Lawrence Cherney, Founding Artistic Director of Soundstreams, has announced the company’s 44th season, which opens in October 2026. The season will feature world premieres, along with North American Premieres by Steve Reich and James MacMillan, composers from the Pacific Rim, and more.
LV spoke to Lawrence Cherney about the upcoming season and his recent trip to Mexico as part of the February 2026 Team Canada Trade Mission (TCTM).
Team Canada Trade Mission
The Team Canada Trade Mission (TCTM) to Mexico during the week of February 15, 2026 was a Global Affairs Canada initiative. The goal was to bring representatives from Canadian creative industries to Mexico City and Guadalajara for a series of meetings, site visits, and market briefings.
The mission was led by the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs, Internal Trade and One Canadian Economy as part of the federal government’s priority of diversifying and strengthening trade relationships with reliable international partners.
Before the pandemic, Soundstreams was already involved in several cultural exchange initiatives in Latin America.
“Soundstreams, we have been involved in an exchange with Mexico some years ago, I think it was 2012,” Cherney says.
The Toronto arts organization has previously collaborated with artists from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina. In 2012, a Soundstreams production toured to Mexico, including performances at the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Latin America’s premiere culture and arts festival.
As Cherney explains, the project brought together four Canadian singers with a Mexican ensemble, the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble. “We created some new repertoire, there was some existing repertoire that was used.” The program was performed in Toronto as well as touring in Mexico, including a performance at the Festival Internacional Cervantino.
Naturally, the COVID pandemic put an end to international exchanges.
“When I was invited to participate in this trade mission, I thought, well, it’s a chance to pick up the pieces,” Cherney says.
During the 2026 trip, Cherney had the opportunity to meet with many institutions, including the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes y Literatura (INBAL), Festival Internacional Cervantino, Pro Ópera, Festival PAAX, Festival Cultural de Mayo, Teatro Degollado, and Teatro Galerías, and to visit the Auditorio Nacional and Centro Cultural Universitario.
“There turned out to be — from across Canada, we’re talking leaders in business as well as in arts and culture, there were more than 250 people.” That doesn’t include the Minister along with about 150 parliamentary secretaries and other government officials.
“It was the biggest trade mission that Canada has sent [to Mexico],” he notes. “It’s not always that arts and politics are aligned as in this situation.”
He points out the Prime Minister’s interest in diversifying markets for business as well as the arts. The trade mission was a first step in setting up the mechanisms and processes in order for those initiatives to succeed.
“Clearly the idea is to boost the activity, and the amount of activity,” he says.
Soundstreams In Latin America
“I went with a couple of productions in mind.”
He mentions The Garden of Vanished Pleasures. “There was interest in that,” Lawrence says. “It’s roughly speaking, the life story of the late, great British filmmaker Derek Jarman.” Also a poet and queer rights activist, Jarman died of AIDS complications in 1994.
“It’s very timely,” he says of the work. “We’re not trying to save the world, but it’s a production that speaks to our time and place.”
Another work of interest to Latin American institutions was Two Odysseys, which was recently awarded an Opera America grant. The work incorporates two one-act operas, Pimooteewin, The Journey, in a Cree language, and Gállábartnit, sung in Sámi, a Swedish Indigenous language.
“It did premiere just before COVID in Toronto.”
There is a tour planned to Scandinavia in 2028, taking advantage of the Opera America funding, along with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and other Canadian agencies.
“There was interest in bringing that production to Mexico,” he says.
“There’s nice interest in a production that we’re presenting this spring.” It’s titled I Want To Tell You Everything, An Anthology of Love Songs, and will take the stage in Toronto April 9.
“One of them is basically a concert piece, the tother two are staged works. There was healthy interest in all of them,” Lawrence reports.
Meetings and More
“We were very fortunate,” Cherney says. As he explained, the Mexican consulate had arranged meetings for performing arts delegates with the local cultural sector. A consultant facilitated the discussions.
Meetings were held in Mexico City and Guadalajara. He points out that the Guadalajara region is home to about 120 post secondary institutions, along with an educated population with an interest in the arts.
“It’s interesting,” he says of the opportunities. “Touring and cultural exchange — people don’t always realize that what we do has a lot of international interest,” he adds.
“Some of the things are turnkey productions, other projects are more location specific,” he explains. “We’ve done a lot of that work too. If we go forward with our Mexican possibilities, I suspect that there will be more than one way they will go forward.”
There are one shot deals, and as he puts it, those with longer legs, which involve a more sustained contact over time.
“They’re both great,” he says. “They both serve important purposes.”
