The International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI), housed at the University of Guelph, has been a magnet for researchers, many of whom are musicians themselves. It’s in that context that Campbellford-raised bassist Ben Finley met Reza Yazdanpanah, master of the Persian tar who immigrated from Tehran to work at the Institute. Their duo music is at once wholly improvised and thoroughly conceived, at once cross-cultural and fundamentally shared. They meet in the richness of sound of their instruments and what they wish to say upon them –– and how deeply they hear one another in the playing.
Thursday 15 September, 4pm, Silence, $15/$10 [buy tickets]
Ben Finley website
Reza Yazdanpanah website
Photo of Ben Finley (left) by Tony Saxon