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Described as “outstanding – no, make that astonishing!” (Ottawa Citizen) and as having a “sense of unbreakable continuity and energy” (Toronto Star), Canada’s TorQ Percussion Quartet continues to bring new vitality to percussion repertoire and performance. Richard Burrows, Adam Campbell, Jamie Drake and Daniel Morphy have given recital tours across Canada and the US and performed at Ottawa Chamberfest, Open Ears Festival of Music and Sound, Indian River Festival, Stratford Summer Music, the Music Garden Toronto, the Canadian Opera Company concert series, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and many others. They have also performed as a featured soloist with the Toronto Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal (for which they were recently awarded the Prix Opus from the Quebec Music Council), Stuttgart Chamber Choir, University of Toronto Wind Ensemble, Ontario Honour Band and University of Saskatchewan Wind Ensemble (WASBE 2015), amongst others.

TorQ is committed to developing and performing Canadian music: they have premiered over 80 pieces (including three concertos) by composers such as Nicole Lizée, Christos Hatzis, Michael Oesterle and Dinuk Wijeratne, and each ensemble member also contributes compositions and arrangements. They have released four albums on their own label Bedoint Records (the most recent of which, Modulations featured TorQ commissions by Daniel Morphy, Christos Hatzis and and Peter Hatch) and their recording (with soloist Ben Reimer) of Lizée’s Katana of Choice was nominated for a 2019 Juno for “Classical Composition of the Year.”

Strong advocates for musical education, TorQ has played school concerts for more than 130,000 students and given masterclasses and workshops at universities across North America. The TorQ Percussion Seminar, run collectively by all four TorQ members and now in its eighth year, has collaborated with Acadia University and Stratford Summer Music and this year will be returning to work with the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Nova Scotia.

TorQ endorses Yamaha Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Dream Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion and Remo Percussion.

“…confidence, energy, and subtlety shone darkly in a powerful and theatrical performance of a work that stands outside of trends or time. They may be young men, but they have old souls.”

www.MusicalToronto.org

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