Simon Docking, piano, Aiyun Huang, percussion, Gregory Oh, piano/conductor.
Influences
NEXUS, Contrechamps, le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Keith Turnbull, CBC Two New Hours, Group of Seven, Shary Boyle, Jean-Pierre Drouet, the Darmstadt Police, Pocky, Keith Jarrett, Northrop Frye
Since their inception in 2001, Toca Loca has been furiously branding the cattle of the new music world, and has long been held up as the best argument against intelligent design. Sworn enemies of actuaries and slow-growth fund managers the world over, percussionist Aiyun Huang and pianists Simon Docking and Gregory Oh have introduced North American audiences to new works of Chris Paul Harman, Andrew Staniland, Hywel Davies, Inouk Demers, Heinz Holliger, Sofia Gubaidulina, Philippe Leroux, Toshio Hosokawa, Georges Aperghis and Valerio Sannicandro.----------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frequent contributors to the CBC’s Two New Hours and ensemble-in-residence at Toronto’s Music Gallery, they have recently been spotted at the Sound Symposium in St. John’s, in Los Angeles as Provost Distinguished Visitors at USC and at the Chapelle historique du Bonpasteur in Montreal. They will appear in March on the CBC’s OnStage series at the Glen Gould Studio, and also in Winnipeg, Edmonton, Montreal and Halifax, presenting The P*P Project. Other upcoming appearances include the Cool Drummings festival in May 2008, The Aperghis Project and Music for 6008 Spokes in June 2008, and a run of XXX Live Nude Girls, an opera for Barbie dolls by Jennifer Walshe.--------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Their shadowy doppelgangers have also played the underground in Toronto via the Wavelength Indie Music Series and the X-Avant Festival, and in NYC on the Wordless Music Series at the Lincoln Centre. During the last SoundaXis festival, they were offered twenty dollars by a merchant’s personal assistant to stop playing on the trendy corner of Queen and John in Toronto. They accepted.-------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Toca Loca are a trio (pianists Gregory Oh and Simon Docking, and percussionist Aiyun Huang) who clearly believe that contemporary music should grab the listener as much as any other kind. With a posse of like-minded friends, they put on a passionate, disciplined performance that at times rocked harder than many shows I've heard in clubs.”
-Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail, May 29, 2007------------ -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“The ensemble Toca Loca offered a vibrant short set of works by Georges Aperghis, Dai Fujikura, Louis Andriessen, and Andrew Staniland.”
-Alex Ross, The New Yorker, April 16, 2007-------------------------- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“(Toca Loca Artistic Director) Oh is clearly on his way, through performances, commissioning and programming, to making a lasting contribution to new music in this country.”
–Tamara Bernstein, National Post, February 28, 2005--------------------------
HI thnx for the friendship and it’s nice to know you! Think it’s nice to be connected with musicians all over the world. In music we are all alike and speak the same language!!! I think you have very nice music, I enjoyed listening to it…… really sounds GREAT ….love it !! Greets from D E E Z E L (Belgium) and lots of luck in every thing you do!! If you can find the time check out my music too (thnx)
Hi to all my MySpace friends around the world! I don't usually use Myspace to promote my own beliefs, but I was recently asked to sign a very important online petition asking international bodies like the WTO and IMF to work to rid the world of child labour. There are so many children suffering in this world so that we can enjoy cheap luxuries and an easy life. There is not much we can do as individuals, but this we CAN do. It's easy...one click and you're there, one more click and you've made a difference! I spent the first half of my life in Hong Kong (I'm 13 now) and I've seen little kids in Southern China exploited and vulnerable. I always remember that but for an accident of birth, I could have been one of those children. I'm not asking you to run a marathon or anything...just move your mouse here: http://www.icftu.org/petition.asp?Name=childlabour - and do the right thing. Thank you and have a great summer! Aysha.
i put a record on! i'm happy to announce that my solo album is out now! and: you can listen to all the album tracks on my site this week! best regards ggut
Moll doll his chin;
Her hair birch-
Broom-in-the-fits;
Chalk and cheese, they said;
Cradle and grave,
They said;
Yet-
You could smell
The smouldering, sparry,
Whenever they met.
