The No Normal Podcast

In the newest episode of New Music Edmonton's The No Normal podcast, Reid interviews composer, performer and educator Matthias McIntire. Over the past few years, Matthias has been teaching composition at Dalhousie University, serving as the composer-in-residence at the Lunenburg Academy of Music and has been touring his multimedia songcycle, “Sing Nature Alive,” around the world with renowned pian...

Olivia Shortt is a storyteller, and they tell us their stories through absurdist and maximalist music, video art and fashion. Olivia discovered that this extravagant combination of art forms can conjure unique spaces for story telling, and such mediums assist her in designing sonic environments for all people to experience and uncover their own personal meaning. In the newest episode of New Music...

Ali Balighi is a composer, sound designer and poet born in Tehran, Iran. You can listen to his most recent album Radif of Iranian Music: Home Is Far Away, available now on Bandcamp. Ali's compositions draw from his poems, sound explorations and experimentations with electronics. These elements combined have led to the creation of many opulent multidisciplinary works and albums. His works have been...

In the newest episode of New Music Edmonton's The No Normal podcast, Reid interviews Toronto-based composer and performer Bruce A. Russell. From navigating through systemic barriers as an emerging artist, his mentorship under James Tenney, and becoming the composer/curator-in-residence at Arraymusic, Bruce's story and compositions embody a deep passion for music and creation. Interest in Bruce's m...

Welcome back to The No Normal. Multi-faceted artist Helen Pridmore is our guest on this episode. For decades Helen has been a champion of cutting edge compositions by a huge roster of contemporary composers. With a palette of vocal techniques that includes virtually every “extended” technique imaginable, traditional classical singing, improvisation, live electronics and more, Helen Pridmore’s work...

In this episode of The No Normal we have a feature interview with ‘cellist, composer, improviser and sound artist India Gailey. Named one of “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30” by the CBC, India Gailey is a cellist, composer, and improviser of “unparalleled talent” (Take Effect) based in Kjipuktuk/Halifax, NS. With a background spanning many styles, she has worked most often in the realms of cla...

Welcome back to The No Normal. In this episode of The No Normal we are delighted to feature one of the key figures in the experimental arts scene here in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan/ Edmonton, Kelly Ruth. Since moving here from Winnipeg in 2017, Kelly Ruth has given dozens of live performances, mainly featuring amplified weaving looms, collaborated with many local and visiting artists, created gallery i...

Welcome back to The No Normal. In this episode, we are happy to welcome Canadian interdisciplinary artist Steph Patsula. The projects Steph creates are focused across a variety of processes coalescing in a union of somatic experiencing, experimental sound creation and lens based ephemera. Patsula’s work prioritizes the creation of immersive art installations and live-performance which explore bodi...

Welcome back to The No Normal. Please note this important caution: this episode includes discussion of mental health issues experienced by the artists, and including experiences of suicidal ideation and a depressive episode. Listening to this may be triggering for some listeners. This episode is dedicated with thanks to everyone at The Canadian Mental Health Association. Back in February 2023 New...

We are back with another episode of New Music Edmonton’s The No Normal. Today’s guest is an artist familiar to many people in many places. Composer and violinist Alissa Cheung. Her compositions have been performed often in Edmonton and for several years she was a key part of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s violin section. More recently, Alissa moved to Montréal to take up a position in the might...

This episode of The No Normal features composer and santurist Mehdi Rezania, a prolific and diverse artist, very familiar to audiences in our city. From his early teen years studying santur in Iran, and later compositional studies at York University, and current doctoral studies at The University of Alberta, Mehdi Rezania has developed a unique and compelling approach to creative music making. At...

New Music Edmonton is happy to return with a new series of The No Normal. We have some great interviews with amazing people lined up for the coming months, and we’re looking forward to sharing their work and their words with you! To get things going, we are delighted to present composer Sointu Aalto, in conversation with Suzette Chan. Born in Helsinki, raised in Edmonton, Sointu Aalto is a compose...

Our city is teeming with emerging artists of all kinds, many of them classical composers. This episode of The No Normal focuses on one such artist, Mary Alice Conrad. Over the last few years, her name has appeared with increasing frequency in concert programming, workshops and commissioned works lists across the country. In this interview, you’ll get to know about this compelling artist’s backgrou...

