Quasar saxophone quartet will be kicking off their 2015-2016 season Montreal series, on December 3rd at the amphitheatre of Le Gesu with a concert that will be varied in scope, vibrant, and dynamic. The evening's program, including a solo, two quintets, two duos ­— the latter performed literally face-to-face — graphical scores, electronics and improvisation, promises to be rich in contrasts and bursting with creative energy. To inaugurate the season, the concert will feature a sure-to-be-memorable first: Quasar will be sharing the stage with the remarkable clarinetist/composer Lori Freedman. Hailed as a “musical revolutionary”, Freedman will be taking to the stage both to perform and to improvise, in addition to having one of her own compositions presented.

 For the occasion, Lori Freedman has prepared a new version of her work, No Man’s Clan, originally written in 1998 for five clarinets. This performance will also mark the first time that the iconic piece is performed completely “live”, as the original arrangement called for one clarinet to perform live along with four others whose parts had been prerecorded. Later in the evening's program, Lori Freedman will take to the stage once again for a solo improvisation in Jean-Marc Bouchard's Le Cri des oiseaux fous.

Quasar is also pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Swedish-German composer Hanna Hartman, currently in Montreal as part of an international residency exchange program between Le Vivier and Hellerau (Dresden), and to present one of her works, Horizontal Cracking In Concrete Pavements (2007).

And to highlight the launch of their new CD, Du souffle, Quasar will also be performing one of the works from their new disc, Gilles Tremblay's Levées. Du Souffle is Quasar's third album and their most recent since Miroir des vents (2009). Released by DAME (Collection qb), Du souffle is a collection of works by Philippe Leroux, Gilles Tremblay, Jimmie LeBlanc, Claude Vivier and Louis Andriessen.