Invocations are calls for help, but they can also be appeals for inspiration and spiritual guidance. Violin virtuoso Lara St. John, soulful singer Aviva Chernick and other guests, join the celebrated Gryphon Trio in a rich musical offering that will resonate with each of us during those vulnerable moments when we, too, seek to invoke something beyond ourselves. One such invocation is the “nign”, a wordless and originally improvised prayer stemming from Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century, and is the inspiration for several works in the program: Avner Dorman’s Nigunim, recipient of The Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music; a world premiere by James Rolfe, Metzarim; and Aaron Copland’s classic Vitebsk. The program opens with Vivian Fung’s impassioned Prayer, inspired by Hildegard von Bingen, paired with Amy Beach’s spiritual plea Invocation. It closes with Robert Schumann’s epic and soul-searching Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op. 44.

Invocations

St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts

Letters to God is a spiritual exploration of the musical threads connecting Canadian and Japanese culture. It features Japan’s legendary Fujii Percussion (mother Mutsuko Fujii, and daughters Haruka Fujii and Rika Fujii), Soundstreams Choir 21, The Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Gregory Oh (piano), and Ryan Scott (percussion). Akira Miyoshi’s Letters to God brings to life a collection of letters written by children, notable for their refreshing directness, unexpected humour, and startling clarity of thought; R. Murray Schafer’s evocative Seventeen Haiku is a theatrical composition that sets Japanese poems to music that evokes the singing of birds, crickets, streams, the tolling of a bell, or fireworks at a festival. The program features other evocative works: Seasons by Toru Takemitsu, river woman by Melody McKiver, and Pulau Dewata by Claude Vivier.

Letters To God

Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre

Grandma’s Shawl, is a musical journey inspired by the tale of Kokum Shawls and tells the story of the lasting bond between Ukrainian and Indigenous women.

Grandma’s Shawl

Redwood Theatre

With a focus on female vocal traditions spanning North America and Europe, the evening will highlight the relationship of women within musical traditions and the role they hold in preserving connections within and across their communities.

Performances will include works that showcase Algonquin, Swedish, and Ukrainian folk traditions, performed by Kristine Dandavino (mezzo), Elena Howard-Scott (soprano), Ella Farlinger (soprano), Xin Wang (soprano), and Ryan Scott (percussion).

TD Encounters – Women’s Voices as Cultural Keepers

Hugh's Room

Steve Reich and Terry Riley have each had a profound influence on the way we listen to music. The term “minimalism” is often used to characterize their music, yet the music itself is anything but minimal; incorporating much nuance and subtlety that is maximal in imagination and innovation.

6 Pianos 12 Hands (Keyed Up! #3)

Jane Mallett Theatre

J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations is one of the most famous works in the Western canon. Our Variations on the Goldberg Variations reflects on Bach’s singular achievement through a contemporary lens. In the first half of the program, four living Canadian composers each write 7-8 variations for a total of 30 new variations, each preceded by a rendition of Bach’s original. The composers represent not only a diversity of aesthetics, but the newly-composed variations will alternate continuously between piano, harpsichord, organ and electronic keyboard. J.S. would have loved it!

Variations on Goldberg Variations (Keyed Up! #1)

The first part of the program will feature 6 short new works for keyboard by Emerging Composers in our Bridges program with mentorship by renowned composers Paul Grabowsky & André Ristic. The second part of the program will feature 4 compositions by 4 established composers.

Notations: RBC Bridges Composer Showcase (Keyed Up #2)

In this hour-long session we look at connections in improvisation between early music and jazz. Lucas Harris, a specialist in Baroque and renaissance lutes and guitars, shows us how vital improvisation and variation was to the realization of musical scores from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Paul Grabowsky, master pianist, composer and arranger, brings the perspective of a modern jazz musician, and together they tease out fascinating connections across centuries of music, and the place that improvising still holds for the contemporary player and composer. This workshop will be facilitated by David Fallis, known especially for his expertise in Baroque and Classical periods, and contemporary music.

