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Marco Cera, guitar; Kirk Elliott, harp, bagpipes, accordion, violin, psaltery, etc.; Margaret Gay, cello; Ben Grossman, hurdy gurdy; Katherine Hill, voice, violin, nyckelharpa; Alison Melville, flutes, recorders, seljefløyte; Colin Savage, clarinet, bass clarinet, recorders; Debashis Sinha, percussion [Photo Credit: Richelle Forsey] |
Ensemble Polaris was founded in the spring of 1997 and first performed for Toronto's Northern Encounters Festival later that year. Made up of seven gifted instrumentalists from the Toronto early, folk, new, improvisational and 'independent' music communities, the group reflects an uncommon and exciting diversity of musical backgrounds and sensibilities.
After a fantastic tour to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island in the summer of 2009, Polaris looks forward to heading out west in late March 2010 for concerts in Alberta and British Columbia. Many thanks to the Canada Council Touring Office for making this possible!
VIKINGS on VACATION, our third CD, was released in August 2009. Available for sale in North America at your local CD store as of October 2010, distributed by Naxos of America. Also available as a digital download from your preferred e-vendors. Anyone outside Canada or the USA searching for Polaris CDs can contact us at:
ensemblepolaris@hotmail.com or at Pipistrelle.music@gmail.com
Upcoming shows:
Monday September 27, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Ensemble Polaris – VIKINGS on VACATION
(a.k.a. Nordic Music to Love)
Barrie Colours of Music Festival, Barrie, ON
705-725-1070
www.coloursofmusic.ca
Sunday January 16, 2011 @ 3 pm
ENSEMBLE POLARIS – OTHER WORLDS
Heliconian Hall, 35 Hazelton Ave., Toronto
www.ensemblepolaris.com
416-588-4301
March 27 – April 2, 2011
Ensemble Polaris – VIKINGS on VACATION ON TOUR
Sunday March 27, 2011 – Sundays at Seven, Lacombe, AB
Monday March 28, 2011 – Early Music Voices, Calgary, AB
Weds March 30 – ArtSpring, Salt Spring Island, BC
Thursday March 31 – Victoria, BC
Saturday April 2 – Vancouver, BC
www.ensemblepolaris.com
Sunday May 15, 2011 @ 2 pm
Gallery Players of Niagara – WHO’S WHO IN VALHALLA
ENSEMBLE POLARIS
St. Barnabas’ Church, 33 Queenston Street, St Catharines, ON
905-468-1525
www.galleryplayers.ca
May 26, 2011
ENSEMBLE POLARIS - WHO'S WHO in VALHALLA
Rose Avenue Public School, Toronto
(morning show, time TBA)
Northern District Public Library, Toronto @ 2 pm
May 27, 2011 @ 8 pm
ENSEMBLE POLARIS - WHO'S WHO in VALHALLA
at the Arts & Letters Club
14 Elm St., Toronto, ON
416-588-4301
Ensemble Polaris wishes to express its thanks to the Canada Council for the Arts, Toronto Arts Council, and Ontario Arts Council for their support of these events.
Check out Polaris on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/EnsemblePolaris1
For sound clips, concert dates and other info, check out myspace.com/ensemblepolaris.
Recordings
Not Much is Worse than a Troll - 2005
Polaris’s second CD, an all-instrumental program featuring original band compositions as well as many new arrangements of traditional Nordic tunes. Instruments added to the mix include bass clarinet, Norwegian seljefløyte, and one track with squeaky toys.
Midnight Sun - Dorian 93195, January 2000
Traditional tunes from Scandinavia, the Baltic and Scotland with a Canadian twist.
A.M. on flute/recorder with Colin Savage, clarinet/recorder; Margaret Gay, cello/button accordion; Catherine Keenan, hurdy-gurdy; Kirk Elliot, harp/guitar/mandolin/dulcimer/pipes; Terry McKenna, lute/guitar/bouzouki; Ben Grossman, percussion/santur/jew's harp; and guest vocalists Sarah Granskou and Tiina Orpana. Available at amazon.ca
From happy customers at Amazon.com:
“Take my advice friends – this is a GREAT recording! I dare you not to love this music. This music is inventive. This music is full of passion. This music made me like the clarinet…an instrument I’ve despised since my days in middle school.”
“Each arrangement seems so perfectly matched to nuances of each song…I’m hoping for more great stuff from this group.”
“Listening to this wonderful music, I cannot help but think that J.R.R. Tolkien would have loved it…I hope that Ensemble Polaris makes more music, and soon.”
Banner photos: Paul Orenstein