"Eric Normand is an improviser, bassist, instrument designer, composer, songwriter, singer and record and concert producer. He defines himself as an epidisciplinary musician, a free electron driven by its yearning for meetings. As an improviser, he develop a personal and radical playing on a homemade electric bass equipped with mics and objects feedbacking and vibrating in small electronic devices, creating electric flux interrupted by the instrumental gesture. With this set, he prefer to play duets, with Jim Denley (flute and sax), Philippe Lauzier (bass clarinet and sax), Sébastien Cirotteau (trumpet), Pierre-Yves Martel (viola de gamba and electronic), Jean-Luc Guionnet (saxophone), in addition of several spontaneous encounters.

He also play in bands involved in a more specific musical genre as danced poetry with BABABA, instrumental theatre with Le Veau/ The Veal, songs with Les Pitounes and Éric Normand Chante and folk music with The Surruralits and RRRRoyal Canadian Free Form Folk Experience. Interested in collective creation and orchestral improvisation, he lead for seven years the GGRIL, a 15 pieces band that have worked with composers such as Evan Parker, Jean Derome, Robert Marcel Lepage and Michael Fischer. His music has been programmed by or performed in several festivals in Canada , Australia and Europe. It have also been broadcasted by Radio-Canada, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, CBC, Radio-Grenouille, and several college radio stations."

"Sarah Albu is a singer, composer and performance-maker based in Tio'tia:ke (Montréal, Canada) and Berlin.

Her background in theatre and obsession with science fiction feed quirky and darkly comedic imagined worlds. She has been an invited artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the National Arts Centre of Canada, the Koumaria Residency in Greece, the Summertónar Festival in Tórshavn (Faroe Islands), Finland's Saari Residency and international series and festivals across Canada, Europe, the US and Mexico. She moves fluidly between different forms, genres and collaborations. Known for her captivating stage presence and natural ease in roles ranging from dramatic to slapstick comedy, she is praised for her precision, agile soprano register and her versatility as an adventurous vocalist specializing in avant-garde, contemporary and experimental music/stage work.

She works across genres from Balkan village music and ancient polyphony to film and game soundtracks (notably Resident Evil 8), noise and psychedelic rock. She is a founding member of the experimental vocal collective Phth and frequently collaborates with artists working in video, installation, contemporary dance, textiles and digital media.

Her first solo album was released independently in 2013, featuring 8 commissions for solo voice. She has contributed to recordings with a wide array of artists as a guest vocalist. 2023 saw her release an album of Gayle Young's complete vocal works spanning from 1978-2021.

She has premiered and produced many new works and contemporary opera roles in close cooperation with composers and new media artists including James O'Callaghan, Gabriel Dharmoo, Gayle Young, Patrick Saint-Denis, Keiko Devaux, Tomomi Adachi, Charles Quevillon and Tedd Robinson(10 Gates Dancing), Snežana Nešić, Sam Shalabi, Will Eizlini, and Rita Ueda, among others. She performs as a soloist and internationally with bands and ensembles such as Ensemble Paramirabo, l'Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, No Hay Banda, Architek Percussion, Land of Kush, the Sam Shalabi Septet, the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra and collectif9.

She is the voice of all of the characters in interdisciplinary duo Chloë Lum and Yannick Desranleau's (of Seripop/noise-rock group AIDS Wolf) six part video installation The Garden of a Former House Turned Museum, for which she also acted, danced and consulted on the writing process. Artistic and music direction credits include a film adaption of Claude Vivier's lush and cosmic Love Songs, a commission supported by Groupe Le Vivier, premiered in March 2023 at the Festival International du Film sur l'Art. As a student in Jennifer Walshe and David Helbich's Composer-Performer course, she workshopped and performed her modular participatory work FutureMoves at the Darmstadt Summer Course and Festival for New Music in Germany and subsequently toured the work throughout the Nordic countries.

She holds BFAs in Theatre and Music Performance from Concordia University and an MMus from the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (Netherlands). An avid knitter and folk dancer, her recent performance work explores the effects of rapidly developing technology on our bodies and lives through a mix of curiosity and nostalgia."

"Currently, Lemoine play and record with collaborative bands like the trio 'Le Maigre feu de La nonne en Hiver', or the quartet 'Philadelphie', and experiment with improvisers, in France with Olivier Lété, Samuel Silvant, Philippe Deschepper, Guillaume Séguron, Thierry Daudé, Julien Chamla, Benjamin Duboc, in Berlin with Yorgos Dimitriadis, Emilio Gordoa, Klaus Kürvers, Hilary Jeffrey, Samuel Hall, Brianne Curran, Nicola Hein, Eric Wong, Rieko Okuda, Antti Virtaranta, and in Madrid with "Via Lucis trio", involving Samuel Hall, J.G. Entonado et Luca Bembrilla.

