Friday June 6, 2025 7:30 PM
Mile Zero Dance
9931- 78 Avenue NW, Edmonton
New Music Edmonton’s Now Hear This 2025 opens with an explosive evening of improvised music. Led by the idiosyncratic drummer Ron de Jong, a handpicked crew of diverse, virtuosic artists from our city will come together for an unforgettable, and unrepeatable, exploration of unrehearsed, sonic improvisation. You will definitely be treated to sounds, textures, and a richly varied palette of musical reactions, as these great musicians get in close, responding to each others’ inner hearing.
Expect the unexpected in this extemporaneous extravaganza!
Featuring
Ron de Jong – drums, cymbals, percussion, and field audio samples
Thom Golub – upright bass
Kelly Ruth – contact mics on spinning wheel with effects
Jacob Tran – alto saxophone
The Artists
Ron de Jong – The Edmonton, Alberta born, and based drummer has had the great pleasure of creating music through free improvisation, avant-jazz, and other fringe music for the better part of his fifty plus years. As the founder of the now dormant improvised music unit Vertrek Ensemble, he had a notable journey of making music alongside guitarist Vadim Budman since 1997. Over the many years of activity, they collaborated with numerous outstanding musicians near and far. The group had created music through free improvisation with such resplendent originators as Jason Lee Scott, Darren Williams, Ian Birse, John Butcher, Phil Durrant, Luc Houtkamp, Eugene Chadbourne, Cassondra Murray, and the late inimitable, virtuosic, and peerless, British guitarist, Derek Bailey.
In February of 2025 de Jong launched his dream project O.N.C.E. (Operations in Nonpermanent Collective Extemporization), an improvised music and arts live event. The project is modelled after Derek Bailey’s annual ‘Company’ meetings, grouping likely and unlikely combinations of musicians and multidisciplinary artists in ad hoc fashion through random selection. The next O.N.C.E. event is already being planned for early 2026. onceart.ca Photo Credit: Tegan Walker
Thom Golub has played the sideman on double bass and bass guitar, he’s composed illegitimately for legitimate musicians and he’s written and sung songs he maybe shouldn’t have. He looks forward to collaborating with these fine improvisers at the Now Hear This Festival. Photo Credit: Thom Golub
Kelly Ruth is a new media artist based in Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton, Canada). Her early work focused on fibre arts, including plant dyes, felting, and weaving. Her practice has been a long study of the relationship that humans have had with technology through history and imagined futures. With a focus on sound, she has created installations by activating her textiles and tools with microcontrollers and circuits, weaving conductive thread directly into the fabric’s foundation. Since 2020, her work has expanded to include immersive installations featuring self-built environments, and spatial audio in 3D, avatar-based virtual worlds. In performance, she uses contact microphones and effects pedals on her weaving loom, spinning wheel, and other fibre related tools to produce live, improvised soundscapes. Photo Credit: Kelly Ruth
Jacob Tran is going into his fourth year of BMus Composition at the University of Alberta. He has studied saxophone with Allison Balcetis and composition with Mark Hannesson and Heather Hindman. Jacob primarily writes for chamber ensembles, but has also written for concert band and choir. He has had pieces premiered by UltraViolet, Bok Brass, the Windrose trio, Wildrose Wind Ensemble, and the River City Chamber Orchestra. Aside from composing, Jacob also plays piano, sings, and tours around Canada. Photo Credit: Ethan DeSouza
Accessibility
Mile Zero Dance Space (9931 – 78 Avenue NW, Edmonton): accessible building with multiple all-gender washrooms. There is a cleared path from the front door to the warehouse space. We have two accessible washroom facilities on the main floor as well. Please note that we do not yet have an automatic front door and the sidewalk outside needs to be improved as well. The #523 bus stops at 99 St and 78 Ave, approx 120 meters from the venue (stop #1542 SB, stop #22729 NB), and the #8 bus stops at Whyte Ave and 99 St, approx 500 meters from the venue (stop #1035 EB, #2824 WB)
