For the sixth year running, Kingston’s unique festival of adventurous sound performance, TONE DEAF, will feature three concerts in very special venues, with performing artists from Kingston, Montréal and Toronto.

“This year, I wanted to acknowledge and explore the network of house concert venues which exist in and around Kingston,” says festival curator Matt Rogalsky. “Some very dedicated people regularly open their homes for concerts of acoustic music, mostly in folk and jazz genres, and they have graciously invited us in. Tone Deaf’s programming this year is mostly ‘unplugged,’ highlighting unusual and varied acoustic explorations.” Concerts will be held on November 23, 24 and 25, with a gallery show running the full week from November 19-25.

Concert Series

Friday 23 November​: Leopard Frog Studios, 267 Queen St, 8pm
Anne Bourne, the well-known Toronto cellist will include voice and video projections in her solo performance while Sarah Peebles and David Sait, also from Toronto, will play the Japanese sho and Chinese guzheng, in an intense improvisatory collaboration. Nancy Tobin, acclaimed theatre sound designer from Montréal, will present a rare live performance described as “questioning perception and listening spaces in our urban environment, juxtaposing contrasts, and proposing an alternative to the typical approach to sound amplification.”

Saturday 24 November​: The old school house (Yarker) 21 Cutler Rd, 8pm
Free bus 7pm leaving from the parking lot opposite Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre at 21A Queen St.
Yarker’s old school house is where Toronto experimental musician Doug Tielli will perform what is described as “trombone and churning limbs.” He will be followed by the nine-person Toronto ensemble The Lollipop People, in the avant-cabaret Friendly Rich Show which promises to be an over-the-top experience.

Sunday 25 November​: Rankin Studio (Inverary), 3248 Round Lake Rd, 8pm
Free bus 7pm leaving from the parking lot opposite Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre at 21A Queen St.

Kingston area musicians Gary W Rasberry and Teilhard Frost will join forces in a performance which combines spoken word, antique typewriters, bullfrogs and didgeridoo. Paired with Rasberry and Frost is the “disassembly” music of Kingston’s Paul Saulnier and friends. Rumour has it that pianos and guitars will be deconstructed during the performance.

Gallery Show

19-25 November 2007​: The Verb Gallery, 85 Princess St. (inside Wayfarer Books)11am-6pm daily
Vancouver artist Peter Courtemanche, AKA “Absolute Value of Noise” will be showing at the Verb Gallery throughout the Tone Deaf Festival. His piece, entitled Spark-Writing, is a fantastical instrument in the form of a collection of hand-made wooden speaker trumpets which play a continuously changing soundscape. Courtemanche says it was inspired by “a form of long distance communication imagined in 1915 by Velimir Khlebnikov, who predicted a strange form of electronic writing that would one day connect fishing communities along the Volga.”

In its eighth year, Kingston’s unique festival of adventurous sound performance ​TONE DEAF​ presents a special focus on the eminent American composer of experimental music and sound installations, ​Alvin Lucier​. Since the mid-1960s, Lucier has been a pioneering force in music and sound art, whether working with a brainwave-activated percussion orchestra or traditional chamber ensembles. His recent works include a series of sound installations and works for solo instruments, ensembles, and orchestra in which, by means of close tunings with pure tones, sound waves are caused to spin through space. Tone Deaf 8 will feature a week-long exhibition of two Lucier sound installation works at Modern Fuel, with an opening reception to mark the start of the weekend’s program of concerts at the Artel and Sydenham Street United Church, and a day of discussion at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Tone Deaf 8 affords a great opportunity to encounter one of the masters of contemporary music. Also performing in Tone Deaf 8 are two former students of Alvin Lucier, well known as experimental composers in their own right. ​Nicolas Collins​ (Chicago) is widely known for his electronic music, developed around homemade devices and hacking of everyday electronics such as CD players. ​Ben Manley​ (New York City) creates intense improvised performances exploring the natural variability of wind, amplified small vibrations, and resonating objects to generate dynamic musical environments ​Tone Deaf 8 is supported by Modern Fuel Gallery, Queen’s University, and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Alvin Lucier’s appearance is made possible through the Queen’s University Visiting Artist Program.

Alvin Lucier​ was born in 1931 in Nashua, New Hampshire. Since 1970 he has taught at Wesleyan University where he is the John Spencer Camp Professor of Music. ​Nicolas Collins​ studied composition with Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan University, worked for many years with electronic music pioneer David Tudor, and has collaborated with numerous soloist and ensembles around the world. He is currently Chair of the Department of Sound at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. ​Ben Manley​ studied music at Wesleyan University with Alvin Lucier and Ron Kuivila. He presents electroacoustic performances and installations that call attention to interests in sonic potential and the imagination of sound energy. ​

Schedule of Events:​
October 23-31 at Modern Fuel Gallery, 21 Queen Street ​Alvin Lucier: Installation Works​ Music On A Long Thin Wire, The Queen Of The South realized by Ben Manley Reception 10/23, 6PM

October 23 at The Artel, 205 Sydenham Street ​Nicolas Collins & Ben Manley: A Really Live Electronics Concert​, 9PM $5 for students, $10 general October 24 at Sydenham St. United Church, 82

Sydenham Street ​Alvin Lucier: Two Portrait Concerts with Anne Bourne (cello) and Michel Sczcesniak (piano)​, 4 & 7PM. Reception and Q&A with Alvin Lucier following the 4PM concert.

Each concert: $5 for students, $10 general October 25 at Agnes Etherington Art Centre , University Ave. at Bader Lane A day of discussion about the work of Alvin Lucier ​A talk by Alvin Lucier​, 11AM ​A talk by Nicolas Collins​, 2PM ​Panel discussion​ with Alvin Lucier, Nicolas Collins, Ben Manley, Anne Bourne, Clive Robertson, and others, 3:30PM Festival Pass for all 3 concerts: $12 for students, $20 general. All October 25 discussions are free admission. For more information: ​www.tone-deaf.org​ info@tone-deaf.org