"Joane Hétu. Born Montréal, Québec, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (alto saxophone, voice), Author/

It has been more than 30 years now since self-taught composer, vocalist and saxophonist Joane Hétu has been following her own highly distinctive path through the vast territory of creative, contemporary music. From her beginnings with song-based new-rock bands such as Wondeur Brass, Justine and Les Poules, Hétu turned to composition (the evocative triptych comprising Musique d'hiver, Filature and La femme territoire ou 21 fragments d'humus) and improvisation, more often than not combining both within her general approach to music. She has co-directed the Ensemble SuperMusique since its founding in 1998, as well as the weekly series Mercredimusics since 2002. More recently she gave birth to La chorale bruitiste Joker (2012). Joane Hétu was awarded the prestigious Freddie Stone Award in 2006."

"Danielle Palardy Roger. Born Laval, Québec, 1949. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (drum set, electronic percussion, voice).

Percussionist, composer and improviser Danielle Palardy Roger is for the most part self-taught. Active on the Montréal "musique actuelle" scene since 1980, she co-founded the groups Justine, Wondeur Brass and Les Poules. She also founded Ensemble SuperMusique, a shape-shifting ensemble solely devoted to the performance of new music works and improvisation.

As a percussionist and improviser, her style is unique: she structures rhythm out of time, communicating a strong, complex narrative by accumulating and layering diverse gestures. She toured Canada, Europe and the United States on several occasions and appeared at several prestigious international events and festivals. In the course of her unique and resolutely independent career, she has worked and shared the stage with Alexei Borisov, DB Boyko, Christopher Butterfield, Nicolas Caloia, Paul Cram, Chantal Dumas, Christine Duncan, Lori Freedman, Fred Frith, Joëlle Léandre, Torsten Mueller, Zeena Parkins, Tenko, the VivaVoce choir, and the Quasar saxophone quartet, among others and in addition to her close collaborators from the Ambiances Magnétiques crowd - Derome, Hétu, Labrosse, Tanguay and Tétreault.

Roger's research concerns the integration of improvisation to contemporary music. In that regard, she has worked with composer Marie Pelletier and composed music for the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal and for Ensemble SuperMusique - the latter a shape shifting ensemble entirely dedicated to improvised music and "musique actuelle." She wrote a Harbour Symphony in 2001 (La grande entente), commissioned by the Musée Pointe-à-Callière in Montréal. Danielle Palardy Roger has made several albums for the Ambiances Magnétiques label, including Tricotage (2000) with French bassist Joëlle Léandre, Bruiducœur, prière des infidèles, an oratorio performed live in Montréal, in June of 2004, Phénix (2008) with the trio Les Poules, and Pas de deux (2008) with British guitarist Fred Frith.

Roger is a versatile artist whose projects have consistently brought her back to text, song and declamation. She has penned a large number of songs for Wondeur Brass and Justine, but also composed a musical tale (L'oreille enflée, 1990), a musical theatre (Candide sur une toupie, 1994) and, most importantly, the solo performance Le voyage en Aphasie Mineure (1998) and the oratorio Bruiducœur, prières des infidèles (2004), two works where an exploding language represents the intense realm of communication, the core of the artist's concerns.

In juxtaposition to her music career, Danielle Palardy Roger is also general manager and artistic director of Productions SuperMusique (PSM) and is a member of the Ambiances Magnétiques label; in addition to being involved in the field of concert music she is president of the Groupe Le Vivier, which is dedicated to the founding of a place of creation, production and presentation of new music in Montréal."

"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."

"Alexandre St-Onge. Born Montréal, Québec, 1976. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (double bass).

Alexandre St-Onge is an audio artist, a musician/improviser (acoustic bass, bass, voice and electronics) and a sound performer. He has studied literature and philosophy and he is currently doing his PhD in art. He is fascinated by creativity as a pragmatic approach of the ineffable and he has released seven solo CDs: Entités (Oral), Joseph Carey Merrick (Oral), Mon animal est possible (Alien8 Recordings), L'amitié ou les rumeurs insoutenables du désir (Squint Fucker Press), kasi naigo (Squint Fucker Press), Une mâchoire et deux trous (Namskéio Records), Image/négation (Alien8 Recordings). He also plays in quite a few bands, including Et Sans, K.A.N.T.N.A.G.A.N.O., Klaxon Gueule, Pink Saliva, Mineminemine, Shalabi Effect and Undo. As a composer he has worked for interactive/mixed-media company kondition pluriel, as well as composing for artists such as Marie Brassard, Karine Denault, Lynda Gaudreau, Line Nault, Jérémie Niel, Maryse Poulin and Mariko Tanabe."

