beyond



Interpretive Ensembles & Performers

ARRAYMUSIC
new music ensemble (8-piece)
Continuum
new music ensemble (6-piece)
Ensemble Noir
ensemble programming music by composers from a broad range of cultural backgrounds with an emphasis on the works of composers from Africa and its Diaspora
Eve Egoyan
pianist specializing in turn of the 20th century and new works
Evergreen Club Gamelan
new music gamelan
Esprit Orchestra
new music ensemble (45-piece)
The Glass Orchestra
new music on glass instruments



Labels & Distributors

Artifact Music
label for new music
Centrediscs (Canadian Music Centre)
700+ CD titles featuring Canadian artists
the ceiling
record distributor and label (Kitchener, ON)
Free Market Records
label for Manzinani, Vorvis, Saskia, The Lucy Furs
Oval Window Records
a label for creative, improvising musicians living in Toronto
Subverseco
label for Books on Tape, Zug Island, others (formerly Rollerderby Superstar)
Spool Records
record label dedicated to free improvisation, new music, and sound art
Verge Music Distribution
vast CD mailorder & wholesale: 8200+ titles of experimental music, free improv, etc. (Uxbridge, ON)



Text Media

Eye Magazine
general music/arts/film/entertainment listings (weekly)
feedback_monitor list
IDM, techno, ambient, experimental, trip-hop, drum'n'bass and other electronic music; event listings, playlists, news, new release information
Incursion
an organisation for exceptional media, featuring a biweekly music review, interviews, essays, an online artspace and more
indieville.com
a webzine about experimental, improvised, and independent music
Musicworks Magazine
Toronto-based periodical covering experimental music, free improvisation, sound art and more
NOW Magazine
general music/arts/film/entertainment listings (weekly)
SoundList
website and weekly email newsletter for experimental music, free improvisation and sound art events in the Toronto area
The Wholenote Magazine
concert music listings including the torontohearandnow.com new music listings (monthly) and resources



Radio

CHRY 105.5 FM

Cult of the Personality
classic industrial, noise, experimental, ambient, glitch, indie, 12-2 am each Wednesday. Host: Jason Tenter
Underground Noise
experimental/avant-garde music, 2-4 am each Sunday. Host: Jeff Selver


CIUT 89.5 FM

The Audible Woman
new music by women composers, 6-8 pm first Wednesday of each month. Host: Sarah Peebles
feedback_monitor
weekly electronic/experimental radio show - wesbite includes playlists, reviews, interviews, and event listings for Toronto and area. Tuesdays 10-12 p.m. Host: Greg Clow
In Through the Outside
improvised music, etc., 3-5 pm each Wednesday. Host: Nilan Perera


CKLN 88.1 FM

Dat Dere
creative music from the black experience and around the world, 11am-2pm each Tuesday. Host: Chloe Onari
Why Not?
improvised music, 7-11 am each Wednesday. Host: Mike Hansen
Art on Air
an exhibition of audio art, 2-2:30 pm , including Radio Music Gallery Institute (1st Thursday of each month), Deep Wireless (2nd Thursday of each month), The Lost and Found (3rd Thursday of each month) and Deep Ears (4th Thursday of each month)
Missing Sense/Electric Storm
new orchestral/chamber/electronic/acousmatic music, 11:30pm-2am each Sunday. Hosts: James Bailey and Ron McFarlan



Other Resources

Rick Sack's "A petit concert..."
useful links page for new concert music in Toronto.



