Concerts, Guest Artists, Exhibitions, Talks and Recitals
Thank you to all who came to our SoCA Events this fall!
Upcoming exhibitions and performances:
Talking Tabla: Rhythmic Principles of North Indian Drumming
The tabla is a wonderfully complex percussion instrument from North India, with a beautiful, unique sound and virtuosic technique. It can be heard in Indian classical music, dance, devotional, folk, and film music, as well as in cross-cultural music. In the first part of this workshop, students will be introduced to the instrument, its techniques, and repertoire. In the second part, through the use of rhythmic vocalizations called bol, participants will explore the vast world of North Indian rhythm. With the use of simple vocal syllables and clapping, we will learn more about taal (rhythmic cycles), tihai (rhythmic cadences), and laykari (subdivision), with fun exercises that, at times, are sure to challenge even the most rhythmically adept.
Friday, January 23, 2026, 10:00am
Armouries, Ensemble Room, Room B22.
Free admission
Shawn Mativetsky
Dynamic performer Shawn Mativetsky is considered one of Canada's leading ambassadors of the tabla, and is a pioneer in bridging the worlds of Western and Indian classical music. Acclaimed as an exceptional soloist and a leading disciple of the renowned Pandit Sharda Sahai, Shawn Mativetsky is highly sought-after as both performer and educator, and is active in the promotion of the tabla and North Indian classical music through lectures, workshops, and performances across Canada and internationally. Based in Montreal, Shawn teaches tabla and percussion at McGill University. His solo tabla album, Rivers, is rooted in the rich traditions of the Benares style of tabla playing, and his latest project, Temporal Waves, brings the tabla into electronic music territory. This recent work involves explorations with tabla, effects pedals, and synthesizers, along with the use of magnetic tape recording and manipulation. He has also published a book, Rudimentaal, featuring compositions for snare drum, inspired by the tabla drumming of North India.
As a practitioner of Indian classical music, Shawn regularly gives solo tabla performances, as well as accompanying kathak dance and instrumental artists. As an ensemble musician, Shawn Mativetsky performs with trio Mativetsky, Amiri & Pagé, violinist Parmela Attariwala's cross-cultural Attar Project, Indo-fusion group Ragleela, very long cat, a tabla / electronic music duo with live coder David Ogborn, the improv trio Of Sound, Mind and Body, with Tim Brady and Helmut Lipsky, and percussion group Ensemble Duniya.
Open Gallery January 26th - January 30th, 2026
Closing Reception Friday, January 30th, 5pm to 9pm
Windsor Armouries, 37 University Avenue East
Scarlett Ambedian, Uday Chandi, Jayden Demarche, Carolyn Duck, Kenzy Eweda, Joseph Fawzy, Ashley Grech, Sayyid Hamid, Matthew Hammill, Jonah Kramer, Abbey Macleod, Dnish Niazi, Gloria Reka, Celina Roke, Teniola Tokode, Grace Torishta, Angelina Tu
SoCA Jazz Faculty Concert
Saturday, February 7, 2026, 7:30pm
Tickets: $25 adults, $10 students, SoCA students and Faculty no charge.
Description: Join us for the 4th Annual SoCA Jazz Faculty Concert.
Mike Karloff, Shahida Nurullah, Bob Fazecash, Steve Wood, Mike Palazzolo, Miles Finlayson and Vanessa Harnish perform a varied program of instrumental and vocal jazz numbers. More details coming soon!
Buy tickets on the Capitol Theatre website.
Temporal Waves
Monday, March 2, 2026, 7:00pm
Multimedia Studio, Wildeman Room 107
3650 Freedom Way
Free admission
Temporal Waves is the latest project from renowned Canadian tabla player Shawn Mativetsky, transporting the tabla into a rich electronic sound world, with Shawn's tabla bathed in the neon glow of analog synthesizers. Temporal Waves is an excursion deep into aural science fiction. Montreal's Shawn Mativetsky has long been celebrated as one of Canada's leading ambassadors of the tabla, and next to his exceptional musicianship, it's his unquenchable curiosity that one most frequently hears praised. Mativetsky is an accomplished practitioner of Indian classical music, but is equally embedded in the contemporary music realm, where he has established himself as both a champion of living composers and a generous collaborator to the likes of Tim Brady, Nicole Lizée, and Dinuk Wijeratne. An avid improviser, he can also be found accompanying countless other artists across and beyond the spectrum between jazz, pop, and global traditions.
This may be his first foray into electronic music within recent memory, but anyone familiar with Mativetsky's output will tell you that he's no tourist anywhere he goes; his roots always run deep. Spending his youth steeped in the 8-bit timbres of the Atari 400, Nintendo Entertainment System, and early PCs, the 1990s saw him actively involved in the DIY electronic music scene that congregated around 'tracker' software, and was a key member of the online tracker collective NOiSE. In the early 2000s, he performed with Indo-electronic project, Ramasutra, and for the past several years, has been collaborating with live coder David Ogborn in their electronic music duo, very long cat.
Videos of Temporal Waves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_17e6PGJO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GqGTYefOHw