In this episode of The No Normal, we welcome Shawn Pinchbeck. Internationally active as a composer, performer and sound artist, Shawn Pinchbeck has, since the mid 1980s, been a key part of the experimental sonic arts scene in Edmonton. With a toolkit that includes analog and digital machinery, expertise in field recording, and wide-ranging performance experience, Shawn has worked with a striking a...

Eminent Edmonton composer Heather Hindman is the guest for this episode of The No Normal. Over her career to date, Heather Hindman has produced a really compelling series of acoustic and electronic works, with a particular interest in the relationships between music, culture and technology. Her compositions have been performed widely throughout Canada and in many other countries. Commissioners of...

In this episode of The No Normal, we feature local artist Parker Thiessen. A central figure in our experimental scene, Parker Thiessen has recorded and performed as a soloist and as a member of numerous duos and ensembles, including Soft Ions, Private Investigators, Zebra Pulse, and more. Parker Thiessen, along with his Private Investigators partner, Ian Rowley, runs the experimental label Pseudo...

Welcome (or, welcome back!) to The No Normal, New Music Edmonton’s podcast featuring interviews and sonic art from some of the most innovative artists around. We were back briefly in the autumn, with a beautiful music-only episode, curated by Matthew Cardinal. Now we’re ready to move on with regular episodes, and so happy to be in our second season! This episode will include an interview of Mustaf...

Listen up / Tendez l’oreille, is the name of this year’s Canadian New Music Network FORUM. Available online, this ten-week celebration of the creative music and sound community features talks, performances and pre-recorded works by dozens of artists. The Canadian New Music Network invited New Music Edmonton to take part by way of a specially-produced episode of The No Normal. Entitled Calm, this e...

Episode Ten is our final show for this, our inaugural season. It’s been an exciting new adventure for us, and we’ve enjoyed bringing you the voices of dozens of artists alongside lots of new works. Episode 10 opens with a discussion between Ian Crutchley and Abram Hindle, noise artist, and the curator of The Boreal Electroacoustic Music Society’s Edmonton Noisefest, online on August 28, 2021. For...

In Episode Nine of The No Normal we welcome Suzette Chan, who is joining the interviewing team for the first time, with a focus on Edmonton composer Catherine Bevan. New Music Edmonton commissioned Catherine Bevan through its Edmonton Arts Council-sponsored New Music For The No Normal project. The result is a solo piano work, To the Ends of the Earth. The No Normal includes the premiere performanc...

Episode Eight of The No Normal begins with an interview with Kate Stashko of Good Women Dance Collective. This month, The Good Women Dance Collective is collaborating with New Music Edmonton on a series of new performances, being live-streamed from June 20 through 28 as The Summer Solstice Series. These will later be available on demand. Ian Crutchley spoke to Kate Stashko about that series, and a...

Our May 2021 Episode, our seventh includes interviews with oboist Catherine Lee and composer Nico Arnaez. Double reeds player Catherine Lee specializes in playing new music, and has recorded or performed dozens of new works for oboe, oboe d’amore and English horn. Raised in amiskwaciy/ Edmonton, Lee currently lives and works in Portland Oregon. Her second album, Remote Together, is being released...

Our March 2021 Episode highlights two artists: Xuan Ye and Cole Dorchester. Cole Dorchester is a composer, vocalist, and electronic musician currently pursuing studies in composition at the University of Alberta. Their work runs a wide gamut of styles - focusing on timbre, and delicate interwoven textures. They have studied composition with Scott Smallwood and Nicolás Arnáez, and singing with Lary...

Cris Derksen and Shumaila Hemani are the featured artists for this episode, which will include their newly commissioned works and interviews. Nice and Clean, composed by Cris Derkesen, features the composer on ‘cello, and pianist Darren Creech. The interviewer for this segment is musician Matthew Cardinal, known to many for his work as a soloist, composer and member of nêhiyawak. Shumaila Hemani’s...

Our first episode of 2021 features some great discussions and music. At the top of the show, Ian Crutchley, New Music Edmonton Artistic Director, discusses a wide range of topics with the incoming Artistic Directors of New Works Calgary, Rbecca Bruton and Lesley Hinger. They have also shared some of their own music with us. In the second part of this episode we have an interview between artist Syd...