Past Shows

Track Could Bend, 10th Anniversary

Improvisation performance at:
The Music Gallery
918 Bathurst St
Toronto

With Raph Roter (synth), Sarah Constance (flute)

Audiopollination

Audiopollination
Array Space
!55 Walnut Ave
Toronto

Improvised mayhem :>)

doors – 7:30 music at 8pm – usually finished by 10pm
$10 cash or card
4 x 20min sets

This is also livestreamed:
https://www.youtube.com/live/Bg6-aW54Y7M?si=aOLTmwBPxfb5iut7

Set 1
Zack Goldstein (woodwinds)
Dave Nelson (electro acoustic percussion)
Janel Jones (trumpet, voice)

Set 2
Jamie Eriksen (sax/clarinet)
Mike Filippov (percussion)
Saba Saneinejad (flute)

Set 3
Bill Gilliam (piano)
Jonnie Bakan (sax)
Zoe Alexis-Abrams, cello and voice

Set 4
Turtle Pleasure: Nicholas Cooper, Danny Sheahan and Samiul Samin

Art Of Improv presents Christine Duncan & The Element Choir

Art of Improv presents Christine Duncan & The Element Choir
Sunday April 13th 7:30pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2, Toronto
$20 / PWYC

Christine Duncan vocalist, improviser, U of T voice professor, and director of the improvising vocal ensemble “The Element Choir” will create improvised musical collaborations with pianist Bill Gilliam and Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics) and conduct the “Element Choir” in their first official performance since covid.

Set 1
– Christine Duncan & Eugene Martynec duet
– Christine (voice & Theremin) with Bill Gilliam & Eugene Martynec

Set 2
– Christine & The Element Choir

Confluent Motion

Tranzac, Southern Cross
292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto
Mon May 26th, 9:30 – 11:30pm

Bill Gilliam (keyboard) performing new jazz / electronic music arrangements with Kayla Milmine (soprano sax), Rob Clutton (bass) and Joe Sorbara (drums) at the Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, Mon May 26th from 9:30pm to 11:30pm.

PWYC

Art of Improv – June 2025 Edition

Art of Improv – June 2025 Edition, is excited to present:
– Germaine Liu & Mark Zurawinski
– future proof: Bea Labikova & Raphael Roter

Sunday June 15th, 8pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto,
$20 / PWYC

Doors open 7:30pm

Set 1
future proof – Bea Labikova (woodwinds + electronics) and Raphael Roter (percussion + electronics).

Set 2
Part 1) Germaine Liu (sound artist, percussionist, improvisor, and explorer of found objects) and Mark Zurawinski (percussion) will play a few percussion pieces and also work with prompts / scenarios to inspire music-making. 

Part 2) Germaine and Mark will improvise music with Bill Gilliam (piano), Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics) and Bill McBirnie (flute).

Germaine Liu (germaine.she.her.hers) and Mark Zurawinski (he/him) are long-term loving partners, life and art collaborators and makers. Together, and with the support of their friends and arts organizers, they have been fortunate to dream and create many joyous projects like And With (supported by The Bentway) – a sound walk inviting participants to experience sounds and textures of The Bentway and We Made This With Love (supported by Music Gallery), a candy-inspired two-part sharing (1. sonic and visual exploratory film 2. sound/movement performance, with Fahmid Nibesh and Raphael Roter, where performers become “NERDS/Nerds” a symbiosis of candy+state-of-being.)

Germaine and Mark, along with their friend Joe Sorbara, are co-founders of Imaginary Percussion Ensemble where they play works like Water Music (sonic/physical/touch exploration with water + objects), CeramiX (sonic/physical/touch exploration with ceramic objects made by Chiho Tokita) and most recently Suite May Sixteen (a collection of pieces for idiophones, drums, cymbals, objects and images). Germaine and Mark also love to garden and cook food. They are grateful to share art, life, food, nourishment, joys and grief with communities that they are fortunate to be in relationship with.

future proof is the improv-avant-groove amalgam of Bea Labikova (woodwinds + electronics) and Raphael Roter (percussion + electronics). In the age of fast fashion, faster obsolescence and fastest disembodiment, all that remains for ‘future proof’ is human creation and connection in the present tense. Bea and Raphael exist here, grazing on feelings, circumstances, happenstances and humanstances to make immersively large and driving music of the moment. 

