Violinist Lara St. John, vocalist Aviva Chernick, and the Gryphon Trio will be performing INVOCATIONS, the final concert of 2024 for Toronto’s Soundstreams. As the title suggests, the program includes music that is meant to take its listeners beyond the present, and beyond themselves.
“In the latest global shift towards anger, xenophobia and disregard for the planet we all share, my only answer can be music, providing beauty and solace to those who are suffering. My own invocation for these times is to be strong enough to turn my worry for others into something that can heal and keep alight the flame of art and music within periods of darkness,” Lara St. John comments in a statement.
INVOCATIONS takes place at the Jane Mallett Theatre on December 5. Here’s a closer look at what’s in store.
Soundstreams: INVOCATIONS
Vivian Fung’s Prayer, inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, opens the concert, paired with Amy Beach’s spiritual Invocation.
The term nigun can refer to melody or music, based on the idea that it’s an expression of the kind of emotions that can’t be put into words. Originally, it was a kind of improvised prayer in Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century. Nigun forms the inspiration for many of the works on the program, including Avner Dorman’s Nigunim, a work that won The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music.
“For more than 40 years, Soundstreams has been reimagining musical forms that speak to age-old traditions and rituals. We’ve commissioned new works that breathe new life into forms like the tango, the fanfare and the oratorio. The nigun has such a rich history as a form of prayer, and it’s been a sheer delight to explore the ways in which for generations it has been an appeal to something or someone beyond ourselves,” says Soundstreams founding Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney.
Also on the program are a world premiere by James Rolfe titled Metzarim, and Aaron Copland’s Vitebsk.
Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44, a work that was considered groundbreaking in its time, and epitomizes the emotional romantic style, closes the concert.
The full list of performers includes Lara St. John, violin, Aviva Chernick, vocals, Noa Sarid, violin, and Sheila Jaffe, viola; and the Gryphon Trio: Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin, Roman Borys, cello, and Jamie Parker, piano.
- Find more details and tickets to the December 5 concert [HERE].
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