Soundstreams first brought the music of Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) to audiences in 1993. That earlier concert of music by the world famous Estonian composer included the Canadian premiere of his Berlin Mass, in a rare setting for solo voices and organ. Since then, Soundstreams audiences have heard a great variety of Pärt’s minimalistic music… Read More
Kyle Brenders: I have a tendency to think of musicals as Fosse and Broadway but I have a feeling this isn’t what Acting Up Stage produces. Could you tell us a little bit about your company and how it fosters “new” musical theatre? Mitchell Marcus: While large-scale commercial musicals are certainly a key part of… Read More
Nic Gotham, a wonderfully inventive composer and performer, died last Thursday, July 25, 2013. Nic had an insatiable curiosity about all things musical and otherwise – his enthusiasm was infectious – but above all, he was kind, gentle and thoughtful in all his relationships. I visited Nic at the hospice a couple of weeks ago, and… Read More
Deep Listening is a practice that is intended to heighten and expand consciousness of sound in as many dimensions of awareness and attentional dynamics as humanly possible. Pauline Oliveros from Deep Listening: A Composers’ Sound Practice Pauline Oliveros’ career spans 50 years of boundary-dissolving music making. In the '50s she was part of a circle… Read More
Erik Satie has become a darling of the avant-garde. Brought back from obscurity by John Cage, the 20th century composer enfant terrible, Satie has been an important influence on American experimental and popular music. His music has become well known since the mid-sixties due to its connection to ambient and meditative music. For example, his… Read More
My role on the recent Soundstreams tour to Taiwan and China gave me a different perspective than most of the others. My official role was production manager; in some cases I also functioned as stage manager, lighting designer, percussionist assistant, and harp technician. I expected to experience a certain amount of culture shock on this… Read More
Our Music for China concert on May 14 features performances by Taiwan’s acclaimed Chai Found Music Workshop. Here are some fun facts about the types of instruments that they play, along with a video so that you can know what to listen for at the concert. 1. Ruan The ruan is a Chinese plucked string… Read More
On April 26, an ensemble of six acclaimed Canadian pianists will perform Six Pianos, a composition by revered American composer Steve Reich, as part of Soundstreams’ 30th Anniversary season. The Piano Ecstasy concert, taking place at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, features six grand pianos being played simultaneously. There are few places where such a sight could… Read More
This May, Soundstreams will make Canadian music history with the first significant tour of Canadian contemporary music to Taiwan and China. The ensemble, which features Canadian musicians alongside Chinese-born colleagues, will stop in Taipei, Taiwan before continuing on to the prestigious Beijing Modern Music Festival. The event marks the first time Soundstreams has toured… Read More
James Parker is one of Canada’s most accomplished pianists. As a member of the acclaimed Gryphon Trio, he has become known as a premier performer of contemporary music. On April 26, he will be performing in Soundstreams’ Piano Ecstasy concert alongside eight other pianists. This week, Jamie took some time out of his busy schedule… Read More
We have been enchanted in the office by Haruka Fujii’s copies of the Japanese Children’s Letters to God books. On March 5 at our Fujii Percussion and Voices concert, Rika Fujii will perform Miyoshi’s piece inspired by these books with the Toronto Children’s Chorus, Chorale. Here is a little about the books and a peek… Read More
Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of participating in Soundstreams’ 30th Anniversary gala, which was held on the glamorous 68th floor of First Canadian Place at King & Bay St. Towering in the heart of the financial district, the tallest skyscraper in Canada is typically known for housing the head offices for the Bank of… Read More
We have had a lot of great feedback about the concert last Sunday, and a lot of curiosity about the poetry and music presented, so we wanted to share some info here for you to investigate if you are interested. What was your favourite poem or piece from the concert? Let us know in the… Read More
It’s a new year and Soundstreams is happy to welcome Ben Dietschi to the team as the new Metcalf Foundation Intern. Ben has worked with Soundstreams in a volunteer capacity since this past October and now, thanks to the support of the Metcalf Foundation, Ben’s role has change to a full time position that will… Read More
Five and a Half Bridges, James Rolfe’s new composition, will premiere at The Three Faces of Jerusalem concert on Sunday January 27 at Koerner Hall. James worked with poet André Alexis who wrote the text for this piece using the concept of a bridge “as a metaphor for connection.” Five bridges from around the world… Read More
In the last few decades, the use of percussions has exploded onto the contemporary music scene, redefining the very definition of percussion instruments, as well as percussion composition and performance. To better understand the changing sound-world of percussion instruments in contemporary music, Haruka Fujii, a Japanese multi-percussionist and one of the most prominent solo percussionists… Read More
James Rolfe’s long history with Soundstreams has included performances of 8 new works. This January, he premieres his latest as part of The Three Faces of Jerusalem concert. He recently shared his inspiration for this work, as well as his advice for turning 30, with Soundstreams. Your new piece is called Five and a Half… Read More
This was my third time during University Voices with the Calixa Lavallee Singers from the University of Ottawa. One thing I can confidently say about this project is that it has been a different experience every year I have participated since 2008. The days often included 6 hour rehearsals followed by choristers going shopping or… Read More
Last week, for five days, 120 choristers came together for 21 hours of rehearsal to create University Voices. Under the direction of Kaspars Putnins, this group sang alongside the Latvian Radio Choir, one of the premiere choral ensembles in the world. The experience was thrilling: being part of Ana Sokolovic’s ASAP 4 SATB (a world… Read More
We commissioned Ana Sokolovic to write a new work for our upcoming Latvian Radio Choir concert. Ana created ASAP 4 SATB, a new choral work with text based on the language of text messaging. The Soundstreams staff is quite tech savvy but even we needed to look up the meaning of some of these acronyms…. Read More