Date
Exit Points 45
Array 155 Walnut Ave
Note

Array Music, 155 Walnut Ave

Exit Points is a monthly free-improvisation concert series, featuring two new ensembles of musicians across genres each playing a set with a 3rd set of group improvisations

Exit Points 45
Friday, January 26
Cost: $20 at the door. Cash/Card/Mobile
Advance tickets: https://linktr.ee/exitpoints
Doors open: 7:30pm
Show begins: 8pm sharp
Venue: Array Music, 155 Walnut Ave, 2nd Floor. Main entrance at top of a silver accessibility ramp. Building is accessible (ramp, elevator, washroom)

Ensemble 1: Doris Du, Behzad Danesh, Afraaz Mulji, Marlena Nova, James Hamilton Lowrie

Ensemble 2: Keisha Bell-Kovacs, Eye_Duh Kho, Gladys, Bill Gilliam, Michael Palumbo

Set 3: Switchemups! (Audience guests sit in with performers for several 5-minute pieces)

Exit Points is supported by generous funding from the Toronto Arts Council.

Date
Audiopollination
Array 155 Walnut Ave
Note

@Array Music - 155 Walnut Avenue
Door at 7:30 - music at 8pm sharp
$10 or PWYC - or if you have no money just say you are with Ted Phillips and walk straight on in

livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/w7bh_kKrneM?si=2Kwpb4rXUHxh4LQa

Audiopollination is an (non)identity affirming safe space - be who you are or who you desire to be.

4 - 20min sets of spontaneous art
Set 1
Uuxe (Jack Brock, synth)/ Collette Andrea (Bowls)/ Reza Yazdanpana
Set 2
Connor Crone (bass)/ Bicyclops (guitar + fx)/ Raymond Carruthers (trombone)
Set 3
Bill Gilliam (piano)/ Andrew Finlay Stewart (violin + fx)/ Émilie Fortin (trumpet)
Set 4
Jenna Geen (vox)/ Abby Silvera (movement)/ Mickle32 (upright bass)

Date
Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam Double CD Release - Guelph
Silence, 46 Essex St, Guelph
Note

Silence
46 Essex St
Guelph ON
N1H 3K8

$20 / PWYC
8pm

The Marbyllia duo with Margaret Maria (cello) & Bill Gilliam (piano) invite you to a double CD release event at Silence in Guelph on Wed April 10th at 8pm. They will be releasing their new CD ‘Uncountable Spheres‘ and will perform some spontaneously created music in this same improvisational style. Margaret Maria will also present her 15th album, ‘Goddess of Edges‘

In the first set Emjay Wright (percussionist, objects) and violinist Andrew Finlay Stewart will create high energy spontaneous sounds and music

UNCOUNTABLE SPHERES MEDIA QUOTES
"the masterfully meticulous Uncountable Spheres” – Mark Druery, Indie Shark

“I don’t think you’re going to hear anything like Uncountable Spheres no matter how far and wide you scan the underground section of your local record store this month.” – Trace Whittaker, Popicon

“Simply put, this is top-notch listening for experimental fans of all stripes”. Heather Savage, Top Buzz Magazine

“This duo is the real article, which isn’t easy to come by anymore on either side of the pop music universe” – Mindy McCall, Indie Pulse Music

“For those of us who demand quality that’s a cut above in our ambient beats, this is a sound arriving at the perfect moment this late winter. I love what I hear in this album, and something tells me you will too.” – Garth Thomas, Hollywood Digest

“The two improvisors push the limits of each other: Gilliam’s extensive range of sounds from his piano and Maria’s extended cello technique and unusual sound makers. The track Stratosphere in Distress is a solid representation of this dynamic team”. – Cheryl Ockrant, TheWholenote

Date
Art of Improv presents Gayle Young
Annette Studios, 566 Annette St, Toronto, M6S 2C2
Note

Sunday, April 28th, 8pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2, Toronto
$20 / PWYC

Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics), Bill McBirnie (flute), Bill Gilliam (piano) are very excited to present our next Art of Improv show featuring our special guest composer and performer Gayle Young at Annette Studios.

Gayle will perform two short pieces on the Amaranth and solo improvisations. One of them will include lithophone stones. She will also play improvisations that include Eugene Martynec, Bill McBirnie and Bill Gilliam in different configurations. Her improvisations place interaction among musicians in the foreground of a listener’s experience, when sounds and textures are echoed, shared, and extended.

Tickets available at annettestudios@gmail.com

Date
coexisDance
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre
Note

Sat June 22nd, 8pm
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre.
509 Parliament
Toronto

An evening of collaborations by dancers and musicians creating improvised heart-driven movement and music

Date
SuzukiMusic Fundraiser - Mabyllia and Friends
First Baptist Church, Ottawa
Note

Sat July 6th, 12 noon
First Baptist Church
140 Laurier Ave West
Ottawa

A special SuzukiMusic Fundraiser, to benefit the SuzukiMusic cello program!