COUNTERSTASIS & KATHRYN LADANO at Something Else! Festival

Something Else! Festival
Hamilton Public Library – Central Library
55 York Boulevard
Hamilton,
ON, L8R 3K7 Canada

2pm

Free

Counterstasis is a collaborative improvising trio formed by Toronto pianist Bill Gilliam in 2016 featuring Glen Hall (woodwinds, electroacoustics) and Joe Sorbara (drums, percussion). The group works to counter stasis, to foster change, to create a music in which individual voices can be bent by and refracted through the sounds of co-conspirators. 

Their album “Refracted Voices” produced with the support of the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council was released in 2019 and is available on Bandcamp.
https://gilliamhallsorbara.bandcamp.com/album/counterstasis-refracted-voices

Dr. Kathryn Ladano is a Canadian bass clarinetist and music educator recognized for her contributions to contemporary and experimental music. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo, a Master’s in bass clarinet performance from the University of Calgary, and a PhD in Musicology from York University. With mentorship from musicians like Lori Freedman and Casey Sokol, Kathryn has developed a unique approach that blends traditional techniques with experimental soundscapes, expanding the bass clarinet’s role in modern music.

A dynamic performer, Kathryn has captivated audiences globally, collaborating with composers and artists, and has released three solo albums: Open (2010), Masked (2019), and Anatomy of the Recovering Brain (2024), along with the duo album …listen (2015) with percussionist Richard Burrows.

Kathryn is also dedicated to music education. She served as Artistic Director for NUMUS concerts for ten years and taught at Wilfrid Laurier University for fourteen years

Counterstasis has performed in Montréal with guest Lori Freedman and locally as a trio as well as with guests such as Doug Van Nort and Christine Duncan. Along with bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano, Gilliam, Hall, and Sorbara offered an exceptional performance at Kitchener ‘s Registry Theatre for Open Ears 23 festival. This performance for the 2025 Something Else! Festival will be the second appearance by this special edition of Counterstasis.

Art of Improv presents John Gzowski & Julia Alpin

Art of Improv is very excited to present the well known composer / guitarist John Gzowski and his partner and dancer, Julia Alpin performing improvised music and dance at Annette Studios on Sunday Sept 28th at 8pm.

The opening set will feature cellist Kye Marshall improvising with Eugene Martnec (electroacoustic) and Bill Gilliam (piano).

Art Of Improv
Set 1:Kye Marshall (cello), Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics), Bill Gilliam (piano)
Set 2: John Gzowski (guitar) and Julia Aplin (dance)

Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2
Sunday, Sept 28th, 8pm
$20 / PWYC

You can reserve tickets by email to:
annettestudios@gmail.com

Composer, sound designer, musician and instrument maker John Gzowski worked on over 300 theatre, dance and film productions for which he has done composition, sound design, live foley, live music and as musical director. He has played banjo for opera in Banff, studied Carnatic classical music in India and played oud and guitar in jazz and folk festivals across Canada and Europe. His theatre work has won him 6 Dora’s, from 18 nominations for companies like Stratford, Shaw Festival, Luminato, National Arts Centre, the Mirvishes, MTC, the Arts Club, Canstage, Soulpepper, Dancemakers, Red Sky, Tarragon, Factory Theatre and YPT. Gzowski has played on numerous CD’s, with recent releases with Patricia O’Callghan, Tasa, and Autorickshaw as well as a Juno nomination with Maza Meze. He has run Canada’s first microtonal group, touring Canada playing the works of Harry Partch, composed and performed with several new music groups and worked as co-artistic director of the Music Gallery. 

Julia Aplin has created dances with theatres, rivers, boxing rings, wading pools, cyberspace, neuroscience labs and forests.  Julia works with a wide range of people from elite performers to beginners and has created work with organizations such as Canadian Opera Company, Urbanvessel, Moonhorse Dance Theatre, Dancemakers, Wild Soma, Double Pendulum and The Grove Collective.

Kye Marshall is a professional composer, cellist and nature photographer. She has written for full orchestra and numerous chamber ensembles. Her Dora nominated full length opera Pomegranate was presented by the Canadian Opera Company in June 2023. An eclectic musician, Kye performs jazz, classical and free music with six CD’s to her credit.

www.kyemarshall.com

What Is Freedom In Times Like These?

Sunday Oct 19th, 8pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto

$20/PWYC

“What Is Freedom In Times Like These?” a spoken word & music performance featuring actor/musician Rod Campbell & cellist Margaret Maria & myself .

Set 1: Actor / musician Rod Campbell and pianist Bill Gilliam perform poems and excerpts by authors Constantine Cavafy, Adrienne Rich, Rabindranath Tagore, Samuel Beckett, Zbigniew Herbet, Rumi and Gilliam, expressing the difficult paths we take to preserve our rights and freedoms and the need to celebrate their continuation.

