Saxophonist Mike Murley and guitarist David Occhipinti began performing in and around Toronto as a duo in 1999. The intimate musical rapport that they developed during this period led to the recording of two “Duologue” CDs in 2002 and 2005, garnering critical acclaim as well as Juno and National Jazz Award nominations.  These recordings led the duo to concert and festival performances across Canada from Halifax to the Yukon.

This concert is taking place at the Joseph Strung Concert Hall at the Dalhousie University Arts Centre. 

Ce qui reste quand la peau se détache du corps (What remains when the skin detaches from the body) is a performative and audio show created by artists Sara Létourneau and Chantale Boulianne. For two years, they designed and made sound structures and giant instruments that they manipulate and transform on stage: the giant bellows, the live metal sheet, the bass counterweight, the nail box-stepladder, the huge round-koto... In a series of sound and physical light-magnified scenes, they speak of their bodies, metamorphoses, and potential disasters. 

At the crossroads of performance, sound art and installation, this creation will be presented in an immersive environment, on an 8-speaker multiphonic system.

Join pianist Jennifer King for an exploratory electro-acoustic and unadulterated cosmic piano program of music by David Jaeger, Allen Strange, Michael Donovan, Amy Brandon, Rosemary Mountain and Peter Togni.

Her recordings can be found on all streaming platforms through her website www.jenniferkingpiano.com.

The Beams project is part of Upstream Music and Chris Spencer Lowe’s “Now Here This”, an upcoming online video production.

This live music performance will feature the compositions of guitarist Geordie Haley written for the “Now Here This” video. In addition, we will be playing works by bassist Lukas Pearse and Dawn Hatfield on sax and flute.

This intriguing septet will also feature Tom Easley bass, Andrew MacKelvie on alto sax with Greg Ritchie and Lucas Goudie on drums and percussion.

Beams of all kinds (wood, steel, sun, moon, balance) will be outlined in persuasive new music styles.

We cannot wait to play this music for you!

Saltwater Percussion is Rob Power, Erin Donovan and Bill Brennan, a trio of some of Atlantic Canada's finest percussionists whose work seeks to continually discover new sound worlds. For Open Waters 2023, the group is delighted to present a concert of improvisations and original compositions and works by young Atlantic Canada-based composers.

A fun set of music that is melodic, catchy, accessable and exploratory at the same time. This saxophone, electric guitar and percussion trio will feature Juno/ECMA-winning Joel Miller's music creations as well as Americana, Indie-rock references and well-loved works by Thelonious Monk, Ornette Colman, Ellington and The Weekend.  Guitar-wizard Richard White and ever-versatile percussionist Mark Adam join Miller. 

Jackson will perform 4 songs from a suite of poems entitled O Death by Annie Martin.  The poetry will be transformed, improvised and reimagined with the aid of a looper.  As a compliment to these songs, Jackson will perform her new solo mini opera entitled Penelope: Dreamwalker, one of Halifax's oldest ghost stories, which concerns Penelope and her final decision to end her existence and haunt the halls of Dalhousie's Shirreff Hall.

Andrew Jackson and Sam Wilson have been exploring the interplay of trombone and guitar over the last several years while honing their musical chemistry as a duo. Both are acclaimed musicians and composers in their own right, and they are currently collaborating on an upcoming duo album to be released on January 28th, 2023. For this Upstream concert, Andrew and Sam will each play a solo improvised set with some transitional duo pieces in the middle to give the audience a feature of what is to come. 

Based on the Ryan Gray and Breaking Circus trilogy That Which Lights Your Way, OWF 2023 brings you an adapted encore of part three, De-Fraction! After examining your inner self in Reflection, and choosing to evolve into a new state with Refraction, Diffraction observed waves as they move around objects and multiply on the other side, becoming amplified interference between contemporary circus artists and musicians from the Upstream Music Association. De-Fraction looks to push the improvisational aspects of Diffraction to the forefront for the Open Waters Festival 2023!

Named for the salt water that surrounds our province and shapes our way of life, Alkali Collective is a dynamic ensemble dedicated to the creation, performance, documentation, and educational outreach of 21st-century music. They provide a voice for music concerning cultural, environmental, and political issues. This collective is open to musical and interdisciplinary projects spanning all artistic genres, highlighting both new and established composers artists from Nova Scotia, Canada, and abroad.

𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤’𝐬 𝐀𝐥𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲, 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢-𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝-𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐢’𝐤𝐦𝐚𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭. With the Thundermakers, he 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐯es 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐩, 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞, 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

ECMA-winner 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲, 𝐚 young 𝐌𝐢’𝐤𝐦𝐚w 𝐅𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐫 / singer songwriter 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐖𝐚𝐠𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬, 𝐚𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐬 “𝐓𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐭”. 

Champion improvisors from the Upstream Ensemble (Dawn Hatfield, Andrew Jackson, Andrew MacKelvie, Nicola Miller and James Shaw, with Geordie Haley) will join this artistically expansive group for an unforgettable collaboration.

