The Happenstancers, Toronto’s chamber music innovators, are presenting a concert titled Being Pascal Dusapin on April 6. It’s described as a “portrait concert in palindromic form”, in which they mean to use the French composer’s chamber works as an imaginary path inside the workings of Dusapin’s mind.
“By experiencing these most personal (and searing) musical gestures, The Happenstancers propose we can inhabit the depths of the artist’s psyche.”
The Concert
Each artist will incorporate elements of staging into their performance, including evocative lighting by Billy Wong. Along with the works composed by Dusapin during the last 35 years, the concert will include unpublished works for solo cello dedicated to the French modern master by young Canadian composer/conductor Samy Moussa and the late Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho to bookend the program.
The full program:
- Samy Moussa : Six notes pour Pascal (2015)
- Pascal Dusapin: Laps (1987)
- Pascal Dusapin: Canto (1994)
- Pascal Dusapin: If (1984)
- Pascal Dusapin: Two Walking (1994)
- Pascal Dusapin: Imago, 3 Pièces sur des (faux) chants populaires (2004)
- Pascal Dusapin: Now the Fields […] (1988)
- Pascal Dusapin: Ohé (1996)
- Kaija Saariaho: Long live love, pour Pascal Dusapin (2015)
Hence, the palindrome…
Pascal Dusapin
While Dusapin has achieved international renown, his works are seldom performed on this side of the Atlantic. It will be the Canadian premiere for most of the Dusapin works on the program.
A native of Nancy, France, Pascal Dusapin studied at the University of Paris, switching to music at the Sorbonne to study as a pupil of Iannis Xenakis after hearing his work.
Pascal also studied with Italian composer Franco Donatoni, but developed his own musical language. His music is characterized by microtonality, with some elements of jazz. But, although he worked as a jazz pianist, he has largely rejected the use of keyboards and electronics in his own compositions.
The Happenstancers: The Artists
Clarinettist Brad Cherwin
Brad Cherwin has carved a unique career as a clarinettist and chamber musician. Highlights include a 2019 Dora Award for his performance with Against the Grain Theatre in Claude Vivier’s Kopernikus, performances with Barbara Hannigan and Equilibrium Young Artists, and his European debut last season with Ema Nikolovska, Hagar Sharvit, and Daniel Gerzenberg at Hamburg’s Tonali Saal. He is the Artistic Director of Toronto’s West End Micro Music Festival, along with the director of the Happenstancers.
Soprano Danika Lorén
Along with her work as a vocalist, Danika Lorèn is also known as a composer. She earned a masters degree in opera at the University of Toronto, and was a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Program from 2016-18. Her signature roles include Gilda (Rigoletto), Musetta (La Bohème), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Ginevra/Dalinda (Ariodante), Despina (Così fan Tutte) and Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro). She has directed and produced several original shows, and her compositions have been presented by the CBC, the Canadian Art Song Project, Canadian Opera Company, Pacific Opera Victoria and Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra.
Soprano Hillary Jean Young
Hillary Jean Young is a musician and vocalist who has become known for their work in contemporary opera, experimental and electronic music. Her artistic practices delve into the ways that gender, technology, bodily and queer experiences collide. Hillary earned a DMA in Contemporary Music Performance at the University of California, San Diego. Today, Hillary is an Artistic Producer with Continuum Contemporary Music, as appointed through the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons, through CCM’s inaugural Mentorship in Artistic Production (MAP).
Cellist Peter Eom
Cellist Peter Eom was the sole recipient of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and YoungArts NYC Creative Residency for 2023-2024. Through the residency, he will be developing and then premiering an interdisciplinary installation entitled SEAMLESS during New York Fashion Week in 2026. As a chamber musician, Peter is the cellist of the Rolston String Quartet, who took first prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition. Along with a busy performing career, Peter has taught at major institutions, including the RCM in Toronto, Duke University, Yale, and the University of British Columbia, among others.
Percussionist Louis Pino
Toronto-based percussionist and technologist Louis Pino works in a range of musical genres. He often works with music that incorporates theatrical elements and technology in solo recitals. He is also an active chamber musician, and has performed with several ensembles, including as a regular member of TorQ Percussion Quartet. As an orchestral musician, in 2019, he was awarded the National Youth Orchestra of Canada’s BMO Award of Excellence. He performs regularly with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, among others.
- BEING PASCAL DUSAPIN takes the stage April 6t at 7:30 p.m., at Redeemer Lutheran Church (1691 Bloor Street West). Tickets and more information [HERE].
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