GIGSPACE
Ottawa's Premiere Intimate Concert Venue
Jazz guitarists Tim Bedner (Ottawa), Bill Coon (Vancouver) and special guest clinician Kenny Bibace (Montreal), will collaborate to present a dynamic and unique 3- day workshop with interactive teaching sessions, performance masterclasses, special presentations, and a participants concert!
Join these award-winning educators and performers as you explore the world of jazz guitar in a supportive and welcoming learning environment.
July 2nd @ 7:30 pm, Art of the Duo Concert
Begin your jazz workshop weekend on Thursday evening with a special Art of the Duo concert featuring Tim and Bill.
July 3rd-5th @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Workshop
Friday & Saturday includes interactive teaching sessions with Tim & Bill plus a performance masterclass.
Bill coon and guest clinician Kenny Bibace will present a special masterclass on Saturday afternoon.
Sunday morning begins with interactive teaching sessions and the weekend wraps up with a participants concert.
Performance Masterclass
Participants will have the opportunity to perform each day and receive instructor feedback. Please download and choose from the following songs:
Concert
For the concert participants will be accompanied by a rhythm section. They can choose to play a song of their choice or one of the songs from the performance masterclass list, .
Registration Info:
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Age: High school - Adult
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Registration Fee: $385 (non-refundable), includes ticket to Art of the Duo concert
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Deadline: June 12th
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Enrollment limited to fifteen participants.
What to Bring:
Guitar, small amp (GigSpace has a limited supply of amps), lunch - bring your own or purchase nearby, snacks, refillable water bottle, notebook, pencil.
Note: Happy Goat is around the corner on Laurel St. for coffee, snacks or lunch, and for more options, Little Italy on Preston St. is down the hill.
Recommended participant requirements:
Minimum 3 years experience on your instrument with the ability to read standard notation.
Familiarity with jazz standard tunes and jazz chord vocabulary, as well as some experience with improvisation.
Registration Form:
Enjoy this free Art of the Duo 2025 livestream
Instructor Bios
Tim Bedner
Tim Bedner is a modern lyrical composer and improviser, and an award-winning teacher and performer on six- and seven-string guitars. Reviewers have called him “a talent and a force, playing with grace, style, passion, and inventiveness.” His CD recording “Of Light and Shadow” debuted in the #1 spot of the CMJ jazz chart, where it remained in the Top 40 for four weeks.
Tim received his undergraduate training at Berklee College of Music (Boston MA), graduating summa cum laude, and a Masters Degree with distinction in Jazz Performance at Duquesne University (Pittsburgh PA). He is a performance instructor of jazz guitar at Carleton University, and is the founding director of the Guitar Ensemble. In addition to composing, Tim creates arrangements and guitar instructional materials, and gives workshops, master classes, and private lessons - both online and at Alcorn Music Studios, where he has created a number of performance development classes for adults.
He is the founding board President of the GigSpace Performance Studio, and was the assistant director of the Carleton University Summer Jazz Camp. Prior to relocating to Ottawa ON, Tim was an adjunct professor of guitar at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh PA for 8 years. He was also on the music faculty at St. Vincent College.
Tim performs extensively throughout the Ottawa-Gatineau region. A gifted and sought-after accompanist, he has performed with many well-known musicians across a variety of genres. Tim has shared a stage with artists as diverse as jazz guitar icon John Abercrombie, national fingerstyle champion Pat Donohue (NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor), Broadway diva Bernadette Peters, the Segovia of jazz guitar Gene Bertoncini, fusion band Spyro Gyra, saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake, Pittsburgh veteran jazz drummer Roger Humphries, flamenco guitarist Marija Temo, bluesman Ernie Hawkins, and members of The Fringe (George Garzone & John Lockwood) and the New York Voices. Additionally, Tim has performed with Canadian jazz icons bassist Dave Young, trumpeter Kevin Turcotte, and guitarists Bill Coon, Lorne Lofsky, and Mike Rud.
Discography: Spare Skirt - Katie Ditschun, Portrait Intime - Claude Brazeau, C'est à moi - Dominique Forest, Live at GigSpace - Mike Tremblay, Of Light and Shadow - Tim Bedner, Capital Vox Sings Elise Letourneau - choral works, I Will Sing for You - Elise Letourneau & band, One Little Child - Doug Worth with Peter Eldridge
Bill Coon
Bill Coon was the recipient of the 2009 National Jazz Awards, Guitarist of the Year. He leads several of his own groups including a trio, quartet and the BC Double Quartet whose recording, Departure with Brad Turner on trumpet and violinist Cameron Wilson was nominated for a 2019 Western Canadian Music Award. He is featured on three Western Canadian Music Award winning recordings, including the genre-bending Jasmine Jazz, winner of the Best Instrumental Recording of 2023. He has performed with jazz greats Jimmy Heath, Peter Bernstein, Eddie Daniels, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Lewis Nash, Peter Washington, Lorne Lofsky, Sheila Jordan, Jiggs Whigham, Hugh Fraser, P.J. Perry, Grant Stewart, Pat Bianchi, Scott Hamilton and Rebecca Kilgore.
Coon is well-known for his many collaborations, including recordings with vocalist Sienna Dahlen Balladextrous (Cellar Music), Laura Crema, StringSongs, featuring Peggy Lee and Jon Bentley. His latest recording Slow Road, with Triology featuring legendary tenor player Scott Hamilton will be available in April 2025. He performs regularly with Jodi Proznick, Miles Black and Oliver Gannon, Campbell Ryga, Cory Weeds, Jennifer Scott, Steve Kaldestad, John Gross, Tom Keenlyside, Carman Price and Sharon Minemoto.
His compositions and arrangements for large ensembles include Jill Townsend Jazz Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Cory Weeds 11-piece ensemble, and Montreal-based Altsys Jazz Orchestra. Coon has collaborated with jazz vocalist Denzal Sinclaire on the Juno nominated CD, I Found Love, and with hip-hop artist K-os on his Juno award-winning CD Joyful Rebellion.
Among his many grants and commissions, Coon has received Canada Council Arts Awards to study with guitarists Jim Hall, Dr. Louis Stewart, and arranger-composers Neil Chotem, Rick Wilkins. He is a faculty member of the VSO School of Music and the Jazz Studies department at Capilano University in North Vancouver, teaching composition, large ensemble arranging, improvisation, jazz ensembles, jazz history and private guitar lessons.
Media
Jazz Guitar Today Bill Coon Guitar on Canada's West Coast
The Straight - Bill Coon Jazz Fest
The Whole Note - Departure BC Double Quartet
Capilano U - A Man and His Music
Kenny Bibace
Ken Bibace is a Montreal-based guitarist with 40 years of professional experience. He has
toured Canada, the United States and Europe with Juno award winning ensembles and has
recorded extensively in the past 4 decades and continues to do so.
He was also an instructor at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University ( where he received a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in jazz performance (1996, 2007 respectively), University of Montreal and CEGEP Marianopolis in their respective jazz faculties until 2022.
Ken continues to perform and record in Montreal and environs on a regular basis.