Ensemble AKA explores the boundaries and relationships between written and improvised music.
L'Ensemble AKA explore les frontières et les relations entre musique écrite et musique improvisée.

Born in 1989, and lives in Montreal.  Kevin Gironnay creates acousmatic and mixed music, produces music for sound installations, videos and dance, and performs improvised music, in solo or collaborations.

His work is focused on taming chaotic elements into musical contents by using conceptual or concrete processes, hence his love for improvisation. He is also dedicated to shaping musical ideas in the micro and macro domains, hence his love for composition.

As sound engineer and radio art enthusiast and practitioner, his relationship with sound as a medium is a happy marriage, still filled with passion and everyday amazement. And he still tries to believe the feeling is mutual. Sound is his first and main material and musicality his artistic purpose.

Kevin Gironnay completed a master’s degree in composition with Nicolas Bernier, and has also been influenced by the teaching of Christine Groult, Horacio Vaggione, Denis Dufour, Jacopo Baboni Schilingi, Lorenzo Bianchi and Giacomo Platini. His music has been played in Canada, China, United States and throughout Europe.

In 2016, Kevin Gironnay founded the improvised music band Ensemble ILÉA.  He is also an active member of the collective Unmapped and the band QUADr.  He is an affiliate member of CIRMMT (Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media and Technology).

Mystery & Wonder is a small label started in 2017. It is run by Elizabeth Millar and Craig Pedersen.

Many of our releases focus on sound art, improvisation and compositional works that give attention to the musical possibilities inherent in combining or superimposing closely amplified elements with acoustic elements.  We are interested in work that takes care with sound and timbre, structure and form, is close, direct and in high-definition. But most off all, we are interested in work that defies our understanding of all this and moves us in ways we don’t expect, work that stands on its own.

We are lovers of the album as physical object. We custom cut the majority of our sleeves with high-quality paper using an industrial die-cut machine.  Our latest releases include some combination of obi strips, hand printed covers, scores, photographs, and liner notes. With the exception of a few, releases are hand-assembled.

We also actively organize concerts in Montreal and elsewhere.  You can read more about our events here.  To stay actively updated about our releases, concerts and tours, please consider signing our mailing list: http://eepurl.com/cMOzLr

Christina Volpini is a composer whose music has been described as “focused intently on the subtle sounds that fall between the cracks” (Ludwig Van Toronto) and “very nuanced, rustling and whispering” (Neomemoire). Informed by the ephemerality and spontaneity of natural sonic environments, her work explores gradual unfolding through time, found objects, sonic spatialization, instrumental textures and liminal spaces. Her music develops through collaborative creative processes with pieces crafted for specific spaces and performers. 

Christina has been commissioned by Esprit Orchestra, Array Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music, Caution Tape Music Collective, and Duo AIRS with performances in Toronto, Montréal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton, New York and throughout the U.S. east coast. She has collaborated with artists including Jumblies Theatre, Echéa Quartet, guitarist Rob MacDonald and Ensemble Bakarlari, among others. Her work has been featured by organizations including the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Soundstreams and The Music Gallery, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

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