Scott Thomson • Curriculum Vitae
(last updated December 2023)
Education:
• Ongoing
Experience as Artistic Director:
• New Appointment 2023 – Artistic & General Director, Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville
• 2017-2023 – Artistic & General Director, Guelph Jazz Festival
• 2007-10 – Founder & Artistic Director of Somewhere There, Toronto performance venue that, during my tenure, hosted 850 performances of creative music and related disciplines, and 48 separate two-month residencies by individual composer-performers and groups
• 2007-16 – Co-Director (with Kyle Brenders), Toronto Creative Orchestra Projects, which administered projects by the AIMToronto Orchestra, including major collaborations with Anthony Braxton (2007), Malcolm Goldstein (2008), and Evan Parker (2011), plus two CDs, and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra, for a major collaboration with Roscoe Mitchell (2016) documented on Nessa Records (see discography)
• 2004-09 – Co-Founder, Board Member, and Co-Artistic Director, Association of Improvising Musicians Toronto (AIMToronto), musicians’ collective presenting concerts and workshops by Toronto musicians in collaboration with notable guest musicians, including Evan Parker, William Parker, Eddie Prévost, Wilbert De Joode, Fred Frith, Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Hamid Drake, Joe McPhee, and many more
Selected Projects and Commissions as a Composer:
• 2023 – Commission (Productions SuperMusique/Le Vivier) to compose Arborientation, a site-specific cartographic composition for 16 improvising musicians in the Montreal Jardin Botanique; premiere June 2023
• 2021 – Arborienteering (Guelph), a site-specific cartographic composition for fifteen improvising musicians in the University of Guelph Arboretum; premiered July 2021
• 2017 – Commission (Canada Council) to compose Applications a suite of songs for the Ken Aldcroft Convergence Ensemble, Toronto, with guest vocalist Susanna Hood; premiered 2018
• 2016 – Commission (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) to compose Archive/mémoire for a 15-member version of Ensemble SuperMusique, Montreal; premiered February 2017; OPUS prize nomination
• 2016 – Commission (Canada Council) to co-compose with John Oswald, Parcours parcuivres, a site-specific piece for brass tentet in Parc Lafontaine, Montreal; premiered at the Suoni per il Popolo Festival, June 2016
• 2016 – Commission (Musée Pointe-à-Callière) to compose the annual ‘Port Symphony’ for ship horns plus an ensemble of my choice; Muses et mystères was composed for the horns of five ships and one locomotive, cathedral bells, and highland pipes and drums; premiered February 2016
• 2015 – Commission (Canada Council) to compose Rara Avis, a mobile, site-specific piece for a 16-member version of Le grand groupe regional d’improvisation libéré (le GGRIL) in Parc National du Bic, near Rimouski QC; premiered July 2015
• 2014 – The Muted Note, a suite of eleven songs based on poems by P.K. Page, performed variously in a duo with Susanna Hood; with the Montreal quintet, The Disguises; and as the basis of a stage work for four dancers, choreographed by Susanna Hood and live music by The Disguises
• 2013 – Commission (Ottawa Chamberfest) to compose Arcade Air, a site-specific piece for brass sextet, two dancers, and improvising choir in the arcade of Ottawa City Hall; premiered August 2013
• 2012 – The Share, co-composed with Susanna Hood, a site-specific piece for roughly 75 amateur and professional musicians and dancers in Exhibition Park, Guelph, the culmination of a seven-week term as Artists-in-Residence through the ICASP Research Project and the Musagetes Foundation; premiered Oct 2012
• 2012 – Commission (Ottawa Chamberfest) to compose Chamber Elements, a mobile, site-specific piece for brass octet and improvising choir in the galleries and corridors of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; premiered August 2012
• 2012 – Commission (Ensemble Indépendant) to compose the music for Avec toi, a video by choreographer Julie Lebel and videographer Gabriel Rochette featuring intergenerational ‘stroller dance’ choreography by members of the community of Sept-Îles QC; music performed by the Woodshed Orchestra
