"Jean Derome. Born Montréal, Québec, 1955. esidence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (saxophones (alto, baritone, soprano), flutes (flute, bass flute, piccolo, alto flute, recorders), keyboards, small wind instruments (ocarinas, jew's harp, game calls, toys...), percussion, invented instruments, voice)

One of the most active and eclectic musicians on the Canadian creative music scene, Jean Derome has managed to earn the recognition of a larger public, a rare feat in that field. Thanks to his large-scale musique actuelle projects, his compositions, his work as an improviser, his jazz groups and his music for the screen and the stage, Derome ranks as a major creative force, in Québec and abroad. He is experienced and innovative on both saxophone and flute, and his unique writing style cannot be mistaken for anyone else's. Sensitive and powerful, his music often features a funny strike that makes its complex nature more inviting.

Ever since Nébu (one of Québec's first avant-garde jazz groups) in the early '70s, Derome has been consistently renewing and diversifying his approach of composition. He impressed audience and critics first with the flute, then with the saxophone, as a lead character in the musique actuelle underground. He took part to the various artists' collectives looking for new ways to express themselves freely, without esthetic or social constraints, including the Ensemble de musique improvisée de Montréal. Later, in the early '80s, he co-founded Ambiances Magnétiques, a collective and record label that raised his profile at home and introduced his name to the outside world. Among his numerous projects, let us mention the duos Les Granules, Nous perçons les oreilles and Plinc! Plonc!, the dynamic group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, and the large-scale projects Confitures de gagaku, Je me souviens - Hommage à Georges Perec and Canot-camping. Most of these projects are based on a unique form of synergy between composition, structured improvisation and genuine creative madness, all this articulated with unmatched playfulness. In 1992, Derome became the second artist to be presented with the Freddie Stone Award (bassist Lisle Ellis was the first).

Besides improvising on a regular basis with Ambiances Magnétiques' members and appearing in their projects, Derome has also shared the stage with several musicians of international stature, among others Fred Frith, Lars Hollmer, Louis Sclavis and Han Bennink. He performs regularly all over Canada, in the US and in Europe. He received a Prix Opus in 2001 for his exposure abroad.

Lately, jazz circles have been praising his undisputable qualities as a jazzman, thanks to the Thelonious Monk tribute project Évidence, the Normand Guilbeault Ensemble (whose Mingus Erectus CD is devoted to Charles Mingus' music), and the much-lauded Derome Guilbeault Tanguay Trio.

Although Jean Derome writes tirelessly for his own projects, he is much in demand in the fields of film, theatre and dance. A short list of this side of his work would have to include his numerous scores for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), especially for films by John Walker, Jacques Leduc, Fernand Bélanger and animated films by Pierre Hébert, Michèle Cournoyer and Jean Detheux; his incidental music for Théâtre UBU, Théâtre de Quat'Sous and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde; not forgetting his work with several top choreographers, including Louise Bédard, Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood, Daniel Soulières and Ginette Laurin. Other music ensembles have commissioned works from him, including Tuyo, Bradyworks, the Hard Rubber Orchestra from Vancouver and Fanfare Pourpour. Incidentally, Derome is the musical director of the latter.

Over thirty years of music and 70 record credits later, Jean Derome still has sleeves bursting with tricks."

"Guillaume Dostaler studied classical piano at the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy in Montréal. Since the beginning of the 1980s he has played in many jazz, musique actuelle, and funk groups with musicians drawn from both the local and the international scenes, such as Jean Derome, Michel Ratté, Yannick Rieu, Malcolm Goldstein, Butch Morris, Karen Young, and Greg Abatte. He took part in the performance of Nathalie Derome's Les 4 ronds sont allumés with René Lussier in 1999; in the same year he began playing with the rock/funk group Cosmik Débris. In 2000 he took part in the Les Moyens du Bord project with poet Patrice Desbiens and René Lussier as well as in Pierre Hébert's etching-on-film improvisation project. Since 2001 he has participated in René Lussier's Grand Vent project with François Chauvette, Maxime Lepage, Tom Walsh, and Lori Freedman and in the funk/techno group Rollan 77 with Benoît Charest, François Chauvette, and Maxime Lepage. He has also collaborated on music for films, plays, dance performances, and radio broadcasts and has taken part in a number of large-scale events. He can be heard on a number of compact discs."

"Pierre Cartier's music is the convergence of the multiple approaches he has pursued since the very start of his career. A classically trained double bass player, a specialist in baroque music on original instruments, Pierre Cartier wishes to play music as one speaks one's mother tongue - that is, with freedom, fluidity, and intelligence - passing from symphonic music to baroque and contemporary music, and from the jazz of Thelonious Monk to the fertile grounds of improvisation. He founded his own ensemble in 1987 and, centred on his own instrumental compositions, develops a very personal integration of musical idioms.

