Program Notes:

We all inhabit familiar spaces. The most familiar of places, those that we feel most attached to and contained by, are fertile grounds for the unexpected.

In massive, cookie cutter style apartment complexes of the mid-20th and 21st centuries, we see individuals decorating identical spaces in myriad ways, expressing culture, tastes, and trends. If you enter different units in the same building, you have a feeling of a familiar space – a space which might appear different in the most superficial of ways, but at its core, is simply a replica of a space. How we interact with these familiar spaces is determined by the relationships that we have formed with our own space. We explore different spaces in a similar way, imbuing these spaces with simultaneous meaning and purpose.

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Performed by Open Union
Modular Synth: Peter Bell
Electric Guitar: Patrick Ellis

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Bio:

Paolo Griffin is a composer based in Toronto, Canada, whose music explores focused/unfocussed listening, repetition, generative composition, and microtonality, while maintaining a focus on close collaboration and creative spontaneity with the performers he works with.

Paolo is the Artistic and Executive Director of Freesound, a Toronto-based collective that consists of a core group of the city's most adventurous young musicians and interpreters of contemporary music. Freesound present concerts throughout the year with an interest in the work of emerging composers.

A fierce advocate of accessible arts and inclusive practices, Paolo is also the Managing Director of Xenia Concerts, a Toronto-based charity that focuses on presenting accessible concerts and musical events for autism and neurodiverse communities. Through his work with Xenia, Paolo has helped to shape such programs as Sound.colLAB - a collaborative project in which seven neurodivergent artists have co-created an original piece of music under the mentorship of
professional musicians.

2022-23 engagements include lectures at the Sibelius Academy in Finland, and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival's Widening the Circle initiative where he appeared as a mentor composer. Other events include premieres with the Continuum Ensemble, with saxophonist
David Zucchi in Toronto, and at the Aurore Renaissance Music Festival in Helsinki. Paolo's music has been featured in at festivals across Canada, including Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music, and Big Lake Arts Festival. His music can be heard in concert and on the radio
by performers and ensembles such as Continuum Ensemble (CA), Residentie Orkest (NL), The New European Ensemble (NL), Avanti! Chamber Music (FI), Thin Edge New Music Collective(CA), Duo Holz (CA), Freesound (CA), and more.

Paolo holds degrees from the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague where he studied with Peter Adriaansz and Martijn Padding. Other teachers have included Linda
Catlin Smith, Anthony Tan, Juhani Nuorvala, Chaya Czernowin, Mayke Nas, Matthew Whittall, Jukka Tiensuu, Rodney Sharman, Gary Kulesha, Nobert Palej, Huba de Graaff, Jan van de Putte,
Ana Sokolovic, Peter Ablinger, Christopher Theofanidis, Mario Garuti, Dmitri Tomozco, Amy Beth Kirsten, and Chen Yi.

Paolo's sits on the board of Musicworks Magazine. His work and research is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canadian New Music Network.

Paolo Griffin - Familiar Spaces (2022) - Live at Centrala, Birmingham

Another snippet from Caligo Paean - beware of gifts when chasing gods : ) 

Caligo Paean is a 1 hour long sound piece installed on river front property in the town of Franklin, Tasmania as part of the exhibition "When The Fog Clears". It formed part of the Ten Days on The Island Festival March 2025.
The work was installed in several locations across the property including a stack of subs under an old bus, in the main exhibition space and in an abandoned shed some 40 metres from the main area . The speakers were 'tuned' quite differently depending on their location and the sound was not delay corrected with the result of each mini-installation merging with each other in odd sonic ways - kind of calling the listener from one spot to another. The the work features field recordings, percussion, piano, bass guitar and Intonarumori as well as this special one off choir : )

Caligo is the Ancient goddess of Chaos. Born of the fog she controls the darkness, dwells in the void and is as old as the primordial matter that created the universe. This work is a tribute to the goddess as she continues to influence our lives and, in the case of this installation, the site and concept informing the show.

Official press release below for The Fog Clears

Every day, the mists of the Huon Valley perform a seductive dance, gently obscuring and revealing contours of the fertile land and waters. Situated in The Watershed Franklin, When The Fog Clears features six artists from lutruwita / Tasmania exploring the region’s iconic mists through a variety of mediums including installation, sculpture, illustration, sound, and video.

