The Music Gallery and Sensorium Centre and DisPerSion Lab, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, York University present

Sarah Neufeld: The Ridge + Dialectica

X Avant XI

Saturday, October 15

Doors: 7pm | Concert: 8pm

The Music Gallery, 197 John St.

Tickets: $20 Regular | $10 Members/Students |$15 Advance at musicgallery.org

Violinist and composer and 2016 Juno winner for Best Instrumental Album Sarah Neufeld is a perfect sonic match for our church Sanctuary. Neufeld is best known as a member of Arcade Fire, contemporary instrumental ensemble Bell Orchestre and her collaborations with saxophonist Colin Stetson. Her solo debut, Hero Brother,was an atmospheric examination of the interaction between her instrument and Berlin’s most acoustically unique locations. Her latest record, The Ridge, digs deeper into rhythmic pop minimalism with more emphasis on vocalizations than Neufeld’s previous works. It’s clear that Neufeld values performance environments of great character and nuance; the Music Gallery will be an ideal, intimate venue to experience the intense dynamics of her sound.

Opening this evening is saxophonist Shannon Graham’s new saxophone quartet Dialectica. Featuring both jazz- and classically-trained saxophonists, Dialectica attempts to find an aesthetic truth through the discourse of these two musical points of view, akin to the Dialectic method of philosophy found in Plato’s Socratic Dialogues.

They ask the deep questions: can a current Canadian identity be found where the lineages of European art music and North American art music meet? Can the saxophone occupy a space in the collective unconscious that lies beyond that of Careless Whisper and Baker Street? Can the world handle more than one female saxophonist in one place?