However, it is in vocal music, when voice and text mobilize both the spirit and the heart, that this integration is at its most organic. The discovery of his deep affinity for ancient sacred song, particularly Gregorian Chant and primitive polyphony, accompanied the composition of his first vocal work Chansons de Douve, a solemn and majestic ceremonial created around the poems of Yves Bonnefoy.

"Dis, Blaise..." chanson du Transsibérien sets to music a long poem published by Blaise Cendrars in 1913: Prose du Transsibérien et de la Petite Jeanne de France. This musical journey, at once painful and enlightening, was for Pierre Cartier a turning point since it was the first time he sang solo while playing the double bass.

Chansons de la belle espérance is his most recent show: seven jazz songs on texts by Québec poets. These songs, in the manner of jazz standards, shed both a lyrical and critical light on the timeless theme of love.

Pierre Cartier is a member of the new music group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, of the group Évidence (music of Thelonious Monk), of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, the Schola St-Grégoire, and the Strauss-Lanner ensemble."

"Quebec City, Québec, 1956: Composer, Performer (drum set, percussion, voice)

A percussionist, composer and inveterate inventor, Pierre Tanguay is one of the most sought-after Montréal musicians on the Quebec scene. Since the beginning of the 80s, he has participated in an impressive number of ensembles, including Jean Derome and the dangereux zhoms, Évidence, Castor et compagnie, the Jean-François Groulx Trio, the ODD (a danse orchestra), Villemure Ô Carré, the Pierre Cartier Ensemble and Projet Riel. Among his collaborators are Jean Derome, Normand Guilbeault, Pierre Langevin, René Lussier, Karen Young, Fred Frith, Michel Donato, Daniel Mille, André Duchesne and Antoine Berthiaume. He is very active in the fileds of medieval and traditional music, jazz and musique actuelle. He is the co-founder of Strada, Midi Tapant, Derome/Tanguay.

He has composed works for dance (Lucie Grégoire, Andrew Harwood, Irène Stamou and Francine Gagné), as well as works for the theatre and film (Allan Booth, Imago and Roberto Ariganello). He regularly tours throughout Canada and Europe."

"Jean René. Born Victoriaville, Québec, 1956. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Performer (viola), Conductor.

Jean René has a Bachelor's degree in composition from the Université de Montréal. He has studied viola and conducting; Raffi Armenian, Michel Longtin, and Bruno Guiranna were his professors. From 1991 to 2002, he was associate principal violist with l'Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. He still freelances with a number of ensembles. Since 1990 he has collaborated with many artists, including André Duchesne, Pierre Cartier, Jean Derome and René Lussier. He also headed the group from the Ensemble SuperMusique for the Symphony of the Millennium."

"Guido Del Fabbro. Born Montréal, Québec, 1980. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (violin, electronics).

Born in Montréal, 1980, Guido Del Fabbro started violin lessons at age four. His taste for improvisation and composition first manifested itself around 1990; since then, he has taken several classes and workshops related to these fields. Del Fabbro is co-founder, creator and composer of Mouvement de Musique Présente, a large ensemble of up-and-coming musicians devoted to scored and improvised music. He is also a member of the groups Fanfare Pourpour, Rouge ciel and Concorde Crash. For 18 months, he toured North America with Gilles Ste-Croix's horse circus Cheval-Théâtre. As a performer, he has recorded a few soundtracks for film, television, theatre and dance. As a composer, he has written music for choreographers Élodie Lombardo (Blou take two, Gelsomina) and Séverine Lombardo (Les Accords d'elles). Del Fabbro released his first solo album, Carré de sable, in 2003, on Ambiances Magnétiques. He can be heard on the latest albums by Tomás Jensen and Loco Locass. He is an accompanying multi-instrumentalist in Pierre Lapointe's show La forêt des mal-aimés."

"Lori Freedman. Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (clarinet, bass clarinet)

Qualified as "a musical revolutionary in the front ranks of the avant-garde" by Alex Varty of the Georgia Straight (Vancouver), Lori Freedman (clarinets) is internationally recognized as one of the most creative and provocative performers. She is a member of a select group known as "renaissance musicians" as her artistic activities cover many fields: performer of written music (well over one hundred works have been written for or premiered by her), composer, improviser, teacher, and on occasion, writer. While managing a full performance schedule of more than 75 public appearances a year, Freedman has been receiving commissions to write music for ensembles such as Orkestra Futura, Arraymusic Ensemble, Ensemble Transmission, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble SuperMusique, Ensemble Paramirabo, Upstream Orchestra, Queen Mab Trio, Crowbar Trio, Lott Dance, Oberlander Films, Foresite Theatre, Cooke Productions and Autumn Leaf Productions. Her current discography comprises over 59 recordings, the most recent of which include Greffes (Empreintes digitales), On No (Mode Records), Bridge (Collection QB), Plumb (Barnyard Records), 3 and À un moment donné (Ambiances Magnétiques), Huskless! (Artifact), See Saw and Thin Air (Wig). Highlight collaborations include work with Rohan de Saram, Barre Phillips, Helmut Lachenmann, Frances-Marie Uitti, Monique Jean, Joëlle Léandre, Axel Dörner, George Lewis, the Jack Quartet and Richard Barrett."

