After hosting a successful evening of improvised music at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in the spring of 2024, musicians Joel LeBlanc and Nicole Rampersaud have teamed up to launch a new series of improvised performances.

Beginning this fall, Departures and Arrivals, created in partnership with the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, will provide a stage for world-class musicians to spontaneously compose new music in new and familiar groupings.

“Urgency. Immediacy. Energy. These are the core tenets of improvised, spontaneously composed music,” said Rampersaud. “We are thrilled to host a series that invites audiences to witness new music being created in-the-moment, drawing from a wide range of genres and influences.”

The series will begin on October 20 with a performance by Halifax-based musicians Geordie Haley and Lukas Pearse.

Originally from Fredericton, guitarist, composer, improviser and educator Geordie Haley has been a featured artist in concert and festival programs by creative music presenters across Canada, and teaches guitar and ensembles at the NSCC Music Arts Program and at the Maritime Conservatory for the Performing Arts in Halifax where he also maintains an active career as a performer.

Lukas Pearse is a bassist, improviser, sound editor, and an award-winning film composer. He is the Artistic Director of Upstream Music Association and Open Waters Festival of New and Improvised Music.

For this performance, Haley and Pearse will perform both as a duo and a quartet with LeBlanc and Rampersaud.

Admission by donation. Recommended donation: $20