On one fine autumn day in October 2019, a quintet of some of the most active musicians on the avant-improv scene gathered to play in a little rehearsal space in Berlin for the very first time. Under the band-leadership of Lori Freedman, over the course of 38 months they came together for several weeks, creatively plotting and rehearsing, and finally performing and recording their music in June 2022. In May 2023 BeingFive made its North American début at the Festival international de musique actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV), receiving a multitude of reviews from international journalists. A truly Berlin-based ensemble, BeingFive is made up of musicians hailing from everywhere but Berlin. With the vast capabilities of sound production from each of its members the group can sound like it is anywhere from 1 musician to 5, to 50 musicians. The overall vocabulary of BeingFive is stupefying but what they have to “say” with this palette, unmistakably their own, will open the listener’s mind – including body and that thing called spirit – to a wondrous wilderness.
In the Press
“Some of the finest music heard, in fact, was produced by women, including veteran Canadian clarinetist Lori Freedman’s subtly powerful quintet show BeingFive…”
“…this year’s shows from Fred Frith and Lori Freedman both unrolled my socks! […] Freedman’s top flight quintet of improvisers were the most locked in group, finding each other’s entries and exits without fail and presenting a wealth of details for the listener to lean into.”
« … la clarinettiste montréalaise Lori Freedman présentait une de ses plus brillantes propositions, soit BeingFive, quatre musiciens occidentaux basés à Berlin et regroupés autour de la Canadienne. Concert de haute subtilité, sorte de pâte feuilletée d’effets variés émanant de la clarinette (Freedman), de la trompette (Axel Dörner), de la percussion (Yorgos Dimitriadis), de la contrebasse (Christopher A Williams) et de l’électronique (Andrea Parkins et tous ses collègues). »
« Mon coup de coeur de ce week-end printanier demeure toutefois la prestation de la Montréalaise Lori Freedman, en quintette avec son projet BeingFive. C’était, à mon avis, le meilleur concert de la fin de semaine. »
“The careful creativity and stellar results proved the adage that improvisation can often be the best form of composition.”
“Together the five musicians generate constantly morphing sound worlds, comprising selfless individual contributions.”
“BeingFive invites (and strangely rewards) a listening so concentrated it may go beyond merely including the incidental, environmental event, somehow actually to thematize it.”
