Vocalist and composer Danika Lorèn joins Soundstreams in an evening of love songs that understand the premise, all love songs are also songs about loss. The program is guest curated by Brad Cherwin, winner of the 2024/25 Soundstreams New Voices Curator Mentorship Program.
with you and without you takes place March 22 at the Jane Mallett Theatre.
The theatrical concert features an ensemble conducted by Gregory Oh: Tristan Durie (flute), Colin Maier (cor anglais), Anthony Thompson (clarinet), Brad Cherwin (bass clarinet/clarinet), Iris Krizmanic (horn), Lenny Ranallo (mandolin/banjo), Erika Raum (violin), Hezekiah Leung (viola), David Hetherington (cello), Joseph Philips (double bass), Kevin Ahfat (piano), and Aiyun Huang (percussion).
Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney comments in a statement, “Compelling thematic programming has been a Soundstreams trademark from our beginning in 1982. Our New Voices Curator Mentorship Program is now in its sixth season, and Brad’s curation is a shining example of the program at its best: a universal theme that showcases composers both familiar and unfamiliar in a context that adds value and new meaning to each through exhilarating contrasts of period, genre and instrumentation.”
Danika Lorèn: Soprano, & Composer
Lorèn lives in Parkdale in the city’s West End. Their work as a composer focuses on works for opera and art song, and settings for texts by LGBTQIA+ poets.
As a vocalist, Danika is known for an impressive range, flair for drama and virtuosic technique. They work in opera, chamber music, improvisation, and through a range of styles and genres.
Danika is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio. Performance credits include both orchestral and opera engagements across Canada, and repertoire from Handel and Haydn to Ana Sokolovic.
Their compositions have been performed by artists such as Georgia Burashko, Ema Nikolovska and Joseph Middleton, and in 2024, by Simona Genga at the Merola Opera recital series.
The Music
The program juxtaposes the lush emotions of Romantic-era music with contemporary dissonance. It includes both purely instrumental pieces by Oliver Knussen and Matthew Ricketts, and works for voice and ensemble, such as Tansy Davies. “The rule is love” in its North American premiere, and Shawn Jaeger’s “Letters Made with Gold” in its Canadian premiere. Ricketts’ piece is a piano solo in its world premiere, a musical work inspired by the writings of poet and essayist Walt Whitman.
Lorèn will also sing selections from their own song cycle “Tell Everyone” for piano and soprano, along with a love song by Ana Sokolović.
“Presence and absence — everything exists somewhere between those two poles. In this collection of pieces, extreme contrasts (the vocal versus the instrumental, modernism versus vernacular music, the group versus the individual) are used to explore this idea from a number of perspectives. If these ideas sound a bit too high-minded, and perhaps they are, the concert is also simply a fantastic opportunity to hear truly thrilling, powerful, and virtuosic music — certainly some of the best of the last 50 years — performed by some of Canada’s best. Our soloist, Danika Lorèn, will be absolutely electric,” says Brad Cherwin.
- Find tickets and more details with you and without you on March 22 [HERE].
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