Douglas R. Ewart + Jesse Stewart
Douglas R. Ewart, Professor Emeritus at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was born in
Kingston, Jamaica, in 1946. His life and his wide-ranging work have been inextricably
associated with Jamaican culture, history, politics, and the land itself. Professor Ewart
immigrated to Chicago in 1963, where he studied music theory at VanderCook College of Music,
electronic music at Governors State University, and composition at the School of the Association
for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, an organization renowned for its wide-ranging
experimental approaches to music. Professor Ewart served as the AACM’s president between
1979 and 1987.
In addition to his AACM colleagues (including Wadada Leo Smith, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe
Mitchell, George Lewis, and Muhal Richard Abrams), Professor Ewart has performed with Cecil
Taylor, James Newton, Anthony Davis, Robert Dick, Alvin Curran, Von Freeman, Yusef Lateef,
Richard Teitelbaum, Kidd Jordan, Steve Lacy, and many others.
Professor Ewart’s extremely varied and highly interdisciplinary work encompasses music
composition, painting, kinetic sound sculpture, and multi-instrumental performance on the full
range of saxophones, flutes, and woodwinds, as well as percussion instruments of his own design
and construction.
Jesse Stewart is a composer, musician, visual artist, researcher, and educator. His music has been documented on over twenty recordings including Stretch Orchestra’s self-titled debut album, which was honoured with the 2012 “Instrumental Album of the Year” Juno award. His music has been performed at festivals throughout Canada, in Europe and in the United States and he has been widely commissioned as a composer and artist. He is a professor of music in Carleton University’s School for Studies in Art and Culture. In 2014, he was named to the Order of Ottawa. In 2017, he received the Ottawa Arts Council’s Mid-Career Artist Award. OttawaJazzScene.ca described him as “one of the most innovative musicians in Canada.”.
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Where: Theatre
When: June 8th, 8:30pm
Ludophone improvisation workshop with Douglas R. Ewart and Jesse Stewart
Join legendary multi-instrumentalist Douglas R. Ewart and percussionist Jesse Stewart for an interactive musical workshop featuring North America’s only set of ludophones--brightly coloured percussion instruments that were created with musical inclusivity and creative play in mind. Everyone is welcome. Previous musical training is not required.
Where: OAG South Terrace
When: June 8th, 3:00pm - 4:00 pm
No registration required