{"id":116230,"date":"2025-07-24T13:43:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T17:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116230"},"modified":"2025-07-24T14:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T18:00:02","slug":"preview-stratford-summer-music-mark-fewer-friends-perform-soul-strings-july-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/07\/24\/preview-stratford-summer-music-mark-fewer-friends-perform-soul-strings-july-27\/","title":{"rendered":"PREVIEW | Stratford Summer Music: Mark Fewer & Friends Perform The Soul Of Strings July 27"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stratford
Stratford Summer Music Artistic Director \u2014 and JUNO-nominated artist \u2014 Mark Fewer (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stratford Summer Music Artistic Director \u2014 and JUNO-nominated artist \u2014 Mark Fewer and an all-star cast of musicians will perform at the festival in a program titled The Soul of Strings on July 27. They\u2019ll be performing a program of Beethoven, Osvaldo Golijov, and Tchaikovsky.<\/p>\n

Tom Allen plays host, with Festival Artistic Director and violinist Mark Fewer, violinists Keith Hamm, B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Lauzi\u00e8re and Aysel Taghi-Zada, and cellists Amahl Arulanandam and Leana Rutt.<\/p>\n

Personnel<\/h3>\n

Tom Allen | host<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tom Allen has a unique career as a storyteller and concert host, author, broadcaster, and musician. He\u2019s perhaps best known for his work with CBC Music, where he\u2019s been the host of Music and Company, Shift, Fresh Air (on Radio One), and other shows over a four decade career. A graduate of Boston University and Yale, Tom is also a talented trombonist.<\/p>\n

Mark Fewer | violin<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Artistic Director of Stratford Summer Music has a busy career as soloist, conductor, arranger, and chamber musician, and his repertoire extends from Early Music to contemporary and jazz. He\u2019s performed on stages from Carnegie Hall to Wigmore Hall, across Canada, Australia, and in Europe. He is also the founding Artistic Director of the SweetWater Music Festival, and a dedicated teacher.<\/p>\n

Keith Hamm | violin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keith Hamm studied violin at the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory, and the Mount Royal Conservatory. While he was still a student, he was named Principal Violist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and performed with the COC Orchestra for eight seasons. He now holds the same position with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Lauzi\u00e8re | violin<\/strong><\/p>\n

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Lauzi\u00e8re is a multiple first prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, and is a laureate of the Stulberg International String Competition. She has performed as a soloist with the Elora Festival, the National Academy Orchestra of Canada and the Orchestre Symphonique de Qu\u00e9bec, among many others. B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte was the concertmaster and frequent soloist of the former Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. She is a dedicated chamber musician, and has collaborated with the Penderecki String Quartet, Emanuel Ax, and pianist Angela Park, among others.<\/p>\n

Aysel Taghi-Zada | violin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aysel is a graduate of the Artist Diploma Program at the Glenn Gould School, and later studied at McGill University with Jonathan Crow. Her music practice is dedicated to both traditional and contemporary repertoire, and she founded Ensemble Paramirabo while still a student. She is a founding member of the Vaso String Quartet, and has performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, Windsor Symphony, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Concert Orchestra, among other ensembles.<\/p>\n

Amahl Arulanandam | cello<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cellist Amahl Arulanandam is one of Toronto\u2019s most sought after artists, known for performances that range from Baroque to heavy metal. He\u2019s performed in a wide variety of venues as a soloist and chamber musician, and has recorded with Sarah Slean, Laila Biali, Adi Braun, and many others. He\u2019s collaborated with composers such as Ana Sokolovic, Luna Pearl Woolf, and Bekah Simms. He regularly performs as a member of the Venuti String Quartet and VC2 Cello Duo, and often with ensembles such as Soundstreams, New Music Concerts, Tapestry Opera, FAWN Chamber Creative, and Thin Edge New Music Collective.<\/p>\n

Leana Rutt | cello<\/strong><\/p>\n

Toronto-based cellist Leana Rutt is the principal cellist of The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, and associate principal cellist of the Canadian Opera Company orchestra. She\u2019s a graduate of McGill University and The Juilliard School, and has performed across Canada as well as in Europe. She performs on a Spanish cello attributed to Joannes Guillami of Barcelona, Spain and bearing a label dated ca. 1769, with a ca. 1830 Shaw Adam cello bow on loan from the Musical Instrument Bank.<\/p>\n

\"All-Star
All-Star Strings: Top row- violinist Keith Hamm; broadcaster\/host Tom Allen; cellist Leana Rutt; Middle left – Amahl Arulanandam, cello; centre – B\u00e9n\u00e9dicte Lauzi\u00e8re, violin; bottom middle – Mark Fewer, violin; right bottom – Aysel Taghi-Zada, violin (Photos courtesy of the artists)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stratford Summer Music<\/h3>\n

The Festival continues until August 10. Upcoming performances include:<\/p>\n