Clustered Keys with pianists Megan Thibeault and Justin Ortez

Pianists Megan Thibeault (Halifax, NS) and Justin Paul Ortez (Kalamazoo, MI) come together to present an array of 21st century piano works. Featuring works by Anna Thorvaldsdöttir, Monica Pearce, Elainie Lillios, Nicole Lizée, Keith Kirchoff, Phyllis Chen and a sneak peak of Cory Harper-Latkovich’s collaborative project with both Megan and Justin.

Admission is $20 (suggested) or Pay What You Can at the door.

About the artists:

Megan Thibeault is a versatile pianist who is passionate about discovering new ways to present, collaborate and explore music that reflects our current society. Based in Halifax, NS, her musical endeavours have brought her to perform and study throughout North America. She has premiered many solo and ensemble pieces while collaborating with a wide range of composers from Canadian emerging artists to internationally renowned such as Steve Reich, Georg Friedrich Haas and Missy Mazzoli. She is two time competitor in the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition and has held fellowships at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, the Bang On A Can Summer Festival, the Orford Music Academy, the Nief-Norf Summer Festival and the Montreal Contemporary Music Labs.

Justin Paul Ortez is a Michigan-based pianist and composer. As a pianist, he experiments with ways to disrupt the traditional concert experience in ways that bring lesser performed works of the 20th and 21st centuries to the forefront. He seeks out opportunities to collaborate with composers in all stages of the creative process in an attempt to bring new works to life in a vital, organic way. Justin has studied and performed at the New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, soundSCAPE Composition and Performance Exchange in Maccagno, Italy, and WMU’s SPLICE Institute. He has studied primarily under Lori Sims, as well as with Stephen Drury, Mabel Kwan, Thomas Rosenkranz, Yukiko Takagi, and Edisher Savitski.