What was normal won’t be again, and the only “new normal” is no normal at all.
Welcome to a new year of The No Normal! New Music Edmonton is happy to return with Season Three of our iconic podcast. We have some great interviews with amazing people from Edmonton and around the world lined up for the coming months, and we’re looking forward to sharing their work and their words with you! The podcast will also include feature stories, conversations with friends in other organizations, and much more. Scroll down for details about each episode.
Our podcast is free, but please consider donating to New Music Edmonton to help support contemporary sound art in Edmonton! You can make a secure one-time or monthly donation through Canada Helps.
Episode 3.2 (March 2023). This episode of The No Normal features composer and santurist Mehdi Rezania, in conversation with Ian Crutchley. Mehdi is a prolific and diverse artist who is very familiar to audiences in our city. From his early teen years studying santur in Iran, and later compositional studies at York University, and current doctoral studies at The University of Alberta, Mehdi Rezania has developed a unique and compelling approach to creative music making. At home with traditional Persian music, composition, improvisation, and more, he regular performs and records as both a soloist, and as a much sought-after partner for artists from a unique array of practices.
Episode 3.1 (December 30, 2022). To get things going, we are delighted to present composer Sointu Aalto, in conversation with Suzette Chan. Born in Helsinki, raised in Edmonton, Sointu Aalto is a composer and ‘cellist, who has emerged as one of the most compelling emerging artists, with a formidable output of uncompromising instrumental and audio-visual works. In June, 2022, Aalto and her colleagues in The JAMS Quartet performed in the Now Hear This Festival in Edmonton, where they gave a rare, full-length performance of works by Aalto and other composers.
Composer Sointu Aalto, in conversation with Suzette Chan. Born in Helsinki, raised in Edmonton, Sointu Aalto is a composer and ‘cellist, who has emerged as one of the most compelling emerging artists, with a formidable output of uncompromising instrumental and audio-visual works. In June, 2022, Aalto and her colleagues in The JAMS Quartet performed in the Now Hear This Festival in Edmonton, where they gave a rare, full-length performance of works by Aalto and other composers
Compositions by Sointu Aalto included in this episode:
2:34 THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK (Excerpt) – Audio portion of audio-visual work, commissioned by New Music Edmonton for the Summer Solstice Series, 2021.
6:09 Mass Extinction (Excerpt) – Performed by The JAMS Quartet: Jessica Ortlieb, Anna Vlasova, Mora Clarke, Sointu Aalto, with Kauri Aalto, tam-tam
13:22 super(ficial) (Full Length) – Performed by Bergamot Quartet at MATA Jr., Music at the Anthology Festival, NY, 2021
18:10 The Pizza Man Is Real (Full Length) – Performed by The JAMS Quartet: Jessica Ortlieb, Anna Vlasova, Mora Clarke, Sointu Aalto, with Kauri Aalto, pizza
34:01 THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK (Full Length) – Audio portion of audio-visual work, commissioned by New Music Edmonton for the Summer Solstice Series, 2021.
38:20 Yosinfonia (2020) (Full Length) 0 Performed by Daniel Aalto, piano, Eija Aalto, soprano. Text: Yösinfonia, 1, by Kirsi Kunna
ARTIST
Sointu Aalto is a cellist, composer, and high school student currently based in Montreal, studying mathematics and composition at McGill University. She is interested in the connections between mathematics, science, art, and philosophy. Their original music has been presented by Kymi Sinfonietta, MATA Jr Festival/Bergamot Quartet, New Music Edmonton, Continuum Contemporary Music, Alkali Collective, and others.
INTERVIEWER
Edmonton-based Suzette Chan has written or spoken about performing, literary, visual, and comics arts for newspapers, magazines, websites, radio programs, and podcasts. Her most recent work can be found on the No Normal Podcast and in LUMA Quarterly.
This episode of The No Normal features composer and santurist Mehdi Rezania, in conversation with Ian Crutchley. Mehdi is a prolific and diverse artist who is very familiar to audiences in our city. From his early teen years studying santur in Iran, and later compositional studies at York University, and current doctoral studies at The University of Alberta, Mehdi Rezania has developed a unique and compelling approach to creative music making. At home with traditional Persian music, composition, improvisation, and more, the regular performs and records as both a soloist, and as a much sought-after partner for artists from a unique array of practices.
Compositions by Mehdi Reznia Included in this episode:
Mehdi Rezania, born in Abadeh, Iran is a composer, santur player, and researcher. He started music at age 13 and studied the advanced method of santur playing under Ardavan Kamkar in Tehran. He co-founded Baarbad music in Toronto with Toloe Roushenas and has performed numerously with many local and international musicians including Salar Aghili, Keivan Saket, Hossein Behroozinia, Sinfonia Toronto. His music projects have been supported by grants from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Edmonton Arts Council and Canada Arts Council. He has been music advisor to Iranian Heritage Day at the Royal Ontario Museum and artistic advisor to Tirgan Festival in Toronto. He has a BFA and MA in music composition from York University and an MA in ethnomusicology at the University of Alberta. He is pursuing his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Alberta supported by Social Science and Humanities Research Council. His interest is in contemporary classical music of Iran inside and abroad the country; the impact of politics, migration and globalization on its performance, composition and dissemination.