He was the leader of septet 'Kassalit,' which was awarded 'best band' and 'best composition' at La Défense Jazz Contest in 1997. From 2002 until 2005 he performed and toured internationally with the Orchestre National de Jazz under the direction of Claude Barthelemy. Playing a role in the underground arts scene in Europe, Lemoine has also been involved with numerous other collectives and collaborative bands in his home country, such as Circum Grand Orchestra, in Lille or "à plusieurs" in Argenteuil, and leaded and composed for his own quartet "Le Talent de La Colère".

He is often found travelling to meet improvisers all over the world - Berlin, Chicago, Montreal, Madrid."

"Xavier Garcia (born 1959) is a French musician and composer. He has produced dozens of electroacoustic musics at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales de l'Ina, at the Groupe de Musiques Vivantes de Lyon, as well as in his studio. Member of the ARFI (Association for the Research of an Imaginary Folklore) since 1987, he plays the sampler. Xavier Garcia works mainly in the world of improvised music, while affirming his commitment to contemporary creation. Among his numerous collaborations, Brian Eno, Heiner Goebbels, Chris Cutler, Ensemble Modern, Jean-Paul Delore, Laurent Vercelletto, André Wilms, Julyen Hamilton, Lionel Marchetti..."

"As a musician, Rémy Bélanger de Beauport is first and foremost a free-improv cellist. He plays piano for ballet classes, electric bass, guitar and drums for rock bands and vocals in different contexts. As a mathematician, he has taught college-level math. He also organizes events and gets himself involved in many causes.

Originally from Québec City, Rémy's artistic practice as an experimental musician dates back to his teenage years. Influenced by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Nirvana, he publishes a first recording in 2003, with noise trio soda pop for a Déluge/Alterflow compilation. The same year, he releases an album as duo KL6 39E, on guitar, before switching over to the cello, starting the Fenaison trio with a first album on Ambiances Magnétiques in 2007.

Since then, he has been active in many long and short term projects: as a singer in Ensemble Partiel, he performs Stimmung, by Karlheinz Stockhausen; as a free-improv cellist, he plays in Le Veau / The Veal on Cuchabata Records (Faire l'amour aux banques, 2015) and is regularly invited to play one-off concerts. As the cellist in GGRIL (an improvisers' orchestra based in Rimouski, Québec) he is heard on Combines (Tour de bras, 2015) and has performed in France and Italy as part of a European tour in 2016. While living in Belring in 2015-2016, he formed string trio THUYA with bass player Klaus Kürvers and violinist Gerhard Uebele (Live @ the CLUB, Creative Sources Recordings, 2016) and joined the Berlin Improvisers' Orchestra. He has recently released a flexidisc Angenehmer Duft on Kohlenstoff Records and a solo album D'éclisses on Ambiances Magnétiques.

Rémy often works with dancers and choreographers, like Valerie Sabbah with whom he performs as Roméo & Juliette. He plays piano for ballet classes in various institutions such as L'École supérieure de ballet du Québec, L'École de danse de Québec and the Royal Academy of Dance, Berlin. For the Réseau d'enseignement de la danse, he composed and recorded, with percussionist Steve Hamel, music targeted for the teaching of Simonson Jazz dance in 2015.

Rémy has participated in several festivals as a free-improv cellist, Festival international de musique actuelle in Victoriaville, Francofolies in Montréal, Festival international de la littérature in Montréal, Festival des musiques de créations in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Rencontres de musiques spontanées in Rimouski, Kunst und Kultur Forum in Berlin.

Rémy graduated in composition and music theory at McGill University, in mathematics at Université du Québec à Montréal and participates in improvisation masterclasses, perhaps more notably with Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Fred Frith, Tristan Honsinger and Joëlle Léandre. He has earned scholarships and awards from McGill University in 2003, 2009 and 2010, the Coup de cœur SuperMusique in 2008 with Quintette de l'Halloween and the Prix culturel Rimouskois, pour la relève in 2013."

"Born in 1984, obviously self-taught, from the very beginning interested more in sound than in technique, his way to explore and to learn was to play with more and more musicians, everyone who accept actually!

So really soon improvisation took an important part in his work.

He met Michel Massot in Liège, and did a lot of workshop in Mulhouse (Festival Meteo) with people like Okkyung Lee, Chris Corsano, Mats Gustaffson, .. and all this, and also all the meetings are still feeding his sound experiences.

Tom is now very active in L'Oeil Kollectif in Liège, Ninglinspo, Nystagmus, Bobby de Nazareth, duo with Cecile Thévenot, duo with Phil Maggi and a lot of other bands..."