"Cléo Palacio-Quintin. Born Leuven, Belgium, 1971, Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (hyper-flute).

Constantly seeking new means of expression and eager to create, the flutist-improviser-composer Cléo Palacio-Quintin takes part in many premieres as well as improvisational multidisciplinary performances, and composes instrumental and electroacoustic music for various ensembles and media works. Since 1999, she develops her hyper-flutes. Interfaced to a computer by means of electronic sensors, these augmented flutes enable her to compose interactive soundscapes, combining instrumental sound and electroacoustic music, sometimes even with video. Recipients of many prizes, awards and grants, she is the first woman to receive a Doctorate in electroacoustic composition from the Université de Montréal (2012) and is a collaborator at the Center for interdisciplinary research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). Over the years her compositions have been performed in The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Canada and the USA, either by herself or various ensembles."

"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."

"Diane Labrosse. Born Montréal, Québec, 1950. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (sampler, accordion, voice).

Working mainly with electronic samplers, Diane Labrosse has a very personnal approach to sounds, exploring different textures and timbres and creating an abstract but evocative music. She is a regular on several different music scenes and has performed at internationally known festivals of musique actuelle, electronic, avant-garde and improvised music all over the world (Canada, USA, Europe, Japan, Australia).

Her most recent projects take different forms: Endangered Species, a sound and visual installation/performance based on obsolete objects such as rotary dial phones and ticking alarmclocks; Dactylotactiles, performance for 3 typewriters and live video (Sébastien Cliche); Petit Bestiaire, naïve songs for a quintet (texts by Guy Marchamps); Sagesse pratique, a series of miniature pieces based on proverbs and O.V.N.I., a sign language for an improvising orchestra of variable sizes.

As a composer, using conventionnal or graphic scores, she wrote for many different ensembles: Array Music and The Burdocks (Toronto), L'Ensemble SuperMusique and Espaces Sonores Illimités (Montréal), NOW Orchestra and 999 years of Music, (Vancouver). She also wrote for less conventionnal instruments, such as ship horns (Harbour Symphonies), train whistles, air bottles and toy pianos. She worked with director Robert Lepage and co-signed (with percussionist Michel F Côté) the music for two of his plays: La Géométrie des miracles and Zulu Time.

As sound designer, she created music for dance (Louise Bédard, Crystal Pite, Andrew Harwood, Marc Boivin, Deborah Dunn, Catherine Tardif, Harold Rhéaume, Richard Siegal), film (Montréal vu par..., Pendant que les arbres tombent, L'Entrevue, Plan de fuite) and radio (Le Navire Night, Les Décrocheurs d'étoiles) and theatre (Nuit d'orage, Je suis d'un would-be pays, Bliss, 38 Contes shakespiriens...).

She has created multimedia installations for Danish company Tura-ya-moya (in situ performances in an old chalk mine), and Scottish-based Theatre Cryptic (Wall of Secrets in situ installation for 20 speakers) as well as the Centre de Musique Canadienne (a sound garden playing ramdom sound tracks on surround speakers).

In 1980, she founded Productions SuperMémé/SuperMusique with Joane Hétu and Danielle P Roger. She remained Co-Artistic Director of this company presenting many concerts and events of innovative music from 1980 to 2008. With long-time colleagues Hétu and Roger she created the groups Wondeur Brass, Justine, and Les Poules. She collaborated with many musicians such as Jean Derome, Pierre Tanguay, Michel F Côté, Martin Tétreault, Ikue Mori, Philippe Lauzier.

Her discography comprises more than 50 recordings mostly recorded on Montreal based label Ambiances Magnétiques. She has received several grants from Canada Arts Council as well as Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec."

"Elizabeth Lima. Born Quebec City, Québec, 1981. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (clarinet). Known for Ample et de l'Ensemble Kô."

"Francois Couture: Canadian composer, musician, orchestrator, arranger and sound designer

Canadian composer, musician, orchestrator, arranger and sound designer, François Couture, a man of boundless musical imagination, continues to fearlessly blend modern electronic rhythms with subtle ethnic and even classical motifs.

With nine albums under his belt, ranging from new age to world beat to neo-classical, his music draws the listener into the ever-changing World of his creations. And this World turns out to be very exciting. He explores the musical universe and its mysteries, fusing everyday sounds with string orchestras, banjo, mandolin, guitar, and electronic sounds, all exquisitely produced and taking the listener on a journey through the entire musical spectrum. An alchemist who likes to push the boundaries between ethnic music, folk, ambient and electronic, François Couture is one of those rare musicians who always amazes with his fresh and innovative style and surprising combination of sounds. His music gets airplay and praise around the World.

