$15 or PWYC

Abakos is a modular composition conceived as a sort of obstacle course for creative improvising musicians. It consists, at present, of nine distinct compositions (or obstacles). For each performance, any number of these are arranged in any order by an ensemble of musicians according to their creative needs, their current interests, their strengths and weaknesses as performers, their sense of adventure as individuals and as an ensemble.

Just as the piece itself is endlessly re-configurable, so too is the ensemble. The remarkably creative musicians involved form a pool from which any combination of players can be drawn to form an ensemble to play Abakos together.

For this concert, Abakos will be Ken Aldcroft (guitar), Germaine Liu (xylophone, percussion), Tom Richards (trombone), and Joe Sorbara (drums, percussion). The pool also includes Tania Gill, Pete Johnston, Keegan Lutek, Wes Neal, Paul Newman, and Karen Ng.

More info, images, and sounds at ovalwindowmusic.org/joesorbara/projects/abakos.php

Joe Sorbara is a highly inventive drummer and percussionist with a penchant for coaxing music out of practically anything. Joe’s drumkit is regularly augmented with found and prepared materials which ensure that the sounds at his ready disposal are practically orchestral in scope. He combines these skills with an extraordinary time-feel that makes him one of the most swinging drummers in Canada when the music demands it of him. He is equally at home playing jazz standards, free improvised music, punk rock, and chamber music—but prefers to play them all at the same time. He leads The Imperative, a trio featuring Jay Hay and Karen Ng on tenor saxophones, and two large ensembles: the ten-piece Abakos and a ‘seven-or-more-tet’ known as Other Foot First. Each of these serve as uniquely challenging outlets for his inventive compositions. Elsewhere, Joe plays in Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble, an improvising duo with Paul Dutton, the AIMToronto Orchestra, and Lullaby North, as well as in numerous ongoing and ad hoc collaborations with creative improvising musicians from all over. In addition to the above, he has recorded with Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, Anna Siddall, the Remnants Trio, Ronda Rindone’s Quorum, Tom Arthurs and Bruce MacKinnon, Glen Hall, and Peter van Huffel. He can also be heard–alongside Tania Gill, Peter Lutek, and Scott Peterson–interpreting Mitchell Akiyama’s music for the score to David Hartt’s 2015 film, Interval. As an educator, Joe teaches at the University of Guelph where he works with young drummers in the applied music program as well as directing a large ensemble known as the CME. At home in Toronto, he teaches privately and through the Regent Park School of Music. He is also a stalwart creative music organizer, having been a founding member of both AIMToronto and the Canadian New Music Network and the artistic director of the longstanding Leftover Daylight Series. He currently works with the Somewhere There collective to present a major festival each winter in addition to a diverse range of creative music concerts throughout the year.