Developed exclusively for Franklin, this exhibit extends from the waterfront itself into the chambers, kilns, and rafters of the shed, inviting visitors to consider fog as an atmosphere that can cloak us in unexpected ways.



Caligo Paean (A gift, a choice)

I've flown in the air
I've sometimes even sailed the seas 
I've taken the railways
but I like to keep both feet on the ground

I've braved winters
and walked in the scorching heat
but that was yesterday
Today, what I prefer

is my home
the one I love
grabbing my guitar
and write songs
it's my home
doing what I love
and enjoying life
before it's too late
No, it's not too late

on the other side of the world
I've still had times when I've enjoyed myself
but there's nothing to do
Today, what I prefer

is my home
the one I love
grabbing my guitar
and write songs
it's my home

Jamais trop tard (Translated)

trio for trumpet, double bass and piano (composed in 2023)
performed by Damir Bačikin trumpet; Nadezda Tseluykina - piano; Matthias Bauer - doublebass.
Live recording of world premiere (final concert of Competition and Workshops "Jugend Komponiert" in Schlosstheater, Rheinsberg, 29.10.2023)

A Short Story

yada yada yada

yadayadayada

Grand Metamorphosis no. 30 "M" - Sequence 6 "Tables, graphs and notes" for piano solo (composed in 2024)
from cycle 'Grand Metamorphosis nos. 0-30'
Grand Metamorphosis no. 30 color is #DB3FB1 for every sequence (as represented on cover here)
Performed by composer - recorded in home studio

0:00 - A
2:00 - B 
2:55 - C
4:00 - D
4:08 - E
4:48 - G
6:25 - F (Harmony #1)
6:56 - H
8:08 - I
8:23 - L (Harmony #2)
8:48 - J
11:12 - M (Kammermusik #1)
15:33 - K
17:57 - N (Harmony #3)
18:23 - O
20:08 - P
21:02 - R
26:12 - S (Harmony #4)
26:58 - T (Canon)
28:28 - Q
29:00 - U
29:09 - V (Kammermusik #2)
36:51 - W
37:05 - X
37:18 - W (second time)
37:36 - Y (Harmony #5)
37:56 - Z

Grand Metamorphosis no. 30 "M" - Sequence 6 "Tables, graphs and notes"

Here's that rainy day - Jimmy Van Heusen

Oscillations
between musical banality and extremely complex polyphonies
between 'popism' and true minimalism
between hermeticity and 'humanity'
Music for twenty-first century.


Grand Metamorphosis no. 28l.2 "Musica Minima" for MIDI tape (composed in 2022-2025)
from cycle 'Grand Metamorphosis nos. 0-30'
Grand Metamorphosis no. 28l color is #DB3FB1 for every submovement (as represented on cover here)

Grand Metamorphosis no. 28l.2 "Musica Minima" exists in two versions - without interruptions, complete version and one divided in 4 one-hour parts.

Grand Metamorphosis no. 28l.2 "Musica Minima" - complete version

Concerto Grosso for Baroque Orchestra (2025) Nicolas Kingman

Open Union is an experimental music duo made up of composer-performers Peter Bell (modular synthesiser) and Patrick Ellis (electric guitar) based in Birmingham and London.

Described by the treasured composer Howard Skempton as being, ‘sometimes subtle and unstable; sometimes rich and dense’, the duo aims to build up strong collaborative relationships to create new verbal and text based works. Their current collaborators are Christine Cornwell, Wilson Leywantono, May Chi, Paolo Griffin and Seán Clancy.  

The duo have performed across the UK at events such as Ealing Extranormal, AMOK, Don't Mind Control, Birmingham Modular Organisation and CODA Festival. In 2025, they supported Passepartout Duo at Centrala Space, Birmingham as part of their UK Tour, and in 2023, undertook a mini tour of The Netherlands as part of the Sounding Here concert series, where they performed at Splendor in Amsterdam and Batavierhuis in Rotterdam.

In July 2025, they co-hosted a portrait concert with saxophonist David Zucchi featuring music by Paolo Griffin at the Hundred Years Gallery.