His latest album, After the Rain, along with Downtown Ride, Dal Segno, Mysteria rosarii, Yahndawa, Tape Speed, My Little Book, Ludovica, and Quallunuak. His album,Yahndawa' merges a string orchestra with songs of the Wendat people. It was received with much enthusiasm, winning several awards and nominations. This was not his first exploration of aboriginal music. The very intense and highly successful Qallunak (2005) features Inuit-inspired music. Ludovica is a tribute to Coutures hometown, Quebec, Canada. In the passionate Tape Speed, the listener gets lost in Coutures shimmering melodies and orchestrations.

François Couture is also regularly commissioned as a composer, sound designer and musical director for major festivals and events at home and abroad, such as The 400th Anniversary of Quebec and The Quebec Winter Carnivalin Quebec City, Canada, Just for Laughs and Montreal in Lights in Montreal, Canada, and The Wall of Sound in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Awards:Among the many awards and nominations François Couture has received, his album Yahndawa, won the 2013 Native American Music Award for Best Producer and the 2012 Eworld Music Award for Best World Music. This album was also nominated for Best New Age album by the 2013 Independent Music Awards, Best Producer by the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and Best World Music by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (HMMA).

Other albums and productions honored with awards or nominations were Dal Segno for Best New Age Music by the HMMA, and The Wall of Sound in Lausanne, Switzerland, which won the Live Design Excellence Award."

"Gabriel Dharmoo. Born Quebec City, Québec, 1981. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (voice).

Gabriel Dharmoo's musical practice encompasses composition, improvisation and the research of South Indian Carnatic music.

As a composer, he has studied composition and analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Serge Provost and finished his studies with a "Prix avec grande distinction", the highest honour to be awarded. He has worked with emerging and established Canadian ensembles (ECM+, SMCQ, Soundstreams, Gryphon Trio, Aventa, Arraymusic, Motion Ensemble) as well as with Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart from Germany. His works have been performed in Canada, the USA, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore and South Africa. In addition to winning 6 prizes from the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers, he was awarded the 2011 Fernand-Lindsay Prix d'Europe composition prize and the Canada Council for the Arts' 2011 Robert Fleming Prize. He is an associate composer at the Canadian Music Centre as well as a member of SOCAN and the Canadian League of Composers.

Having researched Carnatic music with 4 renowned masters in Chennai (India) in 2008 and 2011, his personal style explores the theme of post-exotism and the interplay between tradition and novelty.

As a vocal improviser, Gabriel has sung across Canada (Montreal, Québec, Vancouver, Banff) and in Berlin, Germany. In 2013-14, a development grant from the Canada Council for the Arts allowed him to work with vocalists Phil Minton (UK) and Ute Wassermann (Germany), as well as yodel and overtone specialist Christian Zehnder (Switzerland) and beatboxer Shlomo (UK). Inspired by contrasting vocal expressions in different cultures in time and space, he conceives his voice as both a raw and a sophisticated instrument. His musical language is a blend of diverse classical, avant-garde and traditional elements, mediated by an interest in linguistics and ethno/zoomusicology."

"Géraldine Eguiluz. Born Tenochtitlan, Mexico. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (voice, guitar, trumpet, percussion).

Voice of the earth, with echoes of jazz and south-american music, making nymphs and spirits of the ages come to life, Géraldine Eguiluz has created music for the last twenty five years in the heart of transformation, idioms and languages, people and memories. She is related to experimental scenes, performance, improvisation, actual music and jazz in Mexico, Montréal and New York. Her music has Latin-American, Afro-American, Aboriginal and contemporary printed sounds. Eguiluz's collaborations with multidisciplinary artistis include video, theatre, danse and circus, electronics and multimedia. She is related among composers and performers that privileges acoustic and natural sounds and instruments. She also paints, writes and makes photography, which are present mediums in her performances. She has produced her recordings, in Mexico with the group Tritonia, Cirrus (1997), Prisma (1998) Aramat (2000) and lately her Canadian recordings Time of Light (2010), Rubedo'ro (2014), Nigredo-Lunas Negras (2015), Paso Doble (2015), Ontologies (2017).

Earth resident, Géraldine is born in México in 1969, and also grew up in Colombia, Portugal and France. She emmigrates with her daughter to Québec city in 2006 and moved to Montréal in 2011 where she still lives dedicated to creation."