Directed by Tim Crofts, The Creative Music Ensemble emphasizes collaborative creative process through deep listening and collective improvisation.  The group employs creative strategies including graphic scores, text scores and improvisational forms to generate, you know, music.

Tim Crofts- Piano 

Evan Baltzer- Contra Bass Clarinet

Jeremie Boudreau- Violin

Dylan Hay- Trombone

Kip Johnson- Banjo/French Horn

Directed by Amy Brandon the film music, chamber music and improvisations written and performed by Dalhousie composition students James Thomas, Dylan Hay, Kip Johnson, Noah Kivler and Kristiana Tavityan.

AMBER (Toronto and Montreal)

Amber is the Montreal improvising duo of Lori Freedman (Bb & bass clarinets) and Scott Thomson (trombone), with a fifteen-year history bookended by the release of Plumb (Barnyard 2007) and Amber (Clean Feed 2022). To mark the latter, Amber toured extensively in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands in recent months. 

Geordie Haley's Open Company

Improvisor, composer, educator and guitarist Geordie Haley will be hosting and curating an open invite improvisation session at the Sourwood Cidery.

JOYFULTALK //\\ NICOLA MILLER DUO  

JOYFULTALK is the brainchild of composer, improviser, multimedia artist Jay Crocker. 

Guided by graphic scores, handmade kinetic sculpture, and junked/recuperated Crocker delicately weaves between human interaction and machine clockworks. 

 Nicola Miller is a jazz performer, composer, and music educator currently based in Chester Basin, NS. Her playing stretches from melodic and sweet to avant-garde free improvisation. 

Unfolding River:

Tom Richards is a musician with a kaleidoscopic range of work. A low-brass specialist, pianist, composer, conductor, and producer, Tom performs in dozens of active projects in both Toronto and his new home Nova Scotia, including The Heavyweights Brass Band, The Human Rights, Queen Kong, Avi Granite 6, and the Woodshed Orchestra. 

Tom is the composer and producer behind Unfolding River, an 81-piece series of avant-classical music based on the Tao te Ching. Unfolding River began life as an experiment to "translate" each character of the text into music. Over the past 10 years, it has evolved, become dormant, and re-awakened in a new form. All of these pieces have been recorded, but this will be the world premiere live performance of (a few of) the pieces, co-produced by Upstream and suddenlyLISTEN. The all-star band of performers are:

Sarah Frank

Etienne Chenard

Norman Adams 

Lukas Pearse

Eileen Walsh

Andrew MacKelvie

Houses of Zodiac | A Refracted Anthology

Cello Performed by Jeffrey Zeigler 

Music composed by Paola Prestini

Choreographed and Performed by Dai Matsuoka & Georgina Pazcoguin 

Visuals Directed by Murat Eyuboglu 

Visit the Houses of Zodiac website for more details on the performance: http://www.housesofzodiac.com/

• House of Zodiac: A Refracted Anthology
• Eight Takes: Sketches on Love
• Océano: A Pacific Ritual
• Ophelia: A New Orleans Story
• Houses of Zodiac: A Chimeric Journey 

Houses of Zodiac, A Refracted Anthology brings word, movement, music, and image together to illuminate from within the verses of four poets: Pablo Neruda, Brenda Shaughnessy, Natasha Trethewey and Anaïs Nin. Former Kronos Quartet member Jeffrey Zeigler performs the music of Paola Prestini, to which New City Ballet soloist “Rogue Ballerina” Georgina Pazcoguin and Butoh dancer and Sankai Juku member Dai Matsuoka bring their own choreographies. The latency of the poems is refracted through music, dance, and in some instances archival images. These multiple perspectives are curated into a cinematic experience by Murat Eyuboglu while the composite work draws inspiration from sources as diverse as the choreography of Samuel Beckett, the conceptual art of Sol LeWitt, the natural world and more.

If you are a patron of the Scotia Festival Of Music you can access your tickets through this link:

https://www.scotiafestival.com/purchase-tickets

Tickets also available by cash and credit at the door.

Adult ticket - $25.00 ($29.54 with fees)

Adult ticket Upstream Member - $20.00 ($24.21 with fees)

Senior ticket - $20.00 ($24.21 with fees) 

Senior Ticket Upstream Member - $15.00 ($18.87 with fees)

Student Ticket - $15.00 ($18.87 with fees)

Student Ticket Upstream Member - $10.00 ($13.54 with fees)

Exploratory improvised performance workshop and discussion facilitated by Upstream’s Artistic Director, Lukas Pearse and featuring India Gailey, Lori Freedman, Mohammad Sahraei, Kelvin Mansarray and Nicola Miller. A chance to examine multiple approaches to creativity in the moment: a peek around the curtain of the creative process.

Questions welcome and discussion encouraged!