Paolo Griffin
Paolo Griffin is a composer and curator based in Toronto/Tkarón:to whose work centers co-creation with performers, collaborating closely with friends and colleagues in a practice that spans sound, performance, text, improvisation, and includes the creation of notated music, live performance installations, and text/event scores.
With music described as “…[placing] the listener in a kind of sonic microgravity” (PANM360), and “…stopped me dead in my tracks and made me forget what I was doing.” (Night After Night), Paolo’s compositional approach combines explorations of tuning systems with a rigorous, process-based approach to sonic form, structure, and forms of action/interaction between processes.
Paolo is the Artistic & Executive director of Freesound, a Toronto-based contemporary music collective of eight performers that emphasizes collaboration and experimentation. 2023-24 season highlights include performances of music by Ryoko Akama, Morton Feldman, and a feature in WholeNote Magazine. Upcoming concerts feature new commissions from Laure M. Hiendl, Martin Arnold, Kotoka Suzuki, and more. 2024 composition projects include a new piece for Quatuor Bozzini, glockenspiel and electronics for Toronto-based percussionist Nathan Petitpas, a new performance installation for harp and electronics for Florida-based harpist Nöel Wan, the release of his first portrait CD Supports & Surfaces on Sawyer Editions, and participation in the Toronto Arts Council Leaders Lab 2024-25 Cohort.
Open Union
Open Union is an electric guitar and modular synth duo made up of composer-performers Peter Bell and Patrick Ellis.
Described by treasured composer Howard Skempton as being, ‘sometimes subtle and unstable; sometimes rich and dense’, the duo aims to build up strong collaborative relationships to create new verbal and text based works. Their current collaborators are Christine Cornwell, Wilson Leywantono, May Chi and Paolo Griffin.
The duo have performed at UK events Ealing Extranormal, AMOK, Don’t Mind Control, Birmingham Modular Organisation and CODA Festival. In 2024, they curated a triple bill concert at Centrala Space in Birmingham, which featured performances from themselves, as well as singer-songwriter May Chi and electronic act, Wildforms. And in 2023, they undertook a mini-tour of The Netherlands, as part of the Sounding Here concert series at Splendor in Amsterdam and Batavierhuis in Rotterdam.
David Zucchi
Praised for his “urgently visceral” playing (TEMPO), London-based Canadian saxophonist David Zucchi enjoys a varied career as a performer of classical, contemporary, experimental, and improvised music, collaborating regularly across the UK, Europe, and Canada.
He appears on recordings from NMC, Another Timbre, Delphian Records, Signum Records, Sawyer Editions, people | places | records, and Birmingham Record Company. Recent appearances as a soloist and chamber musician include Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, St. John’s Smith Square, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, London Contemporary Music Festival, Sounds Like This!, Verbier Festival (Switzerland), Vale de Cambra Music Festival (Portugal), the Glenn Gould Studio, and the Canadian High Commission in London.
With a keen interest in the performance of contemporary and experimental music, David has premiered and been the dedicatee of many works by emerging and established composers. He has performed and recorded with leading UK contemporary music ensembles including Ensemble x.y, Explore Ensemble, Apartment House, GBSR Duo, and An Assembly.
