Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

Voice ++ Concerts
$12/$10

May 7, 8 pm Grace Lutheran Church, Cathy Lewis and Cari Burdett

May 8, 8 pm Open Space, Susanna Hood and Carol Sawyer

May 9, 8 pm Open Space, Robert Minden and Carla Hallett


Workshop
Saturday, May 9, 10 am – noon, Open Space, Susanna Hood
Tickets $5

Featured Vocalists: Cari Burdett [Duncan], Cathy Lewis [Victoria], Susanna Hood [Toronto], Carol Sawyer, Robert Minden and Carla Hallett [Vancouver].

With Anna Hostman, Kim Cousineau, Massimo Pintus, Rodney Sharman, Steve Bagnall, and Sean Q. Lang.

Vocal entrepreneurs from Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto sing songs of love, politics, heaven and magic for the 5th annual Open Space Voice++ Festival. Three concerts over three evenings that feature sonic mixes with saxophone, flute, guitar, percussion, flowerpots, Theremin, musical saws, piano and other instruments, and an evening of vocal couplings with video and dance.

Opening the Festival on Thursday, May 7, local chanteuses Cathy Lewis and Cari Burdett and guests present a collection of cabaret and colourful songs at Grace Lutheran Church (1273 Fort St.). The edgy social and political commentary in the work of Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler and Mauricio Kagel provide contrast and context to newer vocal works by Canadian composers Rodney Sharman, Anna Hostman, Linda Smith and Tim Francis.

On Friday, May 8 Open Space welcomes visiting artists Carol Sawyer (Vancouver) and Susanna Hood (Toronto), two adventurous vocalists taking the voice into zones beyond speech and song to pure emotional utterance through extended techniques. Susanna Hood invokes the discipline of modern dance and sonic expressions of voice in her touching rendition of Steve Lacy’s Somebody Special. Carol Sawyer, a Vancouver visual artist and singer, presents Ramshackle Heaven for multichannel video and improvising musicians – a visual and sonic investigation into ideas of heaven, paradise and the close links between utopia and dystopia –with video artist Sean Q. Lang and saxophonist Steve Bagnall.

On Saturday, May 9 from 10 am to noon, Susanna Hood offers a workshop at Open Space. Everyone is welcome to explore Susanna’s practice of vocalizing from a body and movement perspective.

Vancouver’s Robert Minden Duo will close the Voice ++ festival on Saturday, May 9 for a full concert of magical storytelling with old, new, invented and found instruments. Robert Minden and Carla Hallet create a mesmerizing backdrop to their sound stories with an orchestra of the unusual - bowed carpenter saws, flowerpots, waterphones, bowls, bottles, Theremin and other sounding objects. Minden is known as a master storyteller, and Hallet’s lyrics explore identity and resonance within an enchanting and intimate acoustic sound world.



Cari Burdett: http://www.joythroughmusic.com/home.htm

Susanna Hood: http://www.humdansoundart.ca/people.html

Carol Sawyer: http://www.ionzoomusic.com/

Robert Minden and Carla Hallett: http://www.lostsound.com/rmd/default.html