ex tempore (live)

ex tempore, for small ensemble (2024) 9′
Commissioned by Arraymusic with support from SOCAN

Premiered February 1, 2024 at the Array Space, Toronto
This is an excerpt from the concert recording made by
Matt Legge, House & Production Manager

The Array Ensemble:
Stephen Tam, flute
Colleen Cook, clarinet
Aiyun Huang, marimba & vibraphone
Sheila Jaffé, violin
Lydia Munchinsky, cello
David Schotzko, conductor

With just over two weeks to go before the world premiere of my newest work blood of infinity at Arraymusic’s upcoming New Encounters concert, I present an excerpt from an earlier commission by the Array Ensemble.

ex tempore premiered in the first of three New Encounters concerts that I curated, alongside works by Hanna Benn, Anthony R. Green, and Kathryn Patricia Cobbler. The work is dedicated in memory of Ann Southam, a pioneer in Canadian composition and for women in this field. During a radio interview in 1999, I asked her if she had advice for young composers to which she responded, “Don’t get pushed around by influences, just listen to your own voice as much as you can.”

I intend to be neither pushed around by influences and expectations of so-called new music, nor avoiding influences altogether but rather incorporating them in a way that represents me. Much of Canadian composition occupies a rigorous, expansive and rarefied sonic space, often in a singular and compelling way. I feel contemporary concert music can also be diasporic, folksy, terse like pop, and still sometimes exploratory.

The title is meant to suggest several possible meanings, including something improvised, a snap judgement, and the temporal expansion characteristic of Southam’s minimalist works.

The piece was originally drafted as a sextet, then reduced to a quintet to fit the instrument roster for the concert I was curating. There is a viola line that may one day be added, creating an option for a quintet or sextet.

Image: Array Ensemble, screenshot from video by Matt Legge

Music and composer’s notes copyright Bruce A. Russell 2026