Gascia Ouzounian: Women Make Music

The Carousel is a night where a group of musicians, instrumentalists and visual artists form a circle with the audience in the centre, playing solo, as a group and in sections. The scene in Northern Ireland is mainly made up of male performers, this is an opportunity to readdress this imbalance and showcase the work of female composers and musicians to an audience both young and old, and male and female.

Curated by Carousel originator John McGurgan and composer Dr Gascia Ouzounian, the carousELLE performance will feature up to 20 female performers, with live visual artists, with spontaneous improvisation between players, all guided by Gascia. Gascia will create a new piece of work for performance at the event, collaborating with all the performers to create a unique soundscape.

Dr Gascia Ouzounian is a Canadian musician based in Belfast and works at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Belfast’s Queens University. As a violinist Gascia has performed internationally with ensembles that have included Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Theatre of Eternal Music Strings Ensemble, Hutchins Consort, and Sinfonia Toronto; she is a founding member of Bird On A Wire, Biomuse Trio, and Pale Gates of Sunrise.