Sound Symposium XXII: Ensemble Meduse, An Laurence 安媛

Ensemble Meduse

Ensemble Meduse is a multi-media ensemble based in Canada. First formed in 2004, Meduse’s first performance was at Sound Symposium in St John’s, NL.
Its members are: Kate Read – viola and sound design, Maria Gacesa – writer, clarinettist, and producer, and Yesim Tosuner – video design and graphic arts.
Meduse’s mission is to create and perform collaborative, inter-disciplinary projects that broaden the audience’s experience of live music, while at the same time allowing the artists to step out of their usual roles. Commissioning over 10 new works they often followed the theme of migration, water and change. Following the inaugural performance in St John’s they went on to perform at Bristol University; UK, Toronto Music Gallery, Festival of the Sound; Parry Sound and McGill University; Montreal. In recent times the ensemble has moved towards creating all aspects of the works themselves, performing “Pray for Rain” at the Montreal Fringe Festival, written and performed by Maria, with live sound design by Kate, and video/lighting by Yesim.

An Laurence 安媛

An Laurence 安媛 is a Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal-based musician active in the contemporary/experimental music scene, performance/multimedia artist and a curator. Her work has been presented in music and media arts festivals, arts galleries and by various show producers  in Canada, Europe (Portugal, Greece, France) and Asia (Japan, China).
Her eclectic debut album "Almost Touching" (2022), distributed by people | places | records, has been described as displaying "a graceful vulnerability that transforms [the] compositions into a powerful suite of emotive manifestations" (Foxy Digitalis), "a demanding listen ... never less than engaging" (The Whole Note), where An Laurence "displays her willingness to dive headfirst along each pathway she chooses to explore" (Musicworks magazine).
A daring performer, An Laurence collaborates with artists from a variety of disciplines and thrives in contexts that reimagine traditional musical performance. Her work has been presented by the Quartier des spectacles, Accès Asie, Théâtre La Chapelle, Groupe Le Vivier, the Music Gallery, Phenomena, No Hay Banda, Oh! my ears, Lucky Penny Opera/re:Naissance opera, Chinatown Biennial, Montreal’s maison de la culture, Athens Digital Arts, Tranås at the Fringe, Codes d'accès, among others.