Explorations on Improvisation

Canadian Music Centre

With its endless range of colours, textures, timbres, and dynamics, organ is the creative multi-tool of a composer’s dreams. More versatile still, the virtual organ decouples the instrument from its physical construction and placement, allowing for even greater experimentation. Yet, much like a wild horse in the forest, such a magical beast can be intimidating to approach if we don’t know yet how it behaves! In this practical, hands-on workshop, you will gain the knowledge and skills needed to make this magnificent “King of Instruments” your greatest friend in expressing the full spectrum of your creative imagination. This workshop will be facilitated by Kevin Komisaruk, Professor of Organ Performance, Teaching Stream at the University of Toronto.

Meet the Organ: Your Fantastical, Magical, Polychromic Kaleidoscope of Sound

Recovered Voices: piano works of unsung masters, offers an unparalleled opportunity to discover memorable works by some of North America’s finest composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, featuring solo piano works from Margaret Bonds, Ian Cusson, Robert Nathaniel Dett, and Florence Price. 

TD Encounters – Recovered Voices: piano works of unsung masters

Temerty Theatre

Led by its founder Tõnu Kaljuste, The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir (EPCC) is in the top rank of the world’s greatest vocal ensembles, famous as the foremost interpreters of music by their beloved countryman Arvo Pärt. Their program includes Pärt favourites like Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis, Dopo la Vittoria and Kanon Pokajanen, as well as works by another great spiritualist of centuries past, Palestrina, including three selections of his Offertorium.

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

St. Paul’s Basilica

The Soundstreams TD Encounters series aims to bring people together through music and discussion to explore themes that resonate in their communities. New Canadian music stimulates and provokes ‘cultural conversations’, music with underlying themes that resonate with our time and place.

Encounters: Arvo Pärt: Words & Music

Tartu College Event Space

For over 50 years, the Vancouver Chamber Choir has dazzled global audiences with top-tier live performances and recordings, receiving acclaim for tours and workshops across Europe, Asia, and North America. The Choir makes a rare Toronto appearance, for the first time with their new music director Kari Turunen. The program features music by visiting composer Tarik O’Regan, including his The Spring (from “The Colloquy of the Ancients”), which follows two aged Irish warrior-heroes, inexplicably still alive as they travel across Ireland in search of faith.

Vancouver Chamber Choir

Christ Church Deer Park

All songs are inherently derived from the love song. This program examines the tragic nature of song and understands all love songs as songs of loss. The virtuoso chamber orchestra Ensemble Soundstreams is joined by the brilliant soprano Danika Lorèn. It features powerful juxtapositions: purely instrumental pieces by Fanny Mendelssohn, Oliver Knussen and Matthew Ricketts; works for voice and ensemble by Tansy Davies and Shawn Jaeger; rich Romantic-era consonance and striking contemporary dissonance; and the intimacy of the love song in a work by Ana Sokolović. These seemingly opposing concepts are the musical personification of two lovers, challenging audience perceptions of contemporary repertoire by featuring works that are deeply romantic and powerfully expressive.

with you and without you

Garden of Vanished Pleasures is consummate opera, an emotional journey inspired by the life and work of English filmmaker and queer rights activist Derek Jarman, making its world premiere in the theatre. Conceived and devised by U.K./ Canadian director Tim Albery, Garden of Vanished Pleasures blends the works of two brilliant composers: Cecilia Livingston and Donna McKevitt. Livingston writes deeply felt songs of love and loss, and they chime perfectly with McKevitt’s heart-aching songs that use texts drawn from Jarman’s own journals. The texts cover a wide range of expressions, from longing and loss to anger over society’s inequities — universal themes which continue to resonate for our time. A finalist for Opera America’s 2022 Award for Excellence in Digital Opera, the illustrious cast includes stars from the world of opera: sopranos Mireille Asselin and Danika Lorèn, and counter-tenor Daniel Cabena.

Soundstreams

Feb 27, 2025

Vancouver Chamber Choir

Mar 22, 2025

with you and without you

25 - 27 Apr, 2025

Garden of Vanished Pleasures

Dec 5, 2024

Invocations

Oct 24, 2024

Letters To God

Soundstreams