The Women From Space Festival returns on International Women's Day (Friday, March 8th) until March 10th with another engrossing program of exploratory music. Each of the three evenings will happen at 918 Bathurst, home to Toronto experimental music institution the Music Gallery. Acclaimed Toronto/Berlin trumpet dynamo Lina Allemano kicks off the festival with her duo Bloop. Meanwhile, in a co-presentation with the Music Gallery, Mali Obomsawin brings her unique amalgam of folk, exploratory jazz and elements of her Abenaki heritage to life at the festival with a quartet that includes lauded improvisers Mili Hong, Allison Burik, and Magdalena Abrego. Composer and saxophonist Matana Roberts is, in the words of the Quietus "one of the most important figures in contemporary American music." For their performance at Women From Space, they are joined by the brilliant local percussion colourist Germaine Liu and textural-trumpet master Nicole Rampersaud. The festival's in-house large ensemble BIG BANG! returns, paying tribute to Björk with arrangements from inventive musicians Jessica Ackerley, Mingjia Chen, Lieke Van Der Voort, Madeleine Ertel, Nicole Rampersaud, and Heather Saumer. The group is an all-star, 17-member improvising band with an unconventional make-up that includes three percussionists, electronics, winds, strings, and voice. Tara Kannangara, Shn Shn, Laura Swankey, and tUkU Matthews will be featured as singers while live visuals will be supplied by father-daughter duo, The Liquid Crystal Display. Other acts include: Brooklyn-based composer, drummer, and turntablist Val Jeanty (AKA Val-Inc) alongside Toronto dancer Nickeshia Garrick (a co-presentation with Toronto Dance Theatre), MOCH, the duo of Mexican-born mallet percussionist Patricia Brennan (of the GRAMMY®-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble) and DJ Arktureye co-presented with Canadian Music Centre's CMC Presents Series, local interdisciplinary artist Morgan-Paige, Grace Scheele's hypnotic, hot-wired harp and  the trio of versatile virtuoso Anh Phung (flute/electronics), chiquitamagic (synths), and Audiopollination Guelph/ ponyHAUS instigator Emjay Wright (drums/objects).

More info and $30 early bird passes are available from the Women From Space website until February 19th when this pricing jumps up to $38.  Individual event tickets will be available for $15 advance, and $20 at the door.