nondual | Alvaro Rojas & Cole Schmidt
with live visuals by Travis Kirton
Presented in partnership with the TD Niagara Jazz Festival, this open-air performance invites audiences to gather above downtown St. Catharines and kick off summer under the open sky.
Join us first at 7PM for an opening reception in the Dennis Tourbin Members Gallery featuring an exhibit of photographs capturing live jazz events across Niagara, with work by Dan Brown, Cosmo Condina, Ron DeFields, and Jeff Friesen.
Doors to the TCO Rooftop Terrace open at 8:30PM, with performances beginning at 9PM.
ALVARO ROJAS + COLE SCHMIDT
Years after the final chords of their old punk rock band, Vancouver guitarists and composers Alvaro Rojas and Cole Schmidt reunite and celebrate with a new LP and repertoire of guitar duets, Nondual.
Riffs, counterpoint, drones and improvisations twist and turn in the contemporary style. Songs, minimalism, collage and abstractions are all invited to the block party, and hang around in the park until the streetlights turn on.
Cole Schmidt composes music for multi-genre improvising psychedelic chamber jazz ensemble SICK BOSS, drone improv unit LETTR OPENR, and the collaborative project with cellist and composer Peggy Lee, FOREVER STORIES OF: MOVING PARTIES.
As a guitarist, he performs regularly with Marin Patenaude, KneeJerk, and Peggy Lee’s Echo Painting. Cole has been curating DIY shows in Vancouver for over 15 years. He was part of the multidisciplinary outfit Sawdust Collector, and works as an Artistic Director for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and Barking Sphinx Performing Society.
Alvaro Rojas creates adventurous and colourful music that combines and recontextualizes the world around him. His diverse projects include Afro Peruvian prog - jazz (GRAN KASA), drippy electronic tinged guitar+string quartet soundscapes (MUSIC FOR 22), and an upcoming release on Susie Ibarra’s Habitat sounds label based on translating the patterns of nature.
His concert pieces have been performed by many of Canada’s finest new music groups, including the Turning Point Ensemble, Aventa Ensemble, Microcosmos String Quartet and others, and has collaborated with artists such as Susana Baca and Georgia Anne Muldrow.