Sunday September 28 • MUSIC GALLERY PRESENTS
JOZEF VAN WISSEM
With guests Colin Fisher & Brandon Valdivia

Doors 7pm, concert 8pm
Tickets: $15 regular, $10 member + senior, $5 student
Advance tickets on sale at Ticketweb — BUY NOW!

Composer and lute player Jozef Van Wissem is renowned for his unusual approach to the Renaissance lute. He cuts and pastes classical pieces, reverses melodies, adds electronics and processed field recordings The unusual wedlock of composition and improvisation creates an unheard amalgam of contemporary folk and late Renaissance and Baroque music.

Although he uses subtle electronic sound manipulation, Van Wissem has largely stayed faithful to the particular timbre, resonance and playing technique of the lute. He also first gained attention for his radical conceptual approach to Renaissance lute music: deconstructing existing compositions, by playing them backwards, for example. He also composed his own pieces for lute, using palindromes and mirrored structures. His music therefore does not have a traditional linear progression, nor leads to an expected climax. His music not so much demands concentrated listening, as it will bring the listener in a state of concentrated listening.

Van Wissem also runs the Incunabulum label, and performs extensively around the world, collaborating with M.B. / Maurizio Bianchi, James Blackshaw, Chris Forsyth, Tetuzi Akiyama, Gary Lucas and Elliot Sharp. The Wire Magazine called his latest solo lute CD, Stations of the Cross a “masterpiece.”

A frequent visitor to Toronto, thanks to Ron Gaskin of Rough Idea Concerts, van Wissem’s local appearances usually take place in St. Andrew by the Lake Church on bucolic Toronto Island. His performance this past June featured an opening set by the duo of Colin Fisher and Brandon Valdivia. We are pleased to present the lute player’s first mainland Toronto appearance, with Fisher and Valdivia re-joining him as both opening act and backing band.

www.myspace.com/vanwissem
www.myspace.com/colinfisher
www.myspace.com/brandonvaldivia