Wild Truth

Wild Truth – Concert of the SALT New Music Festival

Quasar Saxophone Quartet (Montréal)

D. Andrew Stewart, Karlax

Five world premieres explore what happens when composers, performers, instruments, bodies, and technology come into close creative contact.

Wild Truth brings together Montréal’s Quasar Saxophone Quartet and composer and digital musical instrumentalist D. Andrew Stewart for a program devoted entirely to new work.

Across five world premieres, the saxophone quartet becomes a meeting place for contrasting musical languages—from dreamlike and meditative sound worlds to sharply defined gestures, shifting textures, and changing sonic contours.

At the centre of the concert is Stewart’s La vérité brute / The Wild Truth for saxophone quartet and Karlax, a digital musical instrument that translates the performer’s physical gestures into sound. Movement becomes part of the composition itself, creating a direct relationship between body, technology, and musical expression.

Featuring music heard in public for the first time, the concert reflects SALT 2026: PROXIMITY through close collaboration between composers and performers, and through encounters between acoustic instruments, digital environments, physical gesture, and sound.

PROGRAM

Jordan Berg: Deadly Dreams (world premiere)

Rolf Boon: Contours for Saxophone Quartet (world premiere)

Amy Brandon: New work (world premiere)

Scott Godin: LEFT TO CHANGE / RESTE À CHANGER: Three Meditations on the Work of Ryan Larkin (world premiere)

D. Andrew Stewart: La vérité brute / The Wild Truth for saxophone quartet and Karlax (world premiere)

ABOUT QUASAR SAXOPHONE QUARTET

Quasar is a Montréal-based saxophone quartet known for its energy, distinctive sound, and fearless approach to new music. Since its founding in 1994, the ensemble has explored a broad range of artistic forms, from acoustic repertoire and improvisation to electronics, music theatre, and multidisciplinary performance.

Close collaboration with composers is at the heart of Quasar’s work. The quartet has commissioned and premiered more than 200 new works, making a major contribution to contemporary saxophone repertoire and performance practice.

Quasar presents its own concert series in Montréal and has performed throughout Canada and internationally, including appearances in Europe, the United States, Mexico, and at festivals such as Ars Musica in Brussels, Busan Maru in South Korea, Tonlagen in Dresden, and the SALT Festival in Victoria. Its artistic achievements have been recognized with 11 OPUS Awards from the Conseil québécois de la musique, including Artist of the Year.

ABOUT D. ANDREW STEWART

D. Andrew Stewart is a composer and digital musical instrumentalist whose work brings acoustic and electroacoustic performance into close dialogue.

At the centre of his practice is the exploration of new interfaces for musical expression—technologies and instruments that extend traditional performance while preserving the physical and expressive role of the musician. His work investigates how composition and performance can evolve alongside developments in digital instrument design.

Stewart has presented his artistic and research work at major international forums devoted to music technology, human-computer interaction, live coding, musical gesture, and new interfaces for musical expression. His music has been performed across Canada and internationally in Europe, Asia, North and South America.

ABOUT SALT NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL

The SALT New Music Festival is a contemporary music festival based in Victoria, BC, bringing together British Columbian, Canadian, and international composers and performers.

The 2026 edition explores the theme of Proximity—closeness to one another, to nature, to the universe, and across differences of background, nationality, identity, and generation. Through concerts, outdoor events, movement, and shared listening, SALT creates encounters where new music becomes a space for connection, exchange, and discovery.

📅 Saturday, September 19, 2026 | 7:30 PM
📍 Phillip T. Young Recital Hall, University of Victoria
B125, MacLaurin Building, University of Victoria, Ring Rd, Victoria, BC

In cooperation with New Music LAB.