A music festival for adventurous listeners is set for a return voyage to the Annex this winter, promising an eclectic cast of cutting-edge performers from across music genres.
Established in 2019, Toronto's Women From Space Festival is billed as a celebration of music innovation and gender diversity, spanning the weekend closest to International Women's Day.
From March 7 to 9, the festival will inhabit the 918 Bathurst Centre, a venue that also serves as home to local experimental music institution the Music Gallery.
Toronto composer and improviser Allison Cameron will kick things off with a solo performance entitled Small Scale Experimental Machine that promises to employ "electronics and field recordings in surround sound" plus video and audience participation.
Other musicians playing on the first night include the trio Plastic Babies, a longstanding collaboration comprising vocalists Laura Swankey and Christine Duncan, plus the guitar wizardry of Patrick O'Reilly.
Following their homage to Björk in 2024, the festival's in-house large ensemble BIG BANG! will turn their attention to another musical innovator, Nina Simone, in the evening's closing set.
The following two nights promise an array of performers with "bold, edgy and cyber-punk vibes" before the festival wraps up with pianist and composer Myra Melford’s Fire and Water Trio with Ingrid Laubrock (saxophones) and Lesley Mok (drums, percussion).
Early bird passes and full program will be available for $30 starting Jan. 22. On Feb. 5, pricing jumps to $38, with individual event tickets available for $15 advance, $20 at the door.
