{"id":114364,"date":"2025-05-15T16:44:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T20:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=114364"},"modified":"2025-06-13T16:57:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T20:57:53","slug":"interview-artistic-director-lawrence-cherney-talks-soundstreams-43rd-season-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/05\/15\/interview-artistic-director-lawrence-cherney-talks-soundstreams-43rd-season-2025-26\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney Talks About Soundstreams 43rd Season In 2025\/26"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R
L-R (clockwise): Ukrainian-Canadian composer, vocalist and multi-media artist Anna Pidgorna; The Love Songs singers; Bridges Emerging Composers Program in performance (Photos courtesy of Soundstreams)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soundstreams 2025\/26 season features the usual eclectic mix of innovative and compelling music that Toronto audiences have come to expect of the organization for more than four decades.<\/p>\n

The performer lineup includes ensembles and artists like Quatuor Bozzini, Steven Dann, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and Carla Huhtanen, along with some of the city\u2019s most in-demand musicians and singers in Ensemble Soundstreams and Soundstreams Choir 21.<\/p>\n

The list of composers includes Canadian and international luminaries: Benjamin Britten, Philip Glass, Arvo P\u00e4rt, R. Murray Schafer, and Claude Vivier, along with Next Generation Composers Andrew Balfour, Cassandra Miller, Zosha Di Castri, Nicole Liz\u00e9e, Anna Pidgorna, Sarah Kirkland Snider, and Ana Sokolovi\u0107.<\/p>\n

LvT spoke to Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney<\/strong>, who founded Soundstreams back in 1982, about this year\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soundstreams 2025\/26 at a Glance<\/h2>\n

Mass For The Endangered (November 22, 2025)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Featuring David Fallis, Conductor, Soundstreams Choir 21, and Ensemble Soundstreams<\/p>\n

Sarah Kirkland Snider\u2019s Mass for the Endangered has been much lauded both for its music and its compelling examination of humanity\u2019s impact on the natural world.<\/p>\n

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir: Arvo P\u00e4rt At 90 (February 14, 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n

T\u00f5nu Kaljuste, Artistic Director<\/p>\n

The world-renowned Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, with founder and conductor T\u00f5nu Kaljuste, make a return to Toronto to celebrate Arvo P\u00e4rt\u2019s 90th birthday. Along with P\u00e4rt\u2019s most celebrated works, the concert includes music by Philip Glass, Luciano Berio, and others, and the world premiere of a new Soundstreams commission by Estonian-Canadian composer Riho Esko Maimets.<\/p>\n

With Strings Attached: Quatuor Bozzini In Three Premieres (March 21, 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Featuring Quatuor Bozzini: Clemens Merkel, violin; Alissa Cheung, violin; St\u00e9phanie Bozzini, viola; and Isabelle Bozzini, cello<\/p>\n

The program features three world premieres co-commissioned with New York\u2019s Time:Spans Festival and Montreal\u2019s Le Vivier by Canadian composers Taylor Brook, Zosha Di Castri, and Cassandra
\nMiller. Also on the program: the world premieres of six short new works by participants in the Soundstreams Bridges Emerging Composers Program, developed under the mentorship of Zosha Di Castri and Cassandra Miller.<\/p>\n

Love Songs (April 9. 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n

With David Fallis, Music Director; Carla Huhtanen, soprano; Gregory Oh, piano; and Noam Bierstone, percussion<\/p>\n

Claude Vivier\u2019s Love Songs and Shiraz forms the heart of this program for seven singers, piano and percussion that explores love, identity, connection, and censorship.<\/p>\n

In Terra Pax (May 9, 2026)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Featuring Anna Pidgorna, vocals; Steven Dann, viola; Anna Sagalova, piano; and Ensemble Soundstreams<\/p>\n

In Terra Pax (On Earth, Peace) is a program curated by Anna Pidgorna \u2014 winner of the New Voices Curator Mentorship Program \u2014 that reflects on war and its destruction, and the resilience to go on. Pidgorna performs as composer and vocalist, with displaced Ukrainian pianist Anna Sagalova (now based in Vancouver), and violist Steven Dann.<\/p>\n

Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney: The Interview<\/h2>\n

Two larger themes resonate throughout the 43rd season: speaking to social issues, and examining human and spiritual relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will always be overarching themes in a given season,\u201d Cherney says. \u201cNext year, there\u2019s quite a lot that\u2019s connected to social justice.\u201d Notably, that includes the season\u2019s opening concert featuring Sarah Kirkland Snider\u2019s Mass for the Endangered. \u201cIt\u2019s a concert that\u2019s reflecting on what we\u2019re doing to our environment.\u201d It\u2019s not necessarily an apocalyptic view. \u201cWe don\u2019t always have an opportunity in music to reflect on bigger things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much later in the season comes In Terra Pax. \u201cIt is about war and peace, and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the themes revolve around the current situation in Ukraine, it\u2019s a much more widespread theme. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people in the world who are dying who shouldn\u2019t be dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about preaching, though, it\u2019s more about reflection. \u201cWe\u2019re not setting ourselves up to teach anybody anything,\u201d he says. The news is already full of headlines about conflict from so many places in the world. \u201cWe\u2019re not teaching people things, but we hope we can cast light on something on things that have become a bit obscured,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the arts can do, is we can help audiences and ourselves to reflect on things. Art for art\u2019s sake is wonderful but this season has connections to other issues,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other theme isn\u2019t literally love, but it\u2019s about human relationships, spiritual relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marking a major milestone is incorporated into that mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a very special relationship with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir,\u201d Cherney says. It will be the 8th time they\u2019ve appeared on a Soundstreams program. Their most recent Toronto concert, in 2024, was sold out.<\/p>\n

