SSAC/MUSIC ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 2015-16: PETR CANCURA
March 30, 2016: Petr Cancura and Friends in Concert!
FASS and SSAC/Music are pleased to announce the appointment of jazz artist Petr Cancura as Music Artist-in-Residence for the 2015-16 academic year. Petr Cancura is a modern day renaissance music man (see http://www.petrcancura.com/). On saxophone Mr. Cancura has both performed and recorded with jazz visionaries including Bob Moses and Danilo Perez of the Wayne Shorter Quartet, and has recorded four albums with the legendary Joe Morris among others. He is also a multi-instrumentalist who has played mandolin with Grammy-winning artist Julian Lage and banjo with the renowned Jeremy Udden. Cancura’s latest solo record was nominated for a JUNO award and won the Best Instrumental Jazz Album award at the 2014 Independent Music Awards. Mark Corotto of “All About Jazz” describes Cancura’s work as follows:
“The saxophonist/banjoist’s Down Home [2013] is three parts roots music, two parts jazz, one part blues, mixed on a country porch, and, pardon the cliché, it cooks … The saxophonist takes jazz back to a rural place … It’s as if the windows have been thrown open to allow a deep breath of music to flow through the jazz house … Petr Cancura has built a voice on the research and practice of vocabulary from all over the world. With vast compositional and performance experience in the music of the Balkans, Brazil, Rwanda, bluegrass, blues and jazz. Cancura’s personal voice has been recognized as a truly unique expression.”
Petr Cancura is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, director of Jazzfest’s Youth JazzEd program, and coordinator of the Youth Summit All-Star Canadian Jazz program. He has lectured on world music at SUNY, and given countless masterclasses around the globe at institutions such as Texas A&M, Berklee College of Music, the New England Conservatory and the Royal Conservatory of Music in London, to name a few.
Jazz, improvisation studies, world music studies, roots music, Celtic music and singer-songwriter studies are among Carleton Music’s most dynamic areas of growth and innovation. The courses, masterclasses, ensemble work and performances in which Petr Cancura will participate during his year as Artist-in-Residence promise to provide inspiration and new perspectives for Carleton’s music students, and to expose them to a wide variety of creative educational experiences and opportunities.
In performance around Ottawa, Artist in Residence Petr Cancura’s NAC Crossroads/Jazz Series is now posted at: http://nac-cna.ca/en/presents/packages/petr-cancuras-crossroads-jazz-series
The first concert in the series (November 20, 2015, 7:30pm, NAC 4th Stage), features Carleton Music AIR 2014-15 Ian Tamblyn!
Also performing in this mini-series will be a jazz quartet led by Cancura on saxophone, clarinet, and mandolin, and including Ottawa jazz mainstays Roddy Ellias on guitar and John Geggie on double bass, and Montrealer Greg Ritchie on drums (Ritchie also recently returned to Canada from NYC). (copied from http://ottawajazzscene.ca/news/10797-nac-presents-mixes-jazz-with-folk-and-pop-in-its-2015-16-season)
November 2015, articles about the first in the Crossroads Series:
Petr & Banjo (Nov 2015 Ottawa Citizen photo by Jean Levac)
- Peter Hum, “Back from Brooklyn, Petr Cancura finds home is where the art is,” Ottawa Citizen (Cover story, “You” section), November 17 http://ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/music/jazzblog/back-from-brooklyn-petr-cancura-finds-home-is-where-the-art-is
- Ottawa Jazz Scene: http://ottawajazzscene.ca/news/10950-ian-tamblyn-and-petr-cancura-are-outside-their-comfort-zone-mixing-jazz-and-folk