PERFORMANCE

Quartet for Garlic, Cello, Mouth & Telephone

Created and performed by Ben Gorodetsky & Miriam Stewart-Kroeker

March 8 (OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE) + March 12 
7:30 PM
Studio Theatre, Centre in the Square

TICKETS

Last year’s workshop presentation was the most talked-about, unforgettable presentation at FFF24. Now we are ready to present to full production – Quartet.

An interdisciplinary performance experiment from cellist Miriam Stewart-Kroeker and performer Ben Gorodetsky. These two powerhouse artists bring their distinct styles to a piece that explores memories, melodies, smells and fragments of grandmaternal love and trauma exploring Ben’s relationship with their maternal grandmother, Raiya. Her experiences with starvation, survival, and transformation are told through phone calls, live cooking, movement and translation. A delicious and nutritious mix of music, memory, telecommunication, and fragrant garlic.

Opening Night Premiere is presented with a themed tasting prepared by Chef Julie Hall inspired by meals made by Raiya herself.

Miriam Stewart-Kroeker is a versatile cellist based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She’s a member of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and a founder of the Andromeda Piano Trio. Miriam is a native of Hamilton, Ontario, where she began her studies at the age of 5. She studied with Paul Pulford and the Penderecki String Quartet at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she received an Honours Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance as well as a Diploma in Chamber Music Performance. She went on to complete a Master’s degree in Cello Performance at McGill University under the direction of Matt Haimovitz. On top of performing with various orchestras throughout Ontario, Miriam is an active chamber musician and soloist. She recently performed her first chamber and solo CBC recordings, which will be featured on CBC’s In Concert program. The Andromeda Trio recently received two grants from Canada Council for the Arts and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund to commission and record a piece by local composer, Karen Sunabacka, which will explore Métis-Mennonite relations in Canada, inspired by Karen and Miriam’s ancestries on Treaty 1 territory. Miriam performs regularly for several chamber music series, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Guelph Connections Chamber Music Series, Conrad Grebel Noon Hour series, Toronto Chamber Players series and more. In 2013 Miriam completed a winter residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in solo and chamber music, and her chamber ensembles have been the recipients of numerous awards. She has performed as a soloist with several orchestras and ensembles, including the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Choir and the Georgian Bay Symphony.

Ben Gorodetsky (he/they) is a Ukrainian-Canadian performance, media, and video artist based in Kitchener, Ontario. Their work has been presented by The Art Gallery of Ontario, Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener and Area, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Tank NYC, Lumen Fest, In/On/Out Interarts Festival, Open Ears, Expanse Festival, Inter Arts Matrix, and Mile Zero Dance. Ben is the curator and host of award-winning interdisciplinary variety show Pinch Cabaret, and has performed and directed improvisation in Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, NYC, LA, Reunion Island, Vienna, Ljubljana, Montreal, Toronto, and Yellowknife. He was the 2022 artist-in-residence with the Guelph Dance Festival, winner of the Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor’s Celebration for the Arts (Edmonton), recipient of the Anna Pidruchney Award for Young Writers, a nominee for a Canadian Comedy Award, and a nominee for a Waterloo Region Arts Award. They are the creator and executive producer of “MY PET ATE WHAT!?” a new Canadian docuseries for CTV Wild. Ben teaches at UWaterloo, and holds an MFA from Brooklyn College-CUNY and a BFA from the University of Alberta.

Julie Hall is a visual artist working in soft sculpture, video, and performance. They have a decade-long co-creative practice with their partner, Jacob Irish, producing large-scale,
interactive installations, and showing in galleries throughout Southern Ontario, Centre Bang! in Chicoutimi, Quebec, at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As an impressionable teenager, Julie had a prophetic dream where James Barber, The Urban Peasant, told her, “Julie, cooking needs you.” Julie is a self-taught home cook turned caterer, moving on to line cook, and within their one year of fine dining climbed from garde manger to sous. Julie now enjoys cooking for friends and occasional special events.

Julie grew up near Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, in a blue-collar environment. They pursued STEM until seeing David Byrne dance with a lamp to Naive Melody, causing them to cash in their pension to pursue visual arts. Julie works at CAFKA in Kitchener, their administrative outlet for arts advocacy and community building through the arts.

Julie prefers they/she pronouns.

Miriam Stewart-Kroeker is a versatile cellist based in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. She’s a member of the former Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and a founder of the Andromeda Piano Trio. Miriam is a native of Hamilton, Ontario, where she began her studies at the age of 5. She studied with Paul Pulford and the Penderecki String Quartet at Wilfrid Laurier University, where she received an Honours Bachelor of Music in Cello Performance as well as a Diploma in Chamber Music Performance. She went on to complete a Master’s degree in Cello Performance at McGill University under the direction of Matt Haimovitz. On top of performing with various orchestras throughout Ontario, Miriam is an active chamber musician and soloist. She recently performed her first chamber and solo CBC recordings, which will be featured on CBC’s In Concert program. The Andromeda Trio recently received two grants from Canada Council for the Arts and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund to commission and record a piece by local composer, Karen Sunabacka, which will explore Métis-Mennonite relations in Canada, inspired by Karen and Miriam’s ancestries on Treaty 1 territory. Miriam performs regularly for several chamber music series, including the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, Guelph Connections Chamber Music Series, Conrad Grebel Noon Hour series, Toronto Chamber Players series and more. In 2013 Miriam completed a winter residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in solo and chamber music, and her chamber ensembles have been the recipients of numerous awards. She has performed as a soloist with several orchestras and ensembles, including the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Choir and the Georgian Bay Symphony.

Ben Gorodetsky (he/they) is a Ukrainian-Canadian performance, media, and video artist based in Kitchener, Ontario. Their work has been presented by The Art Gallery of Ontario, Contemporary Art Forum of Kitchener and Area, Movement Research at Judson Church, The Tank NYC, Lumen Fest, In/On/Out Interarts Festival, Open Ears, Expanse Festival, Inter Arts Matrix, and Mile Zero Dance. Ben is the curator and host of award-winning interdisciplinary variety show Pinch Cabaret, and has performed and directed improvisation in Atlanta, Detroit, Austin, NYC, LA, Reunion Island, Vienna, Ljubljana, Montreal, Toronto, and Yellowknife. He was the 2022 artist-in-residence with the Guelph Dance Festival, winner of the Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor’s Celebration for the Arts (Edmonton), recipient of the Anna Pidruchney Award for Young Writers, a nominee for a Canadian Comedy Award, and a nominee for a Waterloo Region Arts Award. They are the creator and executive producer of “MY PET ATE WHAT!?” a new Canadian docuseries for CTV Wild. Ben teaches at UWaterloo, and holds an MFA from Brooklyn College-CUNY and a BFA from the University of Alberta.

Julie Hall is a visual artist working in soft sculpture, video, and performance. They have a decade-long co-creative practice with their partner, Jacob Irish, producing large-scale,
interactive installations, and showing in galleries throughout Southern Ontario, Centre Bang! in Chicoutimi, Quebec, at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As an impressionable teenager, Julie had a prophetic dream where James Barber, The Urban Peasant, told her, “Julie, cooking needs you.” Julie is a self-taught home cook turned caterer, moving on to line cook, and within their one year of fine dining climbed from garde manger to sous. Julie now enjoys cooking for friends and occasional special events.

Julie grew up near Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, in a blue-collar environment. They pursued STEM until seeing David Byrne dance with a lamp to Naive Melody, causing them to cash in their pension to pursue visual arts. Julie works at CAFKA in Kitchener, their administrative outlet for arts advocacy and community building through the arts.

Julie prefers they/she pronouns.