On a day in beautiful early September, the Desert Quill Quartet and the amazing production team at Westben played music in four incredible settings around Westben and Trent Hills, including Willow Hill, The Mary West Nature Reserve, and a giant tunnel on the Trans Canada trail! This spellbinding ~25-minute concert explores a composition by each of the Desert Quill Quartet's members. Through pieces and songs inspired by improvisation, mentors, bird songs and electronic ambient music, this adventurously warm acoustic quartet of friends welcomes you into a playful connection with wherever you call home.
Our Digital Concerts at The Barn series is made possible through your support. Suggested donation of $20.00, if you are able. All contributions are greatly appreciated! DONATE to Westben: [ Ссылка ]
The Desert Quill Quartet [ Ссылка ]
Dan Gonzalez (clarinet), Yvette Holzwarth (violin), Patrick Behnke (viola), and Ben Finley (double bass) are four performer-composers from diverse geographical and music backgrounds who co-founded Desert Quill Quartet in 2014. Their instrumentation opens an unplaceable and rich acoustic sonic palette—welcoming in improvisatory soundscapes, kinetic grooves, and personal/place-based compositions. Through multi-disciplinary collaborations, recordings, and live performances, you will hear cued in-the-moment sonic transformations that invite ears of all kinds into worlds that are playful, warm, expansive and deeply communicative. The Desert Quill Quartet—whether moving sound and space with dancers, soundtracking stop animations, or playing on mountain tops, in basements or in concert halls—sparks a fresh and a joyfully far-reaching ethos to contemporary music making and human connection.
Chris Oliver: Camera/Editing
Andy Thompson: Sound Recording
Production Coordinator: Barry Twohig
Produced: Westben 2023 and Brian Finley
THANK YOU to our Sponsors: Galaxy Sponsor – Finley & Associates In partnership with the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Canada We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts. Thanks also to our partner – The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC).
In Grateful appreciation to our Mississauga friends whose music has filled these lands for generations.
EXPLORE THE DIGITAL VENUE The Digital Venue - [ Ссылка ] A sound-playground / digital concert farm inspired by the geography of this special place. We encourage you to play.
WESTBEN [ Ссылка ] Experience music in a natural setting. Westben brings culture and nature together in perfect harmony as the magnificent 400-seat timber-frame barn opens onto a lush meadow, surrounded by the gently rolling hills of Northumberland County.
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