Along with his milestone birthday celebration, Arvo P\u00e4rt\u2019s work has a spiritual dimension. \u201cNo matter your belief system, somehow Arvo P\u00e4rt touches us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Love Songs repertoire is less about spirit, and more about humanity. \u201cThis one is more down to earth, about relationships among us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claude Vivier\u2019s Love Songs and Shiraz is the heart of the program. \u201cIt\u2019s humorous, but it\u2019s also a profound look at what love means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other pieces include works by Ana Sokolovic and Nicole Liz\u00e9e. \u201cHer piece on the program is quite a contrast,\u201d he says of the latter. \u201cIt\u2019s called the filthy 15.\u201d It refers to a list of songs that had been suggested for banning in the United States, and includes quotes from Frank Zappa opining on censorship, among other things.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, it\u2019s, like so much of Nicole\u2019s work, something of a parody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Canadian
Canadian composer Claude Vivier in 1980 (From the Globe and Mail archives \/ CC0 1.0 Universal<\/a> \/ Cropped)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Canadian Composers<\/h3>\n

The work of Canadian composers is peppered throughout the year\u2019s program of five concerts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re on the earth to do, is to foster Canadian music,\u201d says Cherney.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only about including Canadian works, it\u2019s about putting them into an international context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we do the best for Canadian creators when we put them on a world stage,\u201d he says. \u201cWe put them together with the world\u2019s best,\u201d he adds. \u201cWe\u2019ll program a very famous international composer, but often we\u2019ll commission a new work that will be performed on that same program.\u201d<\/p>\n

He points out that the concert with Estonian Philharmonic Choir includes a newly commissioned work by Estonian-Canadian composer Riho Esko Maimets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great opportunity, but it\u2019s also a great challenge,\u201d Cherney says. \u201cUnderneath it all, we\u2019re saying we have talent in this country that is equal to talent that\u2019s out there in the world. The Soundstreams stage is in a sense reflecting the world,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

New Music<\/h3>\n

Introducing audiences to new music of any genre is a challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also have an opportunity to give context for new music,\u201d Lawrence explains \u201cThere\u2019s wonderful new music being written everywhere.\u201d Many new composers, he points out, are known in their area, but not outside, and not overseas.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur platform is an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The art of programming lies in offering themes that help audiences make sense of the music and its message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to give a context.\u201d<\/p>\n

He mentions Benjamin Britten\u2019s iconic Lachrymae, part of the program for In Terra Pax. \u201cThe theme is bang on for the context,\u201d he says. The piece for viola and string orchestra makes use of the solo instrument\u2019s tonal range using a variety of techniques, with colours that lean towards Eastern European music. It makes the perfect accompanying piece to the concert\u2019s main work, a commission by Pidgorna for voice, piano and string orchestra that is influenced by the Ukrainian tradition of female lamentation singing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity for us to help people to find a way in,\u201d he says. Sometimes, a piece doesn\u2019t connect simply because it\u2019s not the right environment for it. \u201cIt\u2019s always easy to blame audiences,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as concert producers have a great responsibility to think hard about creating an experience for the audience to appreciate every work on a program.\u201d Connecting works via themes and ideas adds to the experience from an audience perspective. \u201cA wonderful performance will have so many levels of meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Properly done, the audience should simply enjoy a seamless, easy kind of flow of sounds and ideas. Later, they might wonder about how it was all put together.<\/p>\n

\"Quatuor
Quatuor Bozzini (Photo courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Quatuor Bozzini: Canadians in the Spotlight<\/h3>\n

The concert featuring Quatuor Bozzini includes works co-commissioned by three artists Cherney calls \u201cthree stars of Canadian music\u201d \u2014 London-based Cassandra Miller, Zosha Di Castri (a full professor at Columbia as well as a performer), and Victoria-based Taylor Brook.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one of them sounds like the other. There\u2019s real contrast in aesthetic and style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller and Brook have previous written music for the Bozzinis. \u201cThe quartet is quite adventurous,\u201d Cherney says. \u201cThis particular concert is interesting for two reasons: the music is very worthwhile. We think these are three of the real rising stars of Canadian composers,\u201d he says. \u201cThis particular concert includes those three works and also six short works by the RBC Bridges Emerging Composer program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassandra and Zosha will be mentoring the six emerging composers, three Canadian and three international, during the week leading up to the concert.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey show up with short, five minute works,\u201d he says of the process. During the week, the six younger composers receive mentoring, get help with possible revisions, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite interesting. It\u2019s also really important to Soundstreams.\u201d<\/p>\n