Concreamus Chamber Choir, part of Modern Sound Collective, a by youth and for youth choral organization, will present a concert titled Power Dynamics on May 9. The ambitious program of music tackles issues revolving around body, voice, liberation, and confronting the systems that control us.
Concreamus Chamber Choir is a 40-voice choir dedicated to new music and innovation in the field of choral arts. The choir focuses on performing new works by young composers, and is mad up of singers, students, composers, and educators throughout the GTA. In Latin, concreamus means “we create together”. The choir encourages dialogue between composers and singers, with both groups offering insight and inspiration.
Concreamus has performed more than 40 choral works by early career artists, and has collaborated and appeared in concert with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Choir of Toronto, FILMHarmonic Orchestra, Exultate Chamber Singers, at SING! Festival Toronto, and at PODIUM Choral Festival.
The two major works on the program are Ted Hearne’s Sound From the Bench in its Canadian premiere, and the world premiere of Francesca Hauser’s newly commissioned work Parturition for choir, piano and electronics.
Kai Leung, Artistic Director of Modern Sound Collective, will conduct.
Concreamus Chamber Choir performs Dawn (2019) by Emily Green (b. 2001) at their January 31, 2020 concert:
Composers
Francesca Hauser is the winner of the 2025 William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award at the University of Toronto, where she earned both a Bachelors and Masters degrees. She’s a native of Toronto, and both her parents were also UofT graduates. Francesca is also a founding member of Concreamus.
Her piece Parturition sets to music Mina Loy’s abstract text, which depict the experience of childbirth and creation. Characterized by both pain and transformation, the work draws parallels to the artist’s journey.
The work pairs Loy’s work with texts by Lola Ridge, and Psalm 22, and focuses on the experiences of women as well as the act of creation as both mother and artist. In a social media post, she writes:
“How unromantic and unavoidable process is; how freeing it is to accept creation as something you nurture and cannot control; the discomfort in critically challenging your identity in any creative pursuit.”
American composer, singer, bandleader and recording artist Ted Hearne is a native of Chicago. His multi-dimensional works express the overlay of differing viewpoints, and often incorporate unusual interactions between text and music. His work has been praised for its topical and sonically adventurous nature.
His Sound From the Bench is a cantata for choir, electric guitars, and drums, and sets to music texts from oral arguments heard in the US Supreme Court that focus on issues of corporate personhood. The work was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in music. He was nominated for two GRAMMY Awards for his work Place, written with poet Saul Williams and director Patricia McGregor, and was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize.
His music has been commissioned by ensembles and organizations such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Barbican centre, and Beth Morrison Projects, among many others.
The Concert
Power Dynamics takes place on May 9 at Eglington St. George United Church (35 Lytton Blvd).
- Find concert details and tickets [HERE].
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- PREVIEW | Concreamus Chamber Choir Presents Power Dynamics — Music That Explores The Politics Of Body, Voice & Liberation - May 5, 2026
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