NOW Society Ensemble performs contemporary music by composers consciously incorporating improvisation in their music. The Vancouver-based collective has a long history of collaboration with Amsterdam. The program includes graphic scores by Éric Normand (Rimouski, Québec), Fredrik Gran (Stockholm, Sweden), Viviane Houle, A Raven Called Crow and Lisa Cay Miller (Vancouver).

NOW Society is Canada’s leading ensemble in the area of new music centering around improvisation. Since 1977 it brings together some of Canada’s finest musicians in various line-ups, from ensemble to orchestra. Many international composers were commissioned by NOW Society. The company has collaborated with both composing and performing musicians, such as Marilyn Crispell, Roscoe Mitchell, George Lewis and Pauline Oliveros. Since 2014 NOW is led by pianist/composer Lisa Cay Miller.

‘Canada’s premier avant-garde big band, NOW draws as freely from contemporary classical techniques as from the standard big band vocabulary’ (The Globe and Mail).

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:
Pianist/composer Lisa Cay Miller is making some of the most intricate and beautiful music that can be heard in Vancouver today.’ (The Georgia Straight). Her compositions have been premiered by the Flat Earth Society, de Bijloke ensemble (Belgium) the Tetzepi Bigtet (Amsterdam), mmm… (Tokyo), NME, Pianorquestra (Brazil), Ensemble SuperMusique, le GGRIL, Quatuor Bozzini (Montreal), The Redshift Music Society, The NOW Society, Vancouver New Music, Standing Wave, Jesse Zubot, Turning Point Ensemble, Music on Main, Rachel Iwaasa, Hard Rubber Orchestra and the François Houle Jane Hayes duo (Vancouver). Miller performs as an improvising pianist worldside and is the Artistic Director of the New Orchestra Workshop (NOW) Society.

JP Carter is a Juno award-winning musician from Vancouver, Canada. Carter’s singular approach to the trumpet and versatility as an improvisor and composer make him a vital contributor to the Vancouver music community. JP incorporates a variety of techniques into his trumpet playing, utilizing and experimenting with acoustic (traditional, extended) and electronic (effected, amplified) methods to create a wide spectrum of sound. Currently a member of several Vancouver-based groups, including Destroyer, Fond of Tigers, Inhabitants, Dan Mangan, the Tony Wilson 6tet, Handmade Blade (with Peggy Lee & Aram Bajakian), Aeroplane Trio, Gordon Grdina’s Haram, Michael Blake’s Variety Hour, and the various New Orchestra Workshop ensembles. Most recently, JP has been working on a solo amplified trumpet project. He released a self-produced document of this solo work in May 2017 entitled ‘Toy & Tool’.

Joshua Zubot is a masterful violinist and composer who performs with conviction, emotion and power. He has toured internationally in ensembles such as Subtle Lip Can, In The Sea, Marie-Jo Therio and Quartestki. Zubot has turned many heads playing genres from bluegrass to musique actuelle and everything in between. He has shared stages with folk/pop musicians like Martha Wainwright, Patrick Watson, Li’l Andy, Thus Owls plus experimental musicians such as Jean Derome, Matana Roberts, cellist Tristan Honsinger, Sun Ra’s Orchestra’s Marshall Allen and New York double bassist William Parker.

Bassist James Meger’s experience spans many music genres. In his late teens he was a member of the acclaimed Vancouver based indie-roots band, The Sumner Brothers, with which he recorded two studio albums over 3 years. He toured with the Eastern Europe with art-rock band, Dark Blue World and the Vancouver folk act, The Fugitives. He is an active member of many diverse groups including: Braveheart, The Bruno Hubert Trio, Squareheart, 4=4, O.A.B., Tom Wherrett Trio, Proud Animal, The Jaclyn Guillou Band and Cow Trance.

Drummer Skye Brooks is known for his explosive, creative and subtle drumming in adventurous Vancouver bands, like Juno-award winning Fond of Tigers, Juno-nominated Inhabitants, the Tony Wilson 6tet, as well as great Canadian songwriters such as Veda Hille, Ndidi Onukwulu and Marin Patenaude. He is also the singer/songwriter and guitarist for his own experimental rock band Copilots.

JP Carter trumpet, Joshua Zubot violin, James Merger bass, Lisa Cay Miller piano, Skye Brooks drums