• 2011 – AGOrienteering, a mobile, site-specific piece for brass octet in the galleries and corridors of the Art Gallery of Ontario; premiered December 2011
• 2010 – Commission (Guelph Jazz Festival) to compose Riveradiant, a site-specific, nocturnal piece for brass octet and coloured lights on the banks of the Speed River, Guelph; premiered September 2010 with subsequent performances in 2011 and 2012
• 2009 – Commission (Guelph Jazz Festival) to compose Acoustic Orienteering (Guelph), a mobile, site-specific piece for 15 improvising musicians in downtown Guelph, premiered Sept 2009; other versions composed for and performed St. John’s NL (Sound Symposium 2008) and Toronto (Alleyjaunt Festival 2007)
• 2009 – Composer-in-Residence at the Western Front, Vancouver, to compose Sonorienteering, a mobile, site-specific piece for twelve improvising musicians and two dancers in the streets around the Western Front; premiered at SWARM Festival 2009
Selected Projects as a Trombonist:
• October 2023 – Three-show tour with Amber (Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson), Quebec, Ottawa, Montreal, as part of Québec musiques parallèles
• June 2023 – Premiere of Martin Arnold’s “Enamel” for solo trombone, Suoni per il Popolo Festival Montreal
• January 2023 – Amber (Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson) featured at Open Waters Festival, Halifax
• October-November 2022 – Amber tour in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Portugal, France & the Netherlands
• April 2022 – Amber featured at Women from Space Festival, Toronto
• March 2022 – Development of “Enamel” for solo trombone, a commission for Martin Arnold
• September 2021 – “Institute (for Bill Dixon)” for solo trombone, Something Else! Festival, Hamilton ON
• May 2021 – “Aérosolo” solo trombone concert, Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville
• February 2020 – Australia/NZ tour by Monicker (with Roger Turner and Arthur Bull)
• June 2018 – Seven-concert Eastern Canadian tour by Monicker (with Roger Turner and Arthur Bull)
• March 2017 – Jean Derome’s Résistances, Gesù Amphitheatre, Montreal
• November 2016 – Canadian tour with the Ken Aldcroft Convergence Ensemble to celebrate Ken’s life and music following his death in September 2016
• October 2016 – Orchestra membership (in addition to project coordination), Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra (22 members); performances L’off Festival Montreal and Music Gallery Festival; studio recording Ride the Wind released on Nessa Records
• June 2016 – Artist-in-Residence at the Something Else! Festival of Creative Music, Hamilton ON; performances by Scott Thomson/Ben Grossman/John Oswald, Scott Thomson/Jack Vorvis, and The Rent
• April 2016 – European tour with Ken Aldcroft to support Red & Blue (Trio Records), duo CD
• November 2015 – with Jean Derome’s Phèdre de Racine Sans Paroles, Le Gesù, Montréal
• August 2015 – Two-week run of The Muted Note, Scott Thomson (composition & trombone) & Susanna Hood (voice & dance), CNova Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland
• April 2015 – European tour with Ken Aldcroft to support Red & Blue (Trio Rec’s), duo CD
• Autumn 2014 – 37-show, 9-province tour of The Muted Note: Songs Based on Poems by P.K. Page, Scott Thomson (composition & trombone) & Susanna Hood (voice & dance)
• 2014-2021 – 139 concerts, Trombone Solos at Odd Hours/Solos de trombone à heures indues, La Poêle (Montreal), Silence (Guelph), Murray Street (Montreal), Fonderie Darling (L’Off Festival de Jazz Montreal)
• Autumn 2014 – premiere of choreographic stage work, The Muted Note, with Susanna Hood, for four creative dancers and live music by The Disguises, Toronto & Montreal
• August-October 2012 – Artist-in-Residence in Guelph, ON, with Susanna Hood, a program of the Musagetes Foundation and the ICASP Research Project
Discography • Under my leadership, co-leadership, or direction:
• Martin Arnold, Enamel (for Scott Thomson, solo trombone and Harmon mute), Rat-Drifting, 2023
• Amber (Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson), Amber, Clean Feed Records, 2022
• Jim Denley, Achim Kaufmann, Scott Thomson & Dylan van der Schyff, Luciferase, SoundOut Recs, 2021