Soundstreams 2026/27
Cherney comments on the concerts that will make up the next season. (Note: not in chronological order.)
Praise Song for Oceania (April 17, 2027)
Soundstreams New Voices Mentorship Program winner Jesse Plessis curates this program that features artists and works connected by the Pacific Ocean.
“Jesse Plessis is a wonderful composer and pianist of Metis heritage,” Cherney says. “We have an annual competition called the New Voices Mentorship program. Jesse actually had the winning proposal,” he explains.
The program includes music by Indigenous artists of the Pacific Rim, including composers from Samoa, Hawaii, and North America.
“I agreed with the [judging] panel,” Lawrence says. “There’s a lot of fantastic repertoire here.” It’s also music that is not well known in this area, as he points out. “We all thought, it’s a fantastic opportunity.”
CelloX8 (June 3, 2027)
“Arvo Pärt wrote a lot for eight cellos,” Cherney points out. The program includes Part’s Fratres and L’abbé Agathon, the latter inspired by Maladrerie Saint-Lazare, one the oldest leper hospitals in Europe. “Another piece that is famous for eight cellos is Villa-Lobos.” Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasilieras features a soprano along with the octet of cellos.
Other works include music by Kaija Saariaho, a commissioned work by a Canadian composer, and one by an Estonian composer. “This particular production is a co-pro with Luminato and he Estonian Museum Canada,” Cherney explains. He mentions the KESKUS International Estonian Centre in Toronto, which is anticipated to open in August 2026 at 8 Madison Avenue. It will incorporate a concert venue. “They’re involved because there will be a cellist from Estonia, and one or two Estonian composers,” he adds.
He points out that Estonia, with a population of less than 1.4 million, is renowned for its vocal music and traditions, and supports a national symphony and chamber orchestra.
“It ties in with the concert we just had with Arvo Pärt,” he says. “We have a close relationship with him.”
“In the case of Reich and MacMillan, it is a personal connection,” he continues.
Steve Reich at 90! (October 6, 2026)
“In the case of Reich, I’ve never met him,” he says. However, Toronto percussionist Russell Hartenberger has been working with Reich since the early 1970s. “He’s one of the greatest interpreters of his work,” he notes. “We’ve worked with him [too].”
Reich, as he points out, is now in his late 80s. “Steve is not traveling internationally anymore, but on the other hand, he used to come every five years,” Cherney says. “I’ve had a close association with him. It’s a lot more than that. Two of the original members of his original ensemble [Steve Reich and Musicians], Hartenberger and Bob Becker, they were the founding members of Nexus. They live in Toronto,” he says.
“Toronto is one of the great centres in the world of percussion. It’s more than just celebrating a famous person. There are real connections with Toronto,” he adds. “He gets great performances when he comes here.”
The concert includes the North American premiere of Reich’s In all Your Ways for 14 instruments. It’ s a co-commission by Soundstreams, Carnegie Hall, Edinburgh Festival, Philharmonie de Paris, and others.
“It’s sort of an accident,” he says. “We’re co-commissioners with some of the world’s greatest institutions. We’re so pleased,” he says, noting it will be Soundstreams’ largest commission yet.
Also on the program is Reich’s signature works Music for 18 Musicians, and Clapping Music. “We have a very special version of Clapping Music.” It will feature a screening where Reich will perform one of the parts on film, while Russell Hartenberger and others perform live on stage.
Angels Unawares: Music of James MacMillan (February 27, 2027)
“This at least James’ fourth visit to us. He’s not only the composer of the major work on that show, he’s the conductor,” Lawrence says. Scottish composer James MacMillan served as both composer and conductor with the BBC Philharmonic from 2000 to 2009.
“The major work on the program is 70 minutes long, it’s called Angels Awares.” Cherney notes that the work will premiere on June 2, 2026 in London. “We’re also getting the North American premiere of that work,” he adds.
“One of the areas that Soundstreams has been in […] for many of our 43 years, we’ve done a lot of work with the oratorio form. We’ve done a lot of work in that genre. MacMillan writes brilliantly,” he says. “It’s not an exception.”
MacMillan will be in Toronto for the concert.
“In the week that he’ll be here, he’ll be the mentor for the RBC Bridges program,” Cherney says. It will be MacMillan’s first time in that role.
“We’re doubly blessed.”
Also returning are the free concerts through the Soundstreams TD Encounters series, with more details to be announced.
- Find subscriptions for the Soundstreams 2026/27 season [HERE].
- Find more information on the 2026/27 season [HERE].
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