Set 2: The Marbyllia duo — cellist Margaret Maria and myself — will chart a new direction, exploring the freedom of musical expression through Portalz landscapes, performing cello and piano improvisations with spacious electronic sounds and rhythms. Rod will join us for the finale to enrich our textures of sound and poetry.

Gilliam, Milmine, Pottie trio 10 year anniversary

Wed, Dec 10th at 8pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St,
Toronto, ON M6S 2C2

The Gilliam, Milmine, Pottie trio is celebrating their 10 year anniversary / reunion at Annette Studios on Wed Dec 10th at 8pm.

Our trio, based in Toronto with Bill Gilliam (piano), Kayla Milmine (soprano sax) and Ambrose Pottie (drums), has been blending spontaneous inventions and jazz compositions since 2015. After a two year hiatus we are very happy to invite you to our reunion party.

PWYC contributions are welcome

Array Music, 155 Walnut Ave

Exit Points is a monthly free-improvisation concert series, featuring two new ensembles of musicians across genres each playing a set with a 3rd set of group improvisations

Exit Points 45
Friday, January 26
Cost: $20 at the door. Cash/Card/Mobile
Advance tickets: https://linktr.ee/exitpoints
Doors open: 7:30pm
Show begins: 8pm sharp
Venue: Array Music, 155 Walnut Ave, 2nd Floor. Main entrance at top of a silver accessibility ramp. Building is accessible (ramp, elevator, washroom)

Ensemble 1: Doris Du, Behzad Danesh, Afraaz Mulji, Marlena Nova, James Hamilton Lowrie

Ensemble 2: Keisha Bell-Kovacs, Eye_Duh Kho, Gladys, Bill Gilliam, Michael Palumbo

Set 3: Switchemups! (Audience guests sit in with performers for several 5-minute pieces)

Exit Points is supported by generous funding from the Toronto Arts Council.MoreMar 08AudiopollinationArray 155 Walnut AveNote

Audiopollination

@Array Music – 155 Walnut Avenue
Door at 7:30 – music at 8pm sharp
$10 or PWYC – or if you have no money just say you are with Ted Phillips and walk straight on in

livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/w7bh_kKrneM?si=2Kwpb4rXUHxh4LQa

Audiopollination is an (non)identity affirming safe space – be who you are or who you desire to be.

4 – 20min sets of spontaneous art
Set 1: Uuxe (Jack Brock, synth)/ Collette Andrea (Bowls)/ Reza Yazdanpana
Set 2: Connor Crone (bass)/ Bicyclops (guitar + fx)/ Raymond Carruthers (trombone)
Set 3: Bill Gilliam (piano)/ Andrew Finlay Stewart (violin + fx)/ Émilie Fortin (trumpet)
Set 4: Jenna Geen (vox)/ Abby Silvera (movement)/ Mickle32 (upright bass)

Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam Double CD Release

46 Essex St, Guelph
Silence
46 Essex St
Guelph ON
N1H 3K8

$20 / PWYC
8pm

The Marbyllia duo with Margaret Maria (cello) & Bill Gilliam (piano) invite you to a double CD release event at Silence in Guelph on Wed April 10th at 8pm. They will be releasing their new CD ‘Uncountable Spheres‘ and will perform some spontaneously created music in this same improvisational style. Margaret Maria will also present her 15th album, ‘Goddess of Edges‘ 

In the first set Emjay Wright (percussionist, objects) and violinist Andrew Finlay Stewart will create high energy spontaneous sounds and music

Art of Improv

Sunday, April 28th, 8pm
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2, Toronto
$20 / PWYC

Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics), Bill McBirnie (flute), Bill Gilliam (piano) are very excited to present our next Art of Improv show featuring our special guest composer and performer Gayle Young at Annette Studios.

Gayle will perform two short pieces on the Amaranth and solo improvisations. One of them will include lithophone stones. She will also play improvisations that include Eugene Martynec, Bill McBirnie and Bill Gilliam in different configurations. Her improvisations place interaction among musicians in the foreground of a listener’s experience, when sounds and textures are echoed, shared, and extended.

Tickets available at annettestudios@gmail.com

coexisDance

Jun 22 coexisDance, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre
Sat June 22nd, 8pm
Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre.
509 Parliament
Toronto

SuzukiMusic Fundraiser – Mabyllia and Friends

An evening of collaborations by dancers and musicians creating improvised heart-driven movement and music

Sat July 6th, 12 noon
First Baptist Church
140 Laurier Ave West
Ottawa

A special SuzukiMusic Fundraiser, to benefit the SuzukiMusic cello program!

