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TD ENCOUNTERS – Letters to God: P.S. I (don’t) believe in you

P.S I (don’t) believe in you, is a new Soundstreams commission written by composer Chris Pruden in response to your answers to the question: 

If you had a direct line to god, mother nature, your ancestors, the universe, – your something bigger – what would you say?

Inspired by a collection of anonymously submitted letters solicited by Soundstreams, and received from the community over the summer, P.S. I (don’t) believe in you explores the deeply personal ways we choose to believe—or not believe—in something bigger than ourselves. A second premiere work will follow, improvised live – on site – and inspired by anonymously shared letters shared and collected by the audience upon their arrival. Performances will be followed by a discussion and audience Q&A with composer Chris Pruden and performers Ky Brooks and Tara Kannangara.

Soundstreams’ TD Encounters is a free event series hosted in venues across the city. Always offering something different, they are equal parts performance, artist discussion, and Q&A, and give audiences the opportunity to engage with artists and their work in an intimate and relaxed setting.  Seats are free but space is limited. Audiences are asked to reserve their tickets here.

Doors will open at 6:45PM. We invite you to join us to mingle. A cash bar will be open.

Letters to God: P.S. I (don’t) believe in you is a companion event to Soundstreams’ mainstage concert Letters to God which further explores human connection beyond ourselves, including children’s letters to God, haiku’s to our natural world, and reflections on our relationship with the ebbs and flows of the world around us.

ARTIST BIOS

Chris Pruden is a pianist, keyboardist, composer, and educator based in Toronto ON. His own projects include Little Jim, and the solo piano album SUNS on Elastic Recordings.Some groups he’s a part of include Tara Kannangara, Zinnia, Sammy Jackson, Adversarial Networks, Future Machines, Ronley Teper’s Lipliners, Language Arts, Parade, Marito Marques, Moonbliss, Kira May, Blue Season, Mark Godfrey Quintet, Mack Longpre Group, BaruBaru, Northern Danger, Nick Teehan.

JUNO-nominated artist, Tara Kannangara is a second-generation, Sri Lankan-Canadian force of nature, giving you music that is deeply personal, genre-bending and culture blending. All this, encompassed by wild trumpet melodies, searing guitar lines, lush synths, and piercing lyricism will make you turn your head and listen. Tara has been featured on CBC’s The Signal, The Sunday Edition and NPR Tiny Desk with Lido Pimienta. She also performed on Lido’s Grammy nominated record, “Miss Colombia.” She has had the privilege to work with extraordinary homegrown artists such as Jeremy Dutcher, Charlotte Cornfield, and Witch Prophet. Her own work has been presented at major festivals across North America including The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Washington DC Jazz Festival and The Smithsonian. She currently teaches at Voice and Trumpet at Humber College.

Ky Brooks is a sound engineer, noise musician and scholar. They have been active in the Montréal experimental music scene since 2011 when they co-founded well known DIY space La Plante. They are a PhD student at McGill, where their research explores embodied knowledge and performativities in audio engineering. Their musical practice as vocalist and instrumentalist is mainly concerned with themes of embeddedness, alienation, gentrification, and the built environment.

Supported by TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment.