Venue: Casa del Popolo (4873 St Laurent Blvd, Montreal, Quebec H2T 1R6) Date: April 10, 2024 Doors: 8:00 PM Music: 8:30 PM
Tickets: $23.70 with taxes and fees in advance / $25.00 at the door
Advance Tickets: https://www.venuepilot.co/events/98045/orders/new#/
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1060733638358276
Co-presented with Casa del Popolo Presents.
Josephine Foster is a Colorado composer and performer whose “music plays games with our ideas of time and space” says The Guardian. The Nashville Scene describes her work a”fusion of art song and American folk music” and the former opera student is “known to breathe new life into archaic forms, embodying the cultural archaeology of Harry Smith’s old weird America, and has lent her characteristic mezzo-soprano and interpretive wit to over two decades of recordings” writes Blank Forms.
Josephine has released some twenty albums, each a sui generes song cycle drawn from her own singular songbook, performed solo or leading various ensembles (occasionally under band guises: Mendrugo, the Supposed, Born Heller.) Peripheral but not insignificant are her unorthodox arrangements of 19th century German Lieder, the folkloric collection of Lorca, or her musical settings of Dickinson and other poets. Foster is a poet herself, as well as visual artist.
On stage or in recording she collaborates with free players from folk and avant-garde, such as Michael Hurley, Keiji Heino, Gyða Valtýsdóttir, Sonny Simmons, Paz Lenchantin, The Cherry Blossoms, Victor Herrero, Jason Ajemian, The Master Musicians of Joujouka, Daniel Blumberg, Shahzad Ismaily, Heather Trost, Chris Scruggs, Lorena Alvarez, Moon Bros, Alex Neilson, Ed Askew, Susan Alcorn, Michael Zerang, Lori Goldston, Brian Goodman, Eric Chenaux, Louis Landes Levi, David Pajo, Alasdair Roberts, Victoria Williams, Hamza el Fasiki, Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh, Les Fils du Détroit, Kath Bloom, and Zoh Amba.
Santur player, composer, and cultural inventor Amir Amiri dwells at the centre of a unique musical universe where ancient inspiration, dazzling virtuosity, and bold creativity meet. Surrounding himself with outstanding collaborators from the worlds of jazz, classical and world music, Amiri fearlessly transcends genres and borders, exquisitely transporting his ancient instrument into the musical conversations of our time.
Born in Tehran, Iran, Amiri is a master of the santur, a 72-string instrument dating from approximately 500 BCE.
Since arriving in Canada in 1996, Amiri has created numerous groundbreaking ensembles, including the Amir Amiri Ensemble, inspired by the fluidity of musical influences in Iran and featuring the hypnotic presence of a Whirling Dervish; and Ensemble Kimya, a Montreal-Paris collaboration, combining early classical and contemporary music from Europe, the Middle East and India. Perséides, his duo with double bass player Jean Félix Mailloux, was featured at the National Arts Centre’s Sounds of Persia: Canada’s New Music Masters in 2018, where Amiri was Artistic Director. His duo Moody Amiri, with violist Richard Moody, has been praised by CBC for its “tantalizing blend of Eastern and western sensibilities”. Amir is also occasionally joined by his fellow master improviser, the jazz pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, in an evening of musical exploration and discovery.
Amiri was awarded the 2003 CBC Artist of the Year from the Galaxie Rising Stars Program. He performs and tours with a vast spectrum of ensembles, enchanting with his signature down-to-earth style and profound connection with audiences.
Recent solo performance highlights include concerts at the Festival Vares Classics in Bosnia in September 2021 and at the Détours de Babel in France in early October 2021. He was invited to showcase with the Amir Amiri Ensemble at WOMEX 2021 in Porto. Future performances include a tour of Colombia at the Invitation of the Banco de la República.