{"id":112427,"date":"2025-03-05T12:51:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-05T17:51:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=112427"},"modified":"2025-03-05T13:54:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-05T18:54:52","slug":"preview-soprano-composer-danika-loren-joins-soundstreams-for-with-you-and-without-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/03\/05\/preview-soprano-composer-danika-loren-joins-soundstreams-for-with-you-and-without-you\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Soprano & Composer Danika Lor\u00e8n Joins Soundstreams For with you and without you"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Soprano
Soprano and composer Danika Lor\u00e8n (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Vocalist and composer Danika Lor\u00e8n 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.<\/p>\n

with you and without you takes place March 22 at the Jane Mallett Theatre.<\/p>\n

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).<\/p>\n

Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney<\/strong> comments in a statement, \u201cCompelling 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\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Soprano
Soprano and composer Danika Lor\u00e8n (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Danika Lor\u00e8n: Soprano, & Composer<\/h3>\n

Lor\u00e8n lives in Parkdale in the city\u2019s West End. Their work as a composer focuses on works for opera and art song, and settings for texts by LGBTQIA+ poets.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Danika is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company\u2019s Ensemble Studio. Performance credits include both orchestral and opera engagements across Canada, and repertoire from Handel and Haydn to Ana Sokolovic.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Music<\/h3>\n

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. \u201cThe rule is love\u201d in its North American premiere, and Shawn Jaeger\u2019s \u201cLetters Made with Gold\u201d in its Canadian premiere. Ricketts\u2019 piece is a piano solo in its world premiere, a musical work inspired by the writings of poet and essayist Walt Whitman.<\/p>\n

Lor\u00e8n will also sing selections from their own song cycle \u201cTell Everyone\u201d for piano and soprano, along with a love song by Ana Sokolovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresence and absence \u2014 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 \u2014 certainly some of the best of the last 50 years \u2014 performed by some of Canada\u2019s best. Our soloist, Danika Lor\u00e8n, will be absolutely electric,\u201d says Brad Cherwin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n