Soundstreams Founding Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney has announced the lineup for the organizations 42nd year of presenting adventurous music for Toronto audiences. Exploration and renewal through live music is the overarching theme for the year.
“Art is a powerful force that can challenge perceptions, inspire change, and unite us across cultural boundaries,” says Lawrence Cherney in a statement. “As we launch Soundstreams’ new season, In Search of Regeneration, we celebrate music’s ability to transcend language and ideology. We invite audiences to explore diverse narratives, from the poignant letters of children in Letters to God to the spiritual resonance in Invocations. Music fosters understanding and empathy in these divisive times, reminding us that we all share common dreams, fears, and hopes.”
Soundstreams 2024/25 at a Glance
Letters to God (October 24, 2024)
The music of Canadian and Japanese cultures is woven together in this concert experience that will feature 73 performers on stage, including Fujii Percussion (mother Mutsuko Fujii, and daughters Haruka and Rika), Soundstreams Choir 21, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Gregory Oh (piano), and Ryan Scott (percussion). The program includes:
- Akira Miyoshi’s Letters to God, based on a collection of letters written by children;
- R. Murray Schafer’s 17 Haiku, which sets Japanese poems to music;
- Seasons by Toru Takemitsu;
- river woman by Melody McKiver;
- Claude Vivier’s Pulau Dewata.
Invocations (December 5, 2024)
The Gryphon Trio and guests like violin virtuoso Lara St. John, and singer Aviva Chernick, present works that invoke something beyond ourselves. Several of the works examine the word “nign”, which comes from Hasidic Jewish prayer traditions of the 18th century, including:
- Avner Dorman’s Nigunim (recipient of The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music);
- James Rolfe’s Narrow Bridge (a world premiere);
- Aaron Copland’s Vitebsk.
The program opens with Vivian Fung’s Prayer, (inspired by Hildegard von Bingen), paired with Amy Beach’s Invocation. It closes with Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44.
Vancouver Chamber Choir (February 27, 2025)
Conductor Kari Turunen leads the Vancouver Chamber Choir in a performance of new music. The acclaimed choir has been performing and touring the world for a half century, and make a rare appearance in Toronto. The program features:
- Music by visiting composer Tarik O’Regan that includes The Spring (from “The Colloquy of the Ancients”), a work that draws on heroic Irish legends;
- Six new short works by the participants in Soundstreams’ RBC Bridges Emerging Composer Showcase, who will be mentored by Tarik O’Regan.
with you and without you (March 22, 2024)
Soprano Danika Lorèn and Ensemble Soundstreams offer both classical and contemporary songs in a contemplation of love and loss, including pieces for voice and ensemble by Tansy Davies and Shawn Jaeger, and a work by Ana Sokolović.
The Ensemble will also perform instrumental works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Oliver Knussen and Matthew Ricketts.
Garden of Vanished Pleasures (April 24 to 27, 2025) World Premiere
U.K./ Canadian director Tim Albery created this new opera about English artist, designer, filmmaker and queer rights activist Derek Jarman. Composers Cecilia Livingston and Donna McKevitt wrote music to texts drawn from Jarman’s journals, with an emotional range that spans from loss and longing to anger.
The cast includes sopranos Mireille Asselin and Danika Lorèn, and counter-tenor Daniel Cabena, with Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh on viola, and cellist Amahl Arulanandam.
There’s more…
The Soundstreams TD Encounters free event series will continue at venues across Toronto. TD Encounters blend performance, artist discussions, and Q&A sessions, giving audiences the opportunity to connect with the work and creators in a relaxed, more intimate setting.
More details to be announced soon.
- Find more information, tickets and passes to the Soundstreams 2024/25 season [HERE].
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