"Currently, Lemoine play and record with collaborative bands like the trio 'Le Maigre feu de La nonne en Hiver', or the quartet 'Philadelphie', and experiment with improvisers, in France with Olivier Lété, Samuel Silvant, Philippe Deschepper, Guillaume Séguron, Thierry Daudé, Julien Chamla, Benjamin Duboc, in Berlin with Yorgos Dimitriadis, Emilio Gordoa, Klaus Kürvers, Hilary Jeffrey, Samuel Hall, Brianne Curran, Nicola Hein, Eric Wong, Rieko Okuda, Antti Virtaranta, and in Madrid with "Via Lucis trio", involving Samuel Hall, J.G. Entonado et Luca Bembrilla.

He was the leader of septet 'Kassalit,' which was awarded 'best band' and 'best composition' at La Défense Jazz Contest in 1997. From 2002 until 2005 he performed and toured internationally with the Orchestre National de Jazz under the direction of Claude Barthelemy. Playing a role in the underground arts scene in Europe, Lemoine has also been involved with numerous other collectives and collaborative bands in his home country, such as Circum Grand Orchestra, in Lille or "à plusieurs" in Argenteuil, and leaded and composed for his own quartet "Le Talent de La Colère".

He is often found travelling to meet improvisers all over the world - Berlin, Chicago, Montreal, Madrid."

"Lori Freedman. Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (clarinet, bass clarinet)

Qualified as "a musical revolutionary in the front ranks of the avant-garde" by Alex Varty of the Georgia Straight (Vancouver), Lori Freedman (clarinets) is internationally recognized as one of the most creative and provocative performers. She is a member of a select group known as "renaissance musicians" as her artistic activities cover many fields: performer of written music (well over one hundred works have been written for or premiered by her), composer, improviser, teacher, and on occasion, writer. While managing a full performance schedule of more than 75 public appearances a year, Freedman has been receiving commissions to write music for ensembles such as Orkestra Futura, Arraymusic Ensemble, Ensemble Transmission, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble SuperMusique, Ensemble Paramirabo, Upstream Orchestra, Queen Mab Trio, Crowbar Trio, Lott Dance, Oberlander Films, Foresite Theatre, Cooke Productions and Autumn Leaf Productions. Her current discography comprises over 59 recordings, the most recent of which include Greffes (Empreintes digitales), On No (Mode Records), Bridge (Collection QB), Plumb (Barnyard Records), 3 and À un moment donné (Ambiances Magnétiques), Huskless! (Artifact), See Saw and Thin Air (Wig). Highlight collaborations include work with Rohan de Saram, Barre Phillips, Helmut Lachenmann, Frances-Marie Uitti, Monique Jean, Joëlle Léandre, Axel Dörner, George Lewis, the Jack Quartet and Richard Barrett."

"Xavier Garcia (born 1959) is a French musician and composer. He has produced dozens of electroacoustic musics at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales de l'Ina, at the Groupe de Musiques Vivantes de Lyon, as well as in his studio. Member of the ARFI (Association for the Research of an Imaginary Folklore) since 1987, he plays the sampler. Xavier Garcia works mainly in the world of improvised music, while affirming his commitment to contemporary creation. Among his numerous collaborations, Brian Eno, Heiner Goebbels, Chris Cutler, Ensemble Modern, Jean-Paul Delore, Laurent Vercelletto, André Wilms, Julyen Hamilton, Lionel Marchetti..."

"Born in Paris in 1973 and raised in the middle class suburbs, it's on the clotheslines at the end of the garden that Jean-Sébastien Mariage gets introduced to the guitar, well before the transmutation of his BEPC in black Stratocaster, changed very quickly for the Gibson Les Paul he has not dropped since. At 17 and up to 23, he follows the improvisation workshops of the one he still considers today as his music master, Patricio Villarroel. From his brief stint at the Sorbonne, a musicology course, he will remember little more than having heard, during the acoustics lessons, recordings of songs by Amazonian Indians or Vatican bells : it is that at the same time, true musical adventure began - first professional experience at age 19 with a dance company, then meeting at 20's Frederick Galiay, bassist with whom he founded Chamæleo Vulgaris, and first concerts under the aegis of Instants Chavirés. He goes on concerts, then thinks it would be good for him to enter the concervatory (sic), since that's where you learn to play concerts : he studied classical guitar for six years , until the national contest in 2000. There followed a good twenty recordings and hundreds of concerts, solo or in various formations, stamped free improvisation, free rock, even free jazz or noise, with the greatest achievements of French and international improvisers - not to mention collaborations with dance (Karol Armitage or Yukiko Nakamura), theater, poetry and visual arts, but also with composers such as Rhys Chattam, Elianne Radigue, Stephen O'Malley, Frederick Galiay, Peter Ablinger.... In short, a journey is, according to, purist or monomaniac : there has never been, there is, and there will never, probably, that the guitar, he can only do that, but knows how to do everything with it - especially what he is the only one who can do, of course. To know : calmly, with authority, to emerge from the chaos a matter, whatever it is to accept it, to welcome it even, then conscientiously to work it, to polish it... but always to the maximum, and then to a blow of one make him make throat. Leave the earth. Tear the time."