OPTION: Karen Ng

Description

Following the highly anticipated release of her debut LP on boutique label Halocline Trance, Karen Ng delivers an improvised solo saxophone and electronics set utilizing a variety of material extracted from the album. Using free improvised vocabulary mixed with interactive patches, Ng explores the world of dynamics and relationships between the acoustic and electronic in a live setting.

This performance and interview are presented in the ESS garden, and will premiere online on ESS’s YouTube.

This event is free and open to the public. Walk-ins welcome; reservations recommended.

The OPTION series is curated by Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos.

About Karen Ng

Toronto-based improviser Karen Ng has established herself as a unique musical force nationally and internationally. Whether encountering her on tour with renowned artists  or in an intimate venue in Berlin, audiences have come to know her distinctive tone and  remarkable offerings in a variety of contexts. Over the last 15 years Ng has performed with some of Canada’s most prized artists such as The Weather Station, Andy Shauf, Do Make Say  Think and many more, appearing in high profile performances such as Jimmy Kimmel,  NPR’s Tiny Desk, Austin City Limits and festivals including Big Ears, Pitchfork,  Bonaroo, Primavera, Osheaga, Best Kept Secret and Wilco’s Solid Sounds among  others. 

One of Canada’s leading improvisers “with a breathtakingly wide musical scope” (Musicworks) she also collaborates regularly with creative and ad hoc ensembles in the  wider improvising scene across Canada, in Europe and the US. Since the pandemic, Ng  has been a featured guest on Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio Option Series,  Bimhuis in Amsterdam and performed at festivals such as Coastal Jazz Festival  (Vancouver), Suoni Il Popolo (Montreal), Pique (Ottawa), Venus Festival (Toronto),  Sonic Transmission (Austin, TX) and other established institutions who focus on  experimental programming. 

Notable recordings span over a decade with various artists including Lido Pimienta, Joan  Shelley, The Weather Station, Badge Epoque Ensemble, Charles Spearin, Craig  Dunsmuir, Rob Clutton and many more. She has released one tape (“Here”) of solo  saxophone and clarinet music independently and her first full length album “Backwards Blue”  was released in October 2025 on Halocline Trance. 

Ng has been the recipient of a range of grants including an Ontario Arts Council National/ International Residency grant in 2018 which took place in New York, and a variety of project  grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2017 she was a finalist for the Toronto  Arts Foundation Emerging Artist award. She has also served on a variety of peer assessment  

juries and was a representative for Canada as a juror in Bremen at JazzAhead. Ng has also  built a foundational presence in the community as an educator, moderator of panels, and  curator (TONE Festival, Guelph Jazz Festival, Canadian Music Centre) 

Ng has been featured on Bandcamp Daily, had a profile piece published in Musicworks and  appeared several times in NOW Magazine and Exclaim for both her musical and curatorial  work. 

“No list of forward-thinking Toronto jazz artists would be complete without Karen Ng” –  Bandcamp, “The Best of Toronto’s Experimental Jazz Scene” 

“Karen Ng has rapidly become a significant presence at the creative edges of Toronto jazz” –  Whole Note Magazine 

If there’s a common thread through all of Ng’s endeavours and projects, it’s her openness to  experimentation and collaboration. – Musicworks, “Karen Ng Sets the Scene” 

“super-collaborator…mainstay in Toronto’s improv music community” – Now Magazine, “Toronto Musicians to watch in 2018 – Composer Edition”

About OPTION

OPTION is an ongoing music salon curated by Chicago musicians Andrew Clinkman, Lily Finnegan, and Dorothy Carlos and presented by Experimental Sound Studio. Its programming explores contemporary perspectives on improvisation and composition in a ‘salon’ format, enabling local, national, and international artists to publicly discuss their practice and ideas as well as perform. Click here for past OPTION performances.