Margaret Maria, with her improvising duo pianist, Bill Gilliam, will perform on July 6, 2024, 12pm at First Baptist Church (141 Laurier Ave.) along with cello faculty members Sonya Matoussova and Emma Grant-Zypchen (with the amazing Liko Yamane as collaborative pianist). There will be a live-stream (TBA) of the concert if you are not able to make it in person.

The program will include:

David Popper’s requiem for three cellos
Marybyllia - improvised cello & piano pieces by Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam in the style of our album “Uncountable Spheres”

Click on this page to see details of the event and for the livestream link for today’s concert and the link to purchase tickets or donate / contribute.

Suggested livestream contribution is $20 or pwyc

Thank you for your generous support of SuzukiMusic!! 

Date
Art of Improv - Salon Series
Kensington Sound
Note

Art of Improv Salon Series
Kensington Sound,
170a Baldwin St, Toronto
Sunday Sept 22nd, 3pm to 5pm
$20 / PWYC (cash only), BYOB

Featuring cellists Margaret Maria & DORA Award nominee Kye Marshall, accompanied by JUNO Award nominee Bill McBirnie (fute), Michael Palumbo (modular synths), Bill Gilliam (piano), & JUNO Award winner Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics)

This "Art of Improv" salon on Sunday Sept 22nd is at Kensington Sound, 170a Baldwin St in the afternoon from 3pm to 5pm. It's an intimate studio space up one flight of stairs with a wonderful grand piano.

Set 1:
Bill Gilliam (piano), Margaret Maria (cello), Michael Palumbo (modular synths)

Set 2
Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics), Kye Marshall (cello), Bill McBirnie (flute)

Date
undercommons collective
Annette Studios, 566 Annette St, Toronto, M6S 2C2
Note

undercommons collective 1.2
featuring
• Jake Parker Scott (solo)

• Anita Katakkar (tabla) / Kayla (K)-Milmine (soprano) / Jonathan Kay (esraj)

• Bill Gilliam (piano) / Bill McBirnie (flute)

door 7pm, music 7:30pm, $15 or pwyc

Date
Art of Improv Salon presents Spoken Word
Kensington Sound
Note

The Art of Improv Salon series hosted by Bill Gilliam & Eugene Martynec, presents an afternoon of spoken word & improvised music at:

Kensington Sound
170A Baldwin St,
Toronto, M5T 1L8

Sunday Oct 20th, 3pm to 5pm,
$20 / PWYC, cash only

There will be 3 sets (approximately 30 mins) featuring each guest artist:

Set 1
Rod Campbell (voice, trumpet) with Eugene Martynec will perform a non linear journey through Chinatown, Kensington Market and a "Lecture on Nothing" with electroacoustics, trumpet, poetry and prose. Reading from Denison Ave by Christina Wong and illustrations by Daniel Innes, a Lecture on Nothing by John Cage and LSD Leacock by Joe Rosenblatt.

Set 2
Jenna Geen (vocalist & poet) with Bill Gilliam and Eugene Martynec will improvise and perform Jenna's poems

Set 3
Penn Kemp (performer) with Bill Gilliam will improvise from Penn's sound opera, Dream Sequins, and pieces from her collection Incrementally.

The studio is up one flight of stairs and there is seating for 30 people. Please come early as the street door will be closed during each set.

Date
Audiopollination
Array 155 Walnut Ave
Note

Audiopollination, November 8th 2024 (12th year)

Array Music - 155 Walnut Ave
10$ cash or card (or PWYC)

Music starts at 8pm (usually finished around 10pm)
Livestream
YouTube: TBA
twitch: TBA

I'm playing Set 3 in an evening with a great lineup of talented improvisors.

Set 1
Mira Riselli (upright bass)/ eric cinnsealach (clarinets & white noise machine)/ marilyn yogarajah (trumpet & piano)

Set 2
Martin van de Ven/ Arie vvdv/ Grace Scheele (electric harp/FX/looper)

Set 3
Ryan Kinney electric guitar/ Bill Gilliam (piano) Sara constant (flutes/electronics)

Set 4
xodkaar, Mkl32, %%30%30

Date
Confluent Motion
Emmet Ray, Toronto
Note

Confluent Motion with Bill Gilliam, Contemporary Jazz
Emmet Ray
924 College St

6pm to 8:30pm
$10 advanced Tickets
$15 Walk-ins
Reservations: reso@erbar.ca

Josh Grossman, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2017 artistic director described our music as: “While their exploration of free improvisation is impressive, what hooked me was the composing – their interesting melodies always create a home base from which the soloing departs and, ultimately, returns”.

Bill Gilliam (piano), Kayla Milmine (soprano sax), Rob Clutton (bass), Joe Sorbara (drums)