The Muted Note is a striking accomplishment — an almost naked work, in which unaccompanied trombone and voice are frequent [...]. One does not hear these episodes as the work of individuals but as part of a complex ensemble of poet, composer, and interpreters. The Muted Note ultimately resonates like Page’s galvanized language itself. —Stuart Broomer in Musicworks #118 (Canada), March 1, 2014.

As part of their Autumn 2014 Canadian Tour, Susanna Hood and Scott Thomson will deliver an artist talk and performance on Friday September 26th, 2014 at 7pm. Montreal composer and trombonist, Scott Thomson, and dance artist and vocalist, Susanna Hood, will perform The Muted Note, a suite of songs and dances based on poems by P.K. Page. This event is presented by IICSI and will be held at the George Luscombe Theatre on the University of Guelph campus.

For information on the CD The Muted Note, please visit Actuelle CDs.

“P. K. Page and Susanna Hood are two deeply inspiring artists. It’s a privilege to have brought them together through these songs.” —Scott Thomson

Susanna Hood is an award-winning dance artist renowned, especially, for her synthesis of dance and vocal improvisation, as well as her beautifully crafted choreography. In performance, she sings the song lyrics with tremendous poise and intention, and animates them with her singular improvisations characterized by both their focus and wild abandon. As part of their duo, Scott switches freely from accompanying Susanna to soloing in a vocal, extroverted style reminiscent of his teacher, the great American trombonist, Roswell Rudd.

Scott Thomson is a trombonist and composer who works in Montréal and Toronto. He plays in established groups in many styles, and prizes ad hoc improvising as a way to meet many creative people. He has studied with Roswell Rudd, Jean Derome, Eddie Prévost, and John Oswald. He works extensively with singer and dance artist, Susanna Hood, as a duo, with the Montréal quintet, The Disguises, and with the Toronto quintet, The Rent. Scott and Susanna released the duo recording, The Muted Note: Songs Based on Poems by P.K. Page, on &records in 2013. Scott helped to found the Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto (AIMToronto), where he served as a director until 2009, and co-directs the AIMToronto Orchestra, which was formed for a project with Anthony Braxton in September 2007. Until 2010, Scott was the artistic director of Somewhere There, a performance space for live creative music in Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood that he founded in 2007. Scott has composed a series of site-specific works that he calls ‘cartographic compositions’ for mobile musicians and audiences in unconventional performance contexts for which he has had several notable commissions and residencies.

Patricia Kathleen Page (1916-2010) is one of Canada’s most celebrated literary figures, and wrote some of this nation’s finest poems. She was also a visual artist, working as P.K. Irwin, whose artworks are in the collections of major museums including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.