Margaret Maria, with her improvising duo pianist, Bill Gilliam, will perform on July 6, 2024, 12pm at First Baptist Church (141 Laurier Ave.) along with cello faculty members Sonya Matoussova and Emma Grant-Zypchen (with the amazing Liko Yamane as collaborative pianist). There will be a live-stream (TBA) of the concert if you are not able to make it in person.

The program will include:

David Popper’s requiem for three cellos
Marybyllia – improvised cello & piano pieces by Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam in the style of our album “Uncountable Spheres”

Click on this page to see details of the event and for the livestream link for today’s concert and the link to purchase tickets or donate / contribute.

Suggested livestream contribution is $20 or pwyc 

Thank you for your generous support of SuzukiMusic!! 

Art of Improv

Art of Improv Salon Series
Kensington Sound,
170a Baldwin St, Toronto
Sunday Sept 22nd, 3pm to 5pm
$20 / PWYC (cash only), BYOB

Featuring cellists Margaret Maria & DORA Award nominee Kye Marshall, accompanied by JUNO Award nominee Bill McBirnie (fute), Michael Palumbo (modular synths), Bill Gilliam (piano), & JUNO Award winner Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics)

This “Art of Improv” salon on Sunday Sept 22nd is at Kensington Sound, 170a Baldwin St in the afternoon from 3pm to 5pm. It’s an intimate studio space up one flight of stairs with a wonderful grand piano.

Set 1: Bill Gilliam (piano), Margaret Maria (cello), Michael Palumbo (modular synths)
Set 2: Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics), Kye Marshall (cello), Bill McBirnie (flute)

undercommons collective

undercommons collective 1.2
Annette Studios, 566 Annette St, Toronto, M6S 2C2

featuring
• Jake Parker Scott (solo)

• Anita Katakkar (tabla) / Kayla (K)-Milmine (soprano) / Jonathan Kay (esraj)

• Bill Gilliam (piano) / Bill McBirnie (flute)

door 7pm, music 7:30pm, $15 or pwyc

Art of Improv Salon presents Spoken Word

The Art of Improv Salon series hosted by Bill Gilliam & Eugene Martynec, presents an afternoon of spoken word & improvised music at:

Kensington Sound
170A Baldwin St,
Toronto, M5T 1L8 

Sunday Oct 20th, 3pm to 5pm,
$20 / PWYC, cash only

There will be 3 sets (approximately 30 mins) featuring each guest artist:

Set 1: Rod Campbell (voice, trumpet) with Eugene Martynec will perform a non linear journey through Chinatown, Kensington Market and a “Lecture on Nothing” with electroacoustics, trumpet, poetry and prose. Reading from Denison Ave by Christina Wong and illustrations by Daniel Innes, a Lecture on Nothing by John Cage and LSD Leacock by Joe Rosenblatt.

Set 2: Jenna Geen (vocalist & poet) with Bill Gilliam and Eugene Martynec will improvise and perform Jenna’s poems

Set 3: Penn Kemp (performer) with Bill Gilliam will improvise from Penn’s sound opera, Dream Sequins, and pieces from her collection Incrementally.

The studio is up one flight of stairs and there is seating for 30 people. Please come early as the street door will be closed during each set.

Audiopollination

Audiopollination, November 8th 2024 (12th year) 
Array Music – 155 Walnut Ave
10$ cash or card (or PWYC)

Music starts at 8pm (usually finished around 10pm)
Livestream
YouTube: TBA
twitch: TBA

I’m playing Set 3 in an evening with a great lineup of talented improvisors.

Set 1: Mira Riselli (upright bass)/ eric cinnsealach (clarinets & white noise machine)/ marilyn yogarajah (trumpet & piano)

Set 2: Martin van de Ven/ Arie vvdv/ Grace Scheele (electric harp/FX/looper)

Set 3: Ryan Kinney electric guitar/ Bill Gilliam (piano) Sara constant (flutes/electronics)

Set 4: xodkaar, Mkl32, %%30%30

Confluent Motion

Confluent Motion with Bill Gilliam, Contemporary Jazz
Emmet Ray
924 College St

6pm to 8:30pm
$10 advanced Tickets
$15 Walk-ins
Reservations: reso@erbar.ca

Josh Grossman, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival 2017 artistic director described our music as: “While their exploration of free improvisation is impressive, what hooked me was the composing – their interesting melodies always create a home base from which the soloing departs and, ultimately, returns”.