• David Lee, Germaine Liu, John Oswald & Scott Thomson, A Hyphen in Reverse, Bandcamp, 2021
• Monicker (with Arthur Bull & Roger Turner), Something Burning, SoundOut Records, 2020
• Scott Thomson (duos with Charuest, Derome, Oswald & Ng), Pal o’Alto, Ambiances Magnétiques, 2020
• Karen Ng & Scott Thomson, The Farm Session, 2020
• Scott Thomson, Murray: Trombone Solos, Tour de Bras, 2020
• Monicker (with Arthur Bull & Roger Turner), Libr’aerie, Bug Incision, 2020
• Monicker (with Arthur Bull & Roger Turner), Spine, Ambiances Magnétiques 226, 2018
• Michel Bonneau, John Heward & Scott Thomson, 4×3, Tour de Bras 9030, 2018
• Roscoe Mitchell & The Montreal-Toronto Art Orchestra, Ride the Wind, Nessa Records, ncd40, 2017
• Scott Thomson, Heures indues: Trombone Solos, Bug Incision Records, bim-73, 2016
• The Disguises, Songs & Dances from The Muted Note, Ambiances Magnétiques 227, 2015
• Ken Aldcroft & Scott Thomson, Red & Blue, Trio Records, 2015
• Susanna Hood & Scott Thomson, The Muted Note: Songs Based on Poems by P.K. Page, &records 20, 2013
• The AIMToronto Orchestra, Year of the Boar, Barnyard Records 322, 2011
• The Rent, Musique de Steve Lacy, Ambiances Magnétiques 197, 2010
• Anthony Braxton & AIMToronto Orchestra, Creative Orchestra (Guelph) 2007, Spool Records line30, 2010
• Lori Freedman & Scott Thomson, Plumb, Barnyard Records 305, 2007
Selected Sideman Credits:
• Ratchet Orchestra, three releases, 2012-2018
• Jean Derome, two releases, 2017-18
• Woody Epps’s Togetherness!, two releases 2018-2021
• Ensemble SuperMusique, five releases 2013-20
• Joane Hétu, four releases 2012-2023
• Le GGRIL avec Evan Parker, Vivaces, Tour de Bras 2012
• Ken Aldcroft Convergence Ensemble, six releases 2006-16
• Friendly Rich Marsella, six releases 2006-13
Other Selected Arts Administration, Production, and Co-ordination:
• Freelance tour booking – tours by Joane Hétu’s Castor et compagnie (2016), The Muted Note (2014), Ensemble SuperMusique (2013), Evan Parker (2011)
• Freelance tour managing – tours by Ken Aldcroft Convergence Ensemble (2016, in memoriam), The Muted Note (2014), Ensemble SuperMusique (2013), Evan Parker (2011)
• Freelance publicist – Canadian tours by the Kyle Brenders Quartet (2015), Nick Fraser Quartet (2013), Mark Segger Sextet (2012), and Tania Gill Quartet (2012)
• 2010-11, Interim Administrative Director, hum dansoundart Dance Company, Toronto
• Co-producer with Jean Martin on Barnyard Records CD Launch Events, including William Parker with the Element Choir, Christ Church Deer Park, Toronto, 2010, and Evan Parker and the AIMToronto Orchestra, 918 Bathurst Centre for the Arts, Toronto, 2011
• 2001-02, Tour Manager and Technical Director, Vertical Management, Toronto, two extensive tours by the Saigon Water Puppet Theatre (traditional puppetry and live music from Vietnam, two-month tours, 2001-02, North American and Ireland), and as a tour manager for B’Net Marrakech, traditional music from Morocco (North American tour, 2001)
Selected Publications:
• Arborienteering (score/event program/field guide) with Polly Samland, Publication Studio Guelph, 2021
• “COVID-19 and the Creative Music Ecology,” with Karen Ng, Critical Studies in Improvisation, www.criticalimprov.com, 2021
• “Productions SuperMusique as Heard by an Outsider-turned-Insider,” Revue Circuit, 2020
• The Share, with Susanna Hood, ICASP Artist-in-Residence publication, http://improvisationinstitute.ca/document/the-share-pub/, 2016
• “One Musician Writes about Creative Music Venues in Toronto,” chapter in People Get Ready, ed. Ajay Heble and Rob Wallace, Duke UP: Durham, 2013
• “’Improvisation’ in Corporations and Creative Music: What Are We Really Talking About?” Critical Studies in Improvisation, www.criticalimprov.com, 2013
• “Listening to, Listening with.” Chapter in Music is Rapid Transportation, ed. Daniel Kernohan, Charivari Press: Uxbridge ON, 2010
• “The Pedagogical Imperative of Musical Improvisation.” Critical Studies in Improvisation,
www.criticalimprov.com, January 2008; trans. Spanish, El imperativo pedagógico de la improvisación musical, in Oro Molido 25: February 2009, a creative music journal in Madrid
• 1,000,001 artist biographical notes, 1997-present