OPUS Chamber Music is one of Toronto’s newest chamber ensembles, and they’ll be presenting their OPUS V: Change It Up concert on December 8. The concert will showcase the talents of violinist Luri Lee, cellist Peter Eom, flutist Anthony Trionfo, and pianist and OPUS Artistic Director Kevin Ahfat.
The program features the work of eight composers not so familiar to the casual concertgoer, and a theme of transformation and change, with a thread of surprise that runs through the musical selections.
The Music
The works for the program were chosen because they reimagined and transformed music in various genres, on Broadway, in opera and film and more.
- DAY Ecstatic Samba
- PARKER Pan Dreams
- DESENNE Birimbao from Jaguar Songs
- PRUTSMAN Four Broadway Showtunes
- HOLACKY Quartet
- BORNE Carmen Fantasy
- CLARKE Zoom Tube
- DEE 2020: The Year We Could Not Breathe
- GERSHWIN/FROLOV Porgy & Bess Fantasy
The Artists
A quartet of artists will make the music come to life.
Kevin Ahfat, piano & Artistic Director
Canadian pianist Kevin Ahfat studied at the Juilliard Institute, and is a two-time winner of the Juilliard Concerto Competition. He followed with studies in-residence as a Rebanks Fellow at the Royal Conservatory. As a soloist and accompanist, he has performed with the Esprit Orchestra and Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, and the Seattle, Bellevue, and Oakville Symphonies. He has also performed at several festival, including Music@Menlo, Rockport, Fall for Dance North, and the Kyoto Festival.
As a chamber musician, Kevin performs and has recorded as a member of one of the three-times Grammy nominated ARC Ensemble, in addition to curating a concert series as Artistic Director of OPUS.
Anthony Trionfo, flute
A native of Las Vegas, Nevada, Anthony Trionfo began studying the flute at age 11, and began performing with the Las Vegas Philharmonic as a soloist about three years later. Anthony’s career took off after his 2016 First Prize win at the Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions, and he subsequently made his YCA Series debuts at New York’s Merkin Concert Hall and Washington, DC’s Kennedy.
Today, he performs as second flutist of ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, Ohio, and has been on several tours with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, in addition to performances and collaborations with ensembles such as the Jupiter Chamber Players and Seattle Symphony, among many others. Anthony is a Burkart Flutes & Piccolos artist and plays a 998 Elite silver flute with a 19.5kt gold headjoint. He is an advocate for both new music and inclusion in the world of classical music.
Peter Eom, cello
Cellist Peter Eom is a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and an Americans for the Arts Roundtable Fellow. He is the cellist of the acclaimed Rolston String Quartet, who won first prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition. As a chamber musician, he’s collaborated with high profile artists and ensembles such as Joshua Bell, Augustin Hadelich, David Shifrin, and members of the Dover, Emerson, Miró, and Tokyo String Quartets.
Peter is a champion of new music and collaborative projects with other artistic disciplines. He has worked with choreographer Bill T. Jones, filmmaker Larry Weinstein, fashion designer Rosemarie Umetsu, and manor others. He recently premiered Augusta Read Thomas’ Magic Gardens for String Quartet in the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s Bicentennial.
Luri Lee, violin
Luri Lee has earned degrees from the University of Toronto, Glenn Gould School, Peabody Conservatory, and Rice University. She is Associate Principal Second Violin of the Toronto Symphony
Orchestra.
She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician with the Royal Conservatory Orchestra, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and on stages throughout North America, Europe and Asia.
Luri is a founding member of the Rolston String Quartet, and as such, received Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition. The quartet has toured all over the world, and performed at Carnegie Hall, the Louvre, the Kennedy Center, Koerner Hall, and Wigmore Hall.
- Find more information and tickets for the December 8 performance at Citadel+Compagnie (304 Parliament St) [HERE], and keep February 2 open for their OPUS VI: Shostakovichfest which will take place a partnership with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra.
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