Toronto chamber music ensemble Music Around The Corner (Photo courtesy of the artists) — Toronto chamber music ensemble Music Around The Corner performing in 2024 (Photo courtesy of the artists)

Toronto’s Music Around The Corner is back with two performances that feature brand new works selected through their 2025 Call for Scores program. On the program are two world premieres by Canadian composers Kalen Smith and Pari Bahrami, alongside music by Amy Beach and Dmitri Shostakovich.

The ensemble was founded by Canadian violinist Emma Meinrenken and violist Lynn Sue-A-Quan in 2023, and features Toronto-born and based classical musicians. Musicians have included members of the Toronto Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Indianapolis Symphony, along with recent graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Yale University, and McGill University. Music Around The Corner is committed to performances in community-based venues to introduce classical and Canadian art music to a wide range of audiences in the Greater Toronto Area.

The Program

Amy Beach: Quartet for Strings (in one movement)
Kalen Smith: Vignettes for String Quartet
Pari Bahrami: Gravity and Ghosts
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet No.8 in C minor, Op.110

Talent

Emma Meinrenken, Violinist, Co-Director

Canadian violinist Emma Meinrenken is currently working towards her Master of Musical Arts at Yale University, studying with Augustin Hadelich as the recipient of Yale’s Presser Foundation Graduate Music Award. She also earned a Bachelor of Music from the Curtis Institute of Music. She made her debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 10, and has performed at festivals in Italy and France, at the Montreal Chamber Music Festival, and the Four Seasons Winter Workshop, and recently went on a chamber music tour of Europe. Contest wins include 1st place at the Stradivarius International Violin Competition and the Prix Ravel at the Ecole d’Art Américaines de Fontainebleau. Emma plays on the 1717 Windsor-Weinstein Stradivarius, on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Lynn Sue-A-Quan, Violist, Co-Director

Toronto-born violist Lynn Sue-A-Quan is currently a member of the Jacksonville Symphony. She has also performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic. Lynn has also collaborated with orchestras across North America as a soloist, and performed at international festivals, including Lucerne Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Verbier Festival. Sue-A-Quan is a graduate of the Juilliard School, holding a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. She has a busy private teaching studio in addition to her performing career.

Matthew Christakos, Cellist

Cellist and Toronto native Matthew Christakos was recently been appointed as the Associate Principal Cello of the New York Philharmonic. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music, and won the 2019 Canada Council for the Arts’s Michael Measures Prize. Matthew served as principal cello of the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Christakos began studying music in Toronto at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists. There, he wonthe concerto competition and was a featured soloist with the Academy Chamber Orchestra.

Diane Kim, violin

Korean-Canadian violinist Diane Dahyeon Kim performed as part of the National Youth Orchestra in 2022 and 2023, where she received the Stephen Sitarski Leadership Award, and served as a Co-Concertmaster. Diane graduated from the Glenn Gould School’s Bachelor of Music program, and subsequently earned her master’s degree at the Gustav Mahler Privat Universität, studying under Sae Won Suh, and is currently working towards an Artist Diploma program at the Glenn Gould School studying under Min Jeong Koh and Marie Berard. She has performed with the Millenium
Symphony in Seoul, South Korea, the SFK Euro Symphony and the Kärnten Symphony Orchester in Klagenfurt, Austria, as well as with Toronto’s Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra.

Pari Bahrami, composer

Iranian Canadian composer Pari Bahrami grew up steeped in the traditions of her native Iran. With a foundation in piano performance, she is currently studying composition at the University of Toronto. Her work has been performed by diverse ensembles internationally.

Kalen Smith, composer

Award-winning Canadian composer and harpist Kalen Smith is working towards a Master’s Degree in Music Composition at McGill University. His compositions have been performed across Canada, and internationally in the USA and Ukraine. He likens his compositional style to an eclectic collage, characterized by a juxtaposition of extremes. As a performer, he was the winner of the 2024 USA International 8th Ruth Inglefield Composition Contest for Harp.

Performances

Here are the performance details.

Saturday August 9 at 5:00 p.m. at Glad Day Lit (32 Lisgar St, Toronto, ON)

Find tickets [HERE]

Sunday August 10 at 7:30 p.m. at Youthful Vengeance Cafe & Gallery (1110 Dundas St W, Toronto ON)

Find tickets [HERE].

After the concert, there will be a sight reading party — a spontaneous, informal jam session open to musicians and listeners alike.

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Anya Wassenberg

Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto City Editor at Ludwig Van. Previously, she was a freelance writer with a specialty in culture and travel for three decades, and a creative writing instructor for Ontariolearn.