Composers, Improvisers & Sound Artists

John D.S. Adams
composer/musician of experimental and improvised music, interpreter of the music of David Tudor
Ken Aldcroft
jazz and improvising guitarist, composer and producer
ARC
improvisational experimental/ethno-ambient trio
Martin Arnold
composer, conductor, organizer
Aidan Baker
experimental guitarist & poet
Von Bark
manual labourer/art critic, plays saxophone, untuned guitars, and monophonic analog devices, and is a founding member of the Zen Existential Puppet Theatre
Allison Cameron
composer/improviser: originally from Vancouver, B.C., studied in Amsterdam before moving to Toronto in 1989
Canadian Electronic Ensemble
oldest continuous live-electronic group in the world: Larry Lake, David Jaeger, Paul Stillwell, Michael Dobinson, Jim Montgomerey, Rose Bolton
Cirque-Samsara
is a project in apo-cultural navigation by Nik Beeson which has included ventures into experimental music.
Dwight Chalmers (email only)
improvisor - trumpet and piano - based on Toronto Islands
Darren Copeland
soundscape composer, radio artist, sound designer
Michael Davis
composer of electroacoustic music, computer programmer
sound artist, composer
dreamSTATE
improvisational ambient electronic soundscape artists
Shahin Etemadzadeh (email only)
guitarist, electronics builder/designer, improviser
John Kameel Farah
composer, improvisor, pianist
Colin Fisher
improviser: guitar, tenor sax, percussion, misc
Dan Friedman
Ottawa-native improvising/composing saxophonist and sound hacker active on the Toronto scene
Mike Gennaro
improviser, percussionist, organizer
Alan Glicksman (email only)
M.S.G. play, record and perform experimental soundscapes (since1984). M=McNeil, S=Spears, G=Glicksman.
Ben Grossman
is a musician, composer and improviser focusing on hurdy gurdy, percussion and electronics.
Glen Hall
composer, woodwinds, recording artist, leader-OutSource, redShift, Sonora, director-(416) 2001 festival
Michael Keith
guitarist, composer, improviser
Penn Kemp
sound poet; animation and sound text of several poems, current discography, upcoming events
KNURL
a.k.a. Alan Bloor is known as one of the premier noise artists in Canada, using contact mics and scrap metal to create incredibly powerful harsh noise
Oval Window Records
improvisers Myk Freedman, Ryan Driver, Tania Gill, Julia Hambleton, Kai Koschmider, Jake Oelrichs, Mike Overton, Evan Shaw
Laurel MacDonald
improbable music : singer : composer
Maz Fusion
shines tha Sonic Crimes, coz it's a Freakuntry an' about fookin' time!
.miQ
plays guitar for SCHIZOID (D-Trash Records) and moderates the Riot-Soundz message board
Mirobolus String Trio
create their own eclectic music, transforming jazz, modern chamber music, free improv, tangos and folk music
MOIRED
four member media collective based in Toronto dedicated to electronic improvisational music, developing new systems for sound creation
cheryl o
experimental improvising cellist working with electronic treatments and loops - always interested in new improvisational situations
Oiseaux Exotiques
composer/performer duo presenting new chamber music
John Oswald
composer, saxophonist, plunderphonics
Juliet Palmer
composer and sound artist from New Zealand based in Toronto
Stephen Parkinson
composer
Sarah Peebles
electroacoustic composer, improvisor, radio broadcaster
Tim Posgate
composer, guitarist, bandleader. Current projects; Elbow (with Rob Clutton), Jazzstory and Tim Posgate Horn Band
eldritch Priest
composer, improviser and iconoclast
Barry Prophet (email only)
composer, improviser, percussionist, educator, sound sculptor specializing in works featuring microtonally tuned glass
John Mark Sherlock
composer
Debashis Sinha
leads the Ima Ensemble, a group that is firmly rooted in the western paradigm of improvisational music, but is able to use material from a wide variety of musical traditions
Linda C. Smith
composer
Joe Sorbara
drummer, percussionist, composer, improviser, etc.
Philip Strong
sømnambulab : composer : sound designer : percussionist
Teamwork group (email only)
rhythms, odysseys & sequences. Architecture, painting, & installations. Mpc's, guitars, & toy whistles. Birds signing, trains passing & underground tunnels...
Josh Thorpe
experimental and process composition, performance and conceptual art. Also: writing and editing.
michael trommer
composer/sound artist
Rob Wannamaker
composer, improviser, instrument inventor, pianist, theorist, founder of SoundList
Carol Ann Weaver
composer, performer, music professor at Conrad Grebel College/University of Waterloo.
Woodchopper's Association
large ensemble specializing in freestyle improvisation and multi-disciplinary presentations
Zug Island
the Kimchee ep, music by experimental producer jeph wacheski



Farther Afield (but in Ontario)

Outside Out
free improvising quartet (London)
The Nihilist Spasm Band
improvising noise band and instrument builders since 1965 (London)
 
 


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