
France-Canada Distinguished Visitor in Music: Michaël Attias, alto saxophone, with Lewis 12tet
80 Queens Park
80 Queens Park
Livestream available on our YouTube Channel.
PROGRAM
Spun Tree
Michael Attias arr. Isaac Kashino
Arc-en-ciel
Michael Attias arr. Hanson Goldwin
Duel
Michael Attias arr. Duncan Wilson
Trees Grow Down
Michael Attias
The Very Thing
Michael Attias arr. Nathaniel Jenkins
Mr. Softee
Michael Attias arr. Matt Newton
Moonmouth
Michael Attias arr. Alyssa Giammaria
Anaya at the Britz-in-Shaolin
Michael Attias arr. Dylan Pilcher
THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 12TET
Jim Lewis, director
Voice
Magda Baraczka
Alto Sax
Avshalom Ravitz-Heller
Tenor Sax
Hanson Goldwin
Omar Yazaw
Baritone Sax
Logan Lee
Trumpet
Dyan Pilcher
Enoch Lodu
Trombone
Isaac Kashino
Selena Savage
Guitar
Dipo Adeola
Piano/Vibes
Bjorn Kriel
Bass
Kieran Menard
Drums
Graham Coster
BIOGRAPHY
Michaël Attias has earned a reputation as one of the most questing and keenly collaborative figures on the 21st-century New York Jazz and Improvised Music scene, with a background and outlook that make him “an emphatically cosmopolitan saxophonist and composer,” according to The New York Times. He has put out eight albums as a leader, most recently the alto saxophone/piano solo échos la nuit (Out of Your Head, 2019) and Nerve Dance (Clean Feed, 2017). Spring and Fall 2024 will see the release of Quartet Music Vols I & II, two new albums which display an aesthetic of enormous range, emotional power and vivaciousness. Among his current projects are the longstanding collaborative trio RENKU with John Hébert and Satoshi Takeishi; Kardamon Fall with Santiago Leibson, Sean Conly and Tom Rainey; and LuMiSong with Leibson, Matt Pavolka, and Mark Ferber. As a sideman, he has worked in the bands of such luminaries as Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian, Oliver Lake, Masabumi Kikuchi, Michael Formanek, Ralph Alessi, Tony Malaby, Kris Davis, Andy Milne, Angelica Sanchez, Francisco Mela, Fay Victor... Attias has also composed for orchestra and big band; created several live electroacoustic scores and sound designs for legendary theatre director Robert Woodruff; and his music has been covered by artists including Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman, and most recently Kris Davis with Esperanza Spaulding.