A pillar of Guelph’s musical community for many years, Ben Grossman is a composer-improviser who works as a multi-instrumentalist in a range of styles from Early Music to electroacoustic sound installation. His primary instrument, however, is the hurdy-gurdy (vielle-à-roue), a mechanical, crank-turned violin associated with various European popular music traditions during the Renaissance. While in those contexts the hurdy-gurdy is not a classically expressive instrument, in Grossman’s hands, through a range of technical extensions, it is transformed into a captivatingly mysterious sound generator, a rich palette of uncommon sounds that he shapes and moulds with remarkable artistry.
Ben Grossman’s solo set is part of a triple-bill of extraordinary soloists playing instruments from folk, vernacular, and popular music in compelling new ways.
Friday, 13 September, 1:30pm, Royal City Church (on a triple-bill of solos with Susan Alcorn and chik white), $20/$15