Series – Contemporary Music Meetings
Double bill presented by Traquen’Art and the Suoni per il Popolo Festival

Gordon Grdina's RU’YA - رؤيا – feat Ghalia Benali
A true world premiere, RU’YA—“foresight” or “vision” in Arabic—brings together six artists from diverse musical traditions and continents: the spellbinding voice of Ghalia Benali (Belgium/Tunisia), the luminous piano of Elias Stemeseder (Austria), the sensitive violin of Eylem Basaldi (Turkey/USA), the Persian percussion of Hamin Honari (Canada), the inventive rhythms of drummer Christian Lillinger (Germany), and the oud/guitar of Gordon Grdina (Canada), the project’s initiator and composer.

The result of twenty years of exploration that began with Think Like the Waves—Grdina’s debut album—RU’YA ventures to the very edge of tonality, interweaving avant-garde jazz, Arabic maqam, and Persian classical music. Nourished by Ghalia Benali’s poetic vision, the work celebrates poets as true chroniclers of human history, capable of transforming memory, desire, and wounds into a universal language. This project embodies music without borders, where diverse timbres and improvisation create a fertile space for dialogue between cultures and eras.

EPIGRAPHS – John Hollenbeck
Opening the evening, percussionist and composer John Hollenbeck presents Epigraphs, a suite of pieces that continually reimagine their own material. Inspired by the visual-arts technique of overpainting, his approach layers new ideas over previous ones. Although carefully notated, the works are performed without rehearsal, so that musicians and audience discover the unfolding music together, suspended between motion and stillness. Each composition draws its primary lyrical impulse from poetic epigraphs, inviting listeners on a sonic journey that is both meditative and unpredictable.

Performers: Jeanne Laforest (voice), Sarah Rossy (voice), Roman Munoz (guitar), and John Hollenbeck (percussion, composition).