Bill Gilliam (piano), Kayla Milmine (soprano sax), Rob Clutton (bass), Joe Sorbara (drums)

Counterstasis Trio / Brian Abbot & Paul Newman Duo

Annette Studios, 566 Annette St, Toronto, M6S 2C2
$15 / PWYC
8pm

An evening of improvised musical adventure with the first set by the Brian Abbott & Paul Newman duo who create an intimate music filled with drones, complex sounds, silences, and occasional outbursts. They equally draw on traditions of Cage/Feldman, avant-garde jazz, and microtonality. Their rich music is a treat for the ears.

Second set features Counterstasis – a collaborative improvisation trio formed in 2016, featuring Glen Hall (woodwinds, electroacoustics), Bill Gilliam (piano, prepared piano) and Joe Sorbara (drums, percussion). We work to counter stasis, to foster change, to create a music in which our individual voices can be refracted through the sounds of our co-conspirators.

Show Details

“Outside The Maze” album release concert

“Outside The Maze” album release concert by Gilliam, Martynec, McBirnie
Annette Studios at 8pm, $15 / PWYC
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2

After the success of our first release (Light Through Dark), Bill Gilliam, Eugene Martynec and Bill McBirnie have followed up with yet another album “Outside The Maze”, filled with a fascinating abundance of sounds celebrating their remarkable empathy, and a group dynamic that is consistently infused with captivating sonorities and sonic interactions.

Counterstasis Trio with Kathryn Ladano

Registry, Theatre,
122 Frederick Street Kitchener Ontario N2H 2L9
1 pm
$25 / $5 with valid student ID

Counterstasis performs spontaneously composed explorations of gestures and sonorities connected to new chamber music, free jazz, sound art, experimental, and other creative music traditions.

In this performance Counterstasis will feature special guest bass clarinetist Kathryn Ladano. Dr. Kathryn Ladano has established herself as one of Canada’s foremost bass clarinetists. As a specialist of contemporary music and free improvisation, Ladano is a dynamic soloist and in-demand collaborator. She is currently the Artistic Director of NUMUS concerts, the Director of ICE (Improvisation Concerts Ensemble) and instructor of improvisation at Wilfrid Laurier University. Kathryn has released two solo albums, “Open” (2010) and “Masked” (2019)

Minstrels & Bards Performance with Penn Kemp

A performance at a poetry show with Penn Kemp in the Living Room at the Tranzac Club on Tue, July 25th at 5:45pm – 8pm as part of the Minstrels & Bards Summer Soirée 2023 Edition, hosted by Brenda Clews.

The Living Room is at The TRANZAC Club, 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 2M7

Art of Improv – Sept 2023 Edition

Annette Studios
Fri Sept 8th at 8pm
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2, Toronto
$20 / PWYC
Advance Tickets: annettestudios@gmail.com

The first set will be with Kayla Milmine (sax) and Ambrose Pottie (drums) and myself on piano playing some of my new tunes and arrangements for improvisation.

In the second set I’ll be creating new spontaneous compositions with Bill McBirnie (flute) and Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics). Our latest 2023 album  “Outside The Maze” has received a number of enthusiastic comments and reviews in the media including “Melody Maker Magazine”, “The WholeNote”, “Top Buzz Magazine” and “Indie Shark” nomination for album of the year.

Art of Improv October 2023 Edition

Cassidy, Marshall, Martynec, Gilliam
Art of Improv
Annette Studios
566 Annette St, Toronto, ON M6S 2C2, Toronto
Fri Oct 27th at 8pm
$20 / PWYC
Advance Tickets: annettestudios@gmail.com

Our next “Art of Improv” show is coming up this Friday Oct 27th at Annette Studios at 8pm featuring ex musical director of Blood Sweat & Tears and international jazz ensemble leader Bruce Cassidy (Electronic Valve Instrument); composer and chamber / orchestral cellist & improvisor Kye Marshall (cello), Eugene Martynec (electroacoustics) and Bill Gilliam (piano).

Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam Double CD Release

Annette Studios,
566 Annette St, Toronto, M6S 2C2
Dec 2nd, 8pm

Admission: $30 including 2 CDs
General admission: $20 / PWYC

Cellist Margaret Maria and Bill Gilliam, the improvising duo “Marbyllia”, are releasing a new CD “Uncountable Spheres” and Margaret also has a new CD “Goddess of Edges”. We will be releasing both these CDs on Sat Dec 2nd at Annette Studios, 566 Annette St in Toronto.

Margaret will also be showing a new music video of ‘Her Heart on a Platter’ at this informal event where we’ll be speaking about the music, playing, answering your questions, and just celebrating together.

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