Pierre-Yves Martel

Pierre-Yves Martel is a Canadian composer and improviser, born in Ontario in 1979 and based in Montreal. He started on bass and double bass and later moved to the viola da gamba, which he plays in early music and in free improvisation. He also uses pedal steel, modular synthesis and field recordings, and writes scores for film and dance. Martel founded Quartetski, a chamber group that recasts works by composers such as Prokofiev, Satie, Purcell, Tobias Hume and Cage through improvisation, and plays viola da gamba in the ensemble Constantinople led by Kiya Tabassian.