Even though I have sent thousands of emails over the past few years, the idea of sharing a newsletter feels like a strange, very “official” way of updating the world on my projects.   Maybe it’s the imposter syndrome that refuses to let go, but despite my hesitation about this now-old-school way of (intermittently) sharing what I am up to, I am so happy and grateful that you’re here and interested in my work.

Like most artists - and the world at large - the last year and a half has been a challenging, strange time to live through. It’s been hard not being able to gather and share and collaborate and just experience art & music as a community, and like many folks I had to rejig a lot of aspects of my career that I took for granted.  I’m not saying this as a sad-sap story - it’s simply the reality for most musicians, and I’ve been really lucky that I’ve been able to use this time to rethink and experiment with how I create and share music.  I’ve always been drawn to art and photography, and over the last year or so I’ve started incorporating video in some of my work - here are some projects from the past few months I’ve been excited to share!

This past May I spent a few weeks in Moncton, NB as Galerie Sans Nom & RE:FLUX Festival’s White Box Artist-in-Residence. While in town, I wandered for hours collecting field recordings and video footage that I used as the backbone to a semi-improvised piece that was beautifully recorded and filmed by the kind crew at Atlas Films.  The video for “the air that sits in the space between us” was premiered as a part of this year’s Improv Fest;  a 24-hour festival that celebrates all things spontaneous.  I was able to catch my set via radio while driving across the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border while away on my honeymoon - a pretty surreal and beautiful way to take in a premiere.  The video is now online for anyone to check out - if you’re curious and need a way to fill a quiet 15 minutes, here it is:

Earlier this summer I was lucky to be included in a super ingenious approach to borderless art sharing: HOST, a project put on through Third Space Gallery.  The project is self-described as “part art exhibition and part walking simulator game” and was sensitively curated by Saint John-based artist Amy Ash and brought to digital life by artist KC Wilcox.  The “gallery” is full of work by artists I admire; Amy took the time to look into all of our contributions with care and depth, and it is 100% worth a virtual gander.  HOST is only online until September 17th, and my friend Erin Goodine is currently curating an extension of the project on Instagram, which can be found here if you’re on the ‘gram (@host_project_).

Later this summer I took part in the first rendition of Understory: a Canada-wide improvisation collaboration. I had a chance to work with some fantastic musicians, and our piece is set to be premiered later this October.  The organizers did a great interview with “I Care If You Listen,” an American Composers Forum-affiliated publication.  I’ll share more about the project closer to its release, but in the meantime you can learn more about Understory and catch the first two “shows” on their website:  

https://www.understorysound.ca

So! Upcoming things and events: September is chamber music month - concerts, in real life! Here are a few of the things I’m up to:

• September 12th at 4:00PM: playing a recital with violist & partner-in-crime Mark Kleyn at Stephen Hutchings’ gallery opening in Florenceville-Bristol, NB;

• September 17th at 5:15PM: playing a free Pallmer set in front of City Hall as a part of Harvest Festival in Fredericton, NB;

• September 25th at 7:30PM: playing Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and Beethoven’s Piano Trio Op. 1 #3 at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB;

• October 2nd at 7:30PM: playing Grieg, Beethoven & Shaw with the Elm City String Quartet at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB;

• October 3rd at 7:00PM: playing with Atlantic Sinfonia for a string orchestra concert at UNB’s Memorial Hall in Fredericton.

Then - a breath!

There are many things cooking right now, but for the sake of your eyes, I’ll sign off. Again - thank you for being here, and enjoy these late-summer days!