Through Time and Space

2 September 2026 7:30 PM |UVic Phillip T. Young Recital Hall

Zafraan Ensemble
Ensemble Paramirabo

PROGRAM

Alireza Farhang: When I Do Count the Clock That Tells the Time

Samir Odeh-Tamimi: Li Sabbra

Michaela Rea Catranis: it was hanged with purple and pall

Ricardo Eizirik: Re-wind-re-write

Stefan Keller: Hammer

— intermission —

Anna Korsun: Spleen (Canadian premiere)

Yoav Pasovsky: Urta (Canadian premiere)

Arshia Samsaminia: Alarm Fatigue II (world premiere)

Ajtony Csaba: Taajuu (Canadian premiere)

Admission by donation.

Sloping pine trees formed by the wind at Darss (baltic sea coast)

Tickets

About the program

This program brings Zafraan Ensemble and Ensemble Paramirabo into close artistic contact. The first half presents Zafraan Ensemble in a program shaped by poetry, memory, repetition, and transformation. After the intermission, the two ensembles perform together, creating a larger shared musical space for four works by composers from different cultural and artistic backgrounds.

Ajtony Csaba’s dynamic ensemble work Taajuu was created in collaboration with and for Zafraan Ensemble. During the performance, the musicians move between conducting, physical movement, and instrumental playing. Music theatre, composition, and traditional virtuosity are interwoven with performance art and “eye music,” making bodies, gestures, and the surrounding space integral parts of the musical expression.

The concert embodies SALT 2026’s theme of proximity: between two ensembles, between Canadian and international artists, between sound and movement, and between performers and audiences. Featuring Canadian and world premieres, the evening demonstrates how contemporary music can bring distinct artistic traditions and experiences into a single, shared environment.

About the performers

Zafraan Ensemble is a Berlin-based contemporary music group founded in 2009. Its ten permanent members come from Spain, France, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany, reflecting the ensemble’s international character. Zafraan performs music that engages directly with contemporary life—its people, events, technologies, contradictions, and absurdities—and regularly collaborates with composers, conductors, visual artists, theatre-makers, and performers to create new artistic formats.

The ensemble is especially known for carefully conceived programs, staged concerts, and immersive productions that connect music with theatre, performance, installation, and dance. It has appeared at major festivals and institutions across Europe and beyond, including MaerzMusik, Ultraschall Berlin, the Berlin Philharmonie, Festival Musica Strasbourg, and international venues in China, Chile, and the United States. Alongside its concert activity, Zafraan supports younger generations through workshops and educational projects, and its recordings have received significant international recognition.

Ensemble Paramirabo is a Montréal-based contemporary music ensemble dedicated to performing new work, supporting emerging Canadian composers, and expanding the traditional concert experience. Founded in 2008 at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, the group takes its name from Claude Vivier’s Paramirabo. Under the artistic direction of flutist Jeffrey Stonehouse, the ensemble has developed a strong international presence, appearing at festivals and concert series in Canada, Belgium, England, Mexico, and the United States. Since 2017, it has also served as ensemble-in-residence for the New Music Session at the Domaine Forget International Music and Dance Academy.

A leading advocate for contemporary creation, Ensemble Paramirabo has presented more than 80 premieres and commissions. The ensemble received the OPUS Performer of the Year Award and earned a 2020 JUNO nomination for Alone and Unalone, created with composer James O’Callaghan. Its performances and recordings have supported award-winning works by numerous composers, while critics have praised the group for its fearlessness, creative energy, and commitment to new musical voices.