What Is: heart(break) Fest Pass

What Is: is a multipart performance and engagement series that examines the threads that tie music together. Our fourth edition, themed around heart(break), will explore how music connects us to our most primal experiences of love, loss, and mending. Through sound, light, and installation, we unpack the ways art can evoke, soothe, or memorialize heartbreak in a uniquely human way. We truly believe this year’s festival will act as a catharsis needed at this time, honouring and indulging both the soft and hard spaces of the heart.

We begin with a night dedicated to the power of moonwatching, a time-old expression of connection, yearning, and quiet dreams. Artists Jenna Geen and Zoma will perform a 6.2 channel surround sound piece using vocals, foley, and Max/MSP. 

The following night, we invite New York-based 8ulentina to premiere their new album Surpassing Disaster for an evening that engages with the past as a present collaborator rather than being only a source of nostalgia. The night also features multi-disciplinary artist Patrick Perez working alongside Hagop Ohannessian in a live a/v performance.

Night three curates the air as beloved artist Mas Aya performs free improvisations tethered to nostalgic scents created by aromatic curator Sandro Petrillo. This night is also a chance to wear or bring heirlooms from loved ones as a part of a ceremony dedicated to those who cared for us, facilitated by artist billie raphael. 

Night four is about bouncing back, even through transitional moments. Set in a sunken basketball court, Sarah Hennies, Tristan Kasten-Krause, and the Imaginary Percussion Orchestra perform sounds bouncing and rebounding on a slew of percussive instruments, whale bones (!), as well as found sound. 

Last is a night curated by Montreal-based artist James Goddard, dedicated to the pure, emotional heartbreak. Sitting through heavy feelings, poets, meditation guides, and drone musicians invite eventual release and catharsis through movement, a beautiful way to cap off the festival.