What's On Past Events: 2018 / 2019

An immersive and genre-bending approach to classical music, in a vibrant cabaret setting

Soundstreams invites you to an immersive cabaret that puts a theatrical spotlight on queer and Indigenous artists, as they take a nostalgic look at ‘classical’ repertoire in a brand new setting. Curated by Olivia Shortt, a Toronto-based classical and contemporary saxophonist, Fauxstalgia offers a unique amalgam of talent, attitude, and spirit.

Your host, Smith Purdy, a two-spirit, Indigenous artist, whose empowering land acknowledgement will definitively set the evening’s tone.

Joining Purdy will be show-stopping, classical, queer pianist Darren Creech. Creech’s multidisciplinary approach to the classical stage subverts expectations. He has a reputation for sequins, glitter and costume changes and takes his diverse audiences on an emotional journey.

Teiya Kasahara is a multi-disciplinary performing artist and creator, and first generation Canadian of Japanese and German roots. Praised for “singing clear, pure and straight from the heart,” (“Opera Going Toronto”) Teiya is a coloratura soprano, who has sung across Canada and Europe for the last decade.

Cris Derksen, a 2016 Juno-Nominee, is an Indigenous cellist/composer known for building layers of sound into captivating performances. Her music braids the traditional and contemporary in multiple dimensions, weaving her traditional classical training and her Aboriginal ancestry with new school electronics, creating genre defying music.

Grace Scheele is a contemporary harpist and free improviser based in Chicago and Kitchener-Waterloo. She regularly performs with HARP+, an electroacoustic improvisation trio, and as a soloist. Through her performances, improvisation, and concert curation she reimagines the classical harp as an electroacoustic instrument: improvising with looping, bowing, effects, and preparations which defy sonic stereotypes.

This concert is presented with the generous support of Steinway & Sons.