New Orchestra Workshop is a non-profit Society formed by Vancouver musicians in 1977 to provide a focus for the creation of an original West coast Canadian musical idiom. Highlights of the formative years included a Canada Council Explorations grant, three Creative Music Festivals, and concerts and workshops with international artists. NOW produced ongoing programs of their own music and operated their own performance spaces at the NOW loft and The Studio. NOW groups toured across Canada with much critical success, and a number of acclaimed recordings were released during this period. NOW was dormant after 1982 when key members relocated to eastern Canada. In 1986, NOW was rejuvenated to fulfill a need for workshop, rehearsal and performance space in Vancouver. Recent NOW activities include co-productions with Vancouver's Centre Culture! Columbien and the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society of various creative music series and work­ shops with leading national and international artists, as well as the NOW­ produced weekly creative music concerts at the grunt gallery (1987 - 1994). Recent collaborators have included Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Jay Clayton, Vinny Golia, Claude Ranger, Frarn;ois Houle, Lisle Ellis, and Paul Cram. In 1988 NOW founded The Glass Slipper performance space and operated it until January 1992. NOW groups have continued to tour Canada and the U.S. and in 1990 were showcased at New York City's Knitting Factory. NOW record­ ings have included 2 compilation compact discs as well as individual CDs on 9 Winds, Music in Arts, HatArt, and Word of Mouth that have garnered international acclaim. All of the members of NOW, past and present, continue to produce concerts and recordings in the spirit of the original mandate. Through their work, they help set the standard for creative music in Canada. As a collec­ tive, NOW has become an institution unrivalled in Canada for its impact, creative output, and longevity in the field of creative music, and belongs in the world community of improvising artists' collectives along with BAG (Black Artists Group), the London Collective, and AACM (Association for Advancement of Creative Music). Uzu•nie Taiko In Your Dreams MARCH 3 • 4 • 5 8:00 PM 2 FOR 1 FAMILY MATINEE SATURDAY MARCH 5 • I :00 PM • I Special Guests Albert St. Albert • Percussion Peggy Lee • Cello Tal