In With the New
And now for
something completely different
by Richard
Marsella
It’s great to be back for
another exciting season of contemporary music in Toronto. In this
column we’ll
get up close with some of its more interesting practitioners. This
month, I had
a refreshing conversation with Jerry Pergolesi, Toronto percussionist
and
artistic director of CONTACT contemporary music, talking about the
evolution of
CONTACT, in particular their annual New Music Marathon.
Jerry Pergolesi graduated in
1996 from University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. Shortly after, he
took a
road trip with an influential musician, percussionist Bev Johnston, who
advised
him that one of the most inspiring byproducts of music is travel, not
necessarily to make any money, but to share great music with new
audiences.
Johnston also advised that it’s almost a wasted effort to travel the
path of
the popular, and to do your own thing is always more rewarding.
Pergolesi took
this advice to heart.
The story of CONTACT begins
organically some time in the late 1990s, as friends helping friends
with their
individual recitals, something familiar to most budding classical
musicians.
But in the end, this particular group of friends decided to build ONE
collective recital under the name CONTACT.
Originally a mismatched
quartet of piano, harpsichord, clarinet and percussion, the resident
ensemble
now consists of: Sarah Fraser Raff (violin), Wallace Halladay
(saxophones), Rob
MacDonald (guitars), Peter Pavlovsky (double bass), Jerry Pergolesi
(percussion/artistic director), and Allison Wiebe (piano/keyboards).
In common was the feeling
that when they went to a concert, there was a detachment
between
audience, composer, and performer. So, initially, they began doing
concerts in
people’s living rooms, and then extended the living room feeling to the
concert
hall, always remaining informal….hence the name CONTACT,
better-connecting the various players in any given musical experience.
CONTACT is curated
collaboratively, under the artistic direction of Jerry Pergolesi, with
other
artists from the community—including composers/performers Juliet
Palmer, John
Burke, and Lori Freedman, to name a few. Their very first event was
held at the
Art Gallery of Ontario, featuring Canadian repertoire that they felt
complemented the artwork hanging on the walls. Since then, they’ve done
concerts in alternative locations including subway stations, atriums
and on
street corners. Their Dadaist motto is to play where the people are,
plain and
simple.
For the New Music Marathon,
CONTACT first approached office tower-style atriums, once again simply
wanting
to play music where the people are. Unfortunately, in many
instances the
decision-makers in these office buildings could not understand the
benefits in
supporting a concert series like the one CONTACT was proposing.
Fortunately the
folks at Yonge-Dundas Square did.
“When the opportunity arose
to partner with Yonge-Dundas Square, we jumped on it,” begins
Pergolesi. “The
New Music Marathon was initially modelled something like the “Bang on a
Can
Festival” in New York, so we’re really not too innovative in terms of
form.
What makes us special is that we’re presenting highly experimental
music in a
popular setting. It’s a long-term investment.
Through dumb luck, we fluke upon our listeners!”
On September 20, CONTACT
presents its second annual serving of the Marathon. Pergolesi says he’s
“really
excited about it. Digital Prowess are coming from Guelph to perform a
unique
orchestration of Rzewski’s Coming Together, and also performing
are solo
noise artist Ryan Clark (guitar and effects); Allison Cameron; Eve
Egoyan
(piano); and Kyle Brenders (solo sax).”
Also on the list: IO Media
doing multimedia film/video/sound work, Rob’s Collision, featuring Rob
Pillonen, and Mike Hansen (turntables) doing Stockhausen, Cage and
others …Tim
Francom/ Dean Pomeroy (percussion) doing Reich’s Nagoya Marimbas,
CONTACT performing Philip Glass’
Music in
Similar Motion, and the Lollipop People butchering Mussorgsky’s Pictures
at an Exhibition.
Throughout the day, as part
of the Canadian Music Centre’s “New Music in New Places” program,
sound-artist/composer Darren Copeland will lead a unique project called
3-Sided
Square. It uses gathered audio footage from the live stage
performances,
and from interviews with people in the Square. At 10-minute intervals
between
acts on the stage, the artist will broadcast a laptop improvisation of
the
audio through spatialized speakers in the Square.
“One of the biggest
challenges is to be ambitious, doing such large-scale activities in the
middle
of the city at such a young stage in the organization’s development.
Doing
things like this marathon is dependent on the grass-roots support of
everybody
in the arts community” says Pergolesi.
Choosing the right
repertoire has also been crucial for the group. “Programming the right
music
for the right space is an art unto itself,” says Pergolesi. “For
example, I’d
never program Discreet Music by Brian Eno in a public setting
such as
Yonge-Dundas, as its subtlety would be lost in the mix. However we did
perform
this piece at the Downsview Subway Station during rush hour, and it
worked
beautifully, aligning more with Eno’s philosophy.”
Last year in Yonge-Dundas
Square, CONTACT received a standing ovation for their performance of Two
Pages by Philip Glass. “A new audience applauding artsy fartsy
music!”
exclaims Pergolesi. “That was an amazing memory, and I think a highly
appropriate piece for the setting. I think you need to remember that
you’re not
in the concert hall, you’re on a street corner. I’m not saying we need
to dumb
it down, but there’s suitable repertoire out there that can be an
amazing entry
point for new listeners.”
Where does CONTACT fit in?
“We don’t. We don’t fit neatly into the Toronto improvising crowd, the
well-established new music presenter crowd, or the Toronto indie
hipster crowd.
We are more interested in appealing to the crowd that also doesn’t fit
in, but
moves amongst all these different crowds.” The nice thing about CONTACT
is that
the group is diverse enough to collaborate with a larger slice of
Toronto’s
music community.
They’ve also started to gain
a bit of a reputation for presenting music-based multi-media events
such as
John Burke’s Labyrinth Concert and the world premier of David
Lang’s
music and film collaboration Elevated. “Who else would present
a drag
queen doing contemporary music?” asks Pergolesi, in reference to
CONTACT’s
presentation of Gareth Farr, in their 2006-2007 programming season.
Don’t miss this exciting
all-day event.
Richard Marsella is the
Ontario Regional Director for the Canadian Music Centre
and
composer for the modern music
ensemble The Lollipop People.
He can be reached at
rmarsella@musiccentre.ca