"André Leroux holds a bachelors degree in music (classical saxophone) from Université de Montréal. Well known in the jazz field, André Leroux works regularly with major jazz musicians in Canada such as Michel Cusson, Vic Vogel and James Gelfand.He has recorded many CD's with various jazz ensembles and has played at all major jazz festivals across Canada and abroad.

He is currently working intensively with jazz pianist François Bourassa, in both duet and quartet formation, and performs regularly with various new music ensembles such as BradyWorks. Leroux is a founding member of the Quasar saxophone quartet, with whom he has premiered numerous works, exploring different aspects of artistic creation from instrumental music to live electronics, from improvisation to instrumental theatre."

"Craig Pedersen is a trumpet player, composer, and educator based out of Montréal. He actively leads his own bands, the Craig Pedersen Quartet and the It's A Free Country duo (with Joel Kerr), and co-directs the Musique a La Poele series in Montreal. He also co-founded the Improvising Musicians of Ottawa/Outaouais Concert (IMOO) Series. Since its inception in 2010, IMOO has served as a hub of improvised music in Ottawa, presenting both local and international artists. Craig has released eight albums worth of material, ranging between composed material to improvisation, and has collaborated with Lori Freedman, Nicolas Caloia, Evan Tighe, Aaron Lumley, Ian Birse and Laura Kavanaugh (Instant Places), Joel Kerr, and Mark Molnar (Kingdom Shore), as well as recording on the soundtrack for Robert Lepage's Needles and Opium, and performances at L'Off Festival du Jazz, and FONT Canada. He has recently written a method book of extended techniques for the trumpet, to published by Berklee Press and Hal Leonard in November of 2014.

Mark Molnar plays strings and electronics with Kingdom Shore, 1/4 Tonne Spike Pitcher (Nick Keupfer and Eric Craven), Generator (John Higney and Jamie Gulliksen), Mice (Bennett Bedoukian and Dave Clark), and in duos and a variety of configurations with Eric Craven, Craig Pedersen, James Annett, David Broscoe, Jamie Gulliksen, Linsey Wellman, and Bennett Bedoukian. He also plays erhu and rebab in Gamelan Semara Winangun."

"A native of central Quebec, Julie Houle has been a tuba player for 15 years. She has a classical university education. She is also an interpreter-composer-arranger. Since 2007, she has devoted herself to different styles (gypsies, fanfare, pop, jazz, improvisation, etc.). In 2007 she will follow a master class with Michel Godard in Villeurbane in France. The meeting of this mentor was also repeated in France, in January 2013 for a series of courses in private.

Julie swells, by her desire to make her tuba heard, worked with artists such as; David Brunet, Marco Calliari, The Gypsies of Sarajevo, Catherine Major, Fred Pellerin, Benoit Rocheleau, Brigitte Ste-Aubin, Bernard Adamus, the Fanfarniente de la Strada, the Jarry fanfare, the Severni fanfare, Sophie Vaillancourt, etc. In addition, she now has in hand her own DJU project that offers instrumental music where the tuba is put forward."

"Bernard Falaise. Born Montréal, Québec, 1965. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (guitar).

Bernard Falaise was born in Montréal, where he currently lives. He plays electric guitar, composes and improvises - all with evident joy - for Miriodor, Klaxon Gueule, les Projectionnistes, Diesel and other groups. He has written for the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM), Quartango and the Isis Quartet, and has created music for exhibitions, television, the theatre and dance. Allergic to labels, Falaise explores acid rock, twelve-tone waltzes and industrial tangos with equal enthusiasm."

"Olivier Maranda earned Premiere Prix with great distinction and by unanimous decision of the jury in both percussion and chamber music at the Montréal Conservatory, and also received various scholarships for his work there. His artistic activities are divided into three main areas: the performance and study of classic twentieth-century repertoire, premiering new works, and improvisation and multidisciplinary art. Maranda is a founding member of the Chorum and Allogène ensembles, and also plays with ECM and Codes d'Accès. For the past year he has been working on a project called The Stick with choreographer Andrew Tay, who brings together improvisation with set structures. Critically acclaimed, Maranda has been called a, "courageous, high caliber percussionist" (Le Devoir) whose style has an expansive, "high-flying character." (La Presse)"