OPEN SKY BASSOON is the film that I made for my 2025 tour to the US with the expert help of the incredible artist and designer, Shannon Pawliw of This_Gallery and Mighty Sparrow. The film images (photographs mostly) are taken from my many walks and cross country ski excursions into the trails and fields near my Ontario home. I was first motivated to walk to lose weight (56 pounds and counting if you want to know) and become stronger, but the unexpected result was bigger than I expected. Briefly, the effect of being out in all weather, skiing the coldest days of deep snowy winter to walking the hottest days of spring and summer surrounded by untold numbers of stinging insects and the occasional foraging bear, has restored me to my physical self. I feel like I’ve been put back together. As I walk, I pass mostly forest and logging roads, and some old homestead sites of long-gone settlers, and occasionally the bleached bones of forest creatures large or small, and I look up at the trees and know for a certainty that all of this will continue in beauty and glory long after I am gone. I aim to absorb as much as I can while I’m here.

For my 2025 performances at Tennessee Tech, University of Georgia and the Curtis Institute, I paired the film with my live performance of Telemann’s 12 Fantasias. Just like a normal walk, I would gauge if I was in approximately the right place by the images I saw on the screen, and always arrived at the end of the 57 minutes of music at the same time that the film ended. Though I hasten to add my actual walks are much longer, usually three hours at the minimum. This is the condensed version.

In this film, you will hear my 2002 recording of the Fantasias, which by the way, was my very first solo recording project, reviewed here. I printed only 1500 copies of this CD  which lives on in all the streaming platforms though you can occasionally find a jewel-cased disc for sale. And you can listen for free on my SoundCloud channel.  One of my oil paintings graces the cover (Oddbird).