"Kathy Kennedy is a sound artist with formal training in classical voice and visual art. Her practice is a lifelong study of the voice and its interface with technology, identity and public space. She has been deeply involved in community art, and is a founder of the digital media center for women in Canada, Studio XX, as well as the innovative choral group for women, Choeur Maha. Her large-scale sonic installation/performances for up to 100 singers and radio, called "sonic choreographies" have been performed internationally. She is currently on faculty at Concordia University, lectures and gives workshops on improvisation, listening, acoustic ecology and vocal empowerment.

Her solo performances include a high level of improvisation and immersion. Her installations are subtle environments that invite and incite the listener to go deeper."

"Michel F Côté. Born Montréal, Québec, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (percussion).

Half a century later, now a grown-up, he still doesn't understand why he chose a career as a musician and composer instead of something else. With fluidity and idiocy, he gets involved with whomever he wants, thus avoiding any and all reductive labeling attempts. A Montréaler and a co-founder of the &records label, he stumbles around in various bands: bob, Klaxon, Pink Saliva, (juste) Claudette, and Mecha Fixes Clock. A designer associated with stage arts, he refuses to grow softer. As proof, in dance he adds his ear to the choreographies of Catherine Tardif, Sylvain Émard, Louise Bédard, Shanti Wadge, and José Navas; in theatre, he scratches his head alongside Wajdi Mouawad, Robert Lepage, Brigitte Haentjens, Éric Jean, and Martin Faucher. So what's left? He favours plants, suffers from music-loving, is rather clean overall, and tends to keep in shape."

"A composer and a sound designer, Pierre-Luc Senécal is piecing together his reputation as curious and dashingly passionate about sound. A jack-of-all-trades, he composes electroacoustic compositions as well as for theater, dance and film. Deeply inspired by rock, pop and heavy metal, he infuses in his electronic pieces his sensitivity for lyricism, poetic and untamable energy. His work Urban Gardens has been awarded the JTTP 2017 third prize, the SIME 208 third prize, and was presented during the MA/IN Festival 2017. His work has been presented in the United States of America, Canada, Monaco, Germany, Russia, Sweden and South Korea. After studying with Robert Normandeau at Université de Montréal (QC) and Pierre Alexandre Tremblay at University of Huddersfield (UK), he is now completing a master's degree in acousmatic mixing and mastering."

"Vergil Sharkya'. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (synthesizer)

In 2010 Vergil Sharkya' finished a major research project in composition for his doctoral degree at Liverpool's John Moores University, developing a complete theory of hypercomposition, featuring as well examples of its practical application.

His most recent hypercomposition - aTTAK, for piano, suspended toy piano, and digital instruments -, was commissioned for and performed at the opening of the Aufbau Haus, Berlin, in September 2011.

Vergil is also a well established composer/musician in the fields of improvised music, multimedia installations, post-modernist composition, scores and soundtracks for film, theatre and dance, composition and arrangements for orchestras, soundscapes, psychedelic noise rock, drum'n'bass, dub, and even academic research.

He has released several recordings on various labels like Cuneiform Records, UKsupersonict and VergilReality Recordings.

Since moving to Montréal in July 2010, he has been working mainly but not exclusively in the field of improvised music with musicians such as Jean Derome, Michel F Côté, Simon Pagé, Augustus Martin, Ellwood Epps, Philippe Battikha, as well as with writers Martin Lamothe, and Serge Rivest Martimots. He currently spends his spare time cooking, doing housework for his lovely family and learning how to play jazz."

"Isaiah Ceccarelli. Born Chetwynd, British Columbia, Canada, 1978. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (drum set, percussion).

Isaiah Ceccarelli is a drummer, improviser, and composer based in Montréal. His music has been qualified as "one of the most original approaches to come through our offices in recent times" (Marc Chénard, La Scena Musicale) and he has been described as possessing "a writing style with rare personality in this musical context" (Thierry Lepin, Jazzman Magazine). He participates in numerous creative music projects with Michel F Côté, Pierre-Yves Martel, Lori Freedman, Jean Derome, Bernard Falaise, Joshua Zubot and Philippe Lauzier, amongst others. He plays with Félix Stüssi and Ray Anderson, as well as with the Acadian singer Marie-Jo Thério. Proud ambassador of a new generation of creative musicians in Québec, his collaborations have led him on tour in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. Isaiah has composed music for two of his own albums, Bréviaire d'épuisements and Lieux-dits (both on the Ambiances Magnétiques label), and for ensembles and musicians such as Quatuor Bozzini, Ensemble Allogène, the violist Jennifer Thiessen, and Ensemble Kô. He sings with the Schola Saint-Grégoire (Gregorian chant).

A seasoned musician and composer, Isaiah Ceccarelli is, in the words of Charles Collard from La Scena Musicale, "a jewel in the crown of the Montréal scene and his presence is felt on several fronts at the same time."