The Nathaniel Dett Chorale is Canada’s first professional choral group dedicated to Afrocentric music of all styles, including classical, spiritual, gospel, jazz, folk and blues. The 21 classically trained outstanding vocalists of The Nathaniel Dett Chorale have shared the stage with internationally recognized artists such as Juno Award-winning jazz pianist Joe Sealy, singers Molly Johnson and Jackie Richardson, and opera star Kathleen Battle and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble has performed for such luminaries as opera singer Jessye Norman and Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell. The Chorale has performed at events honouring world leaders Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, personality Muhammad Ali, and pianist Oscar Peterson and was the only Canadian ensemble invited to perform as part of the celebrations surrounding the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama in January of 2009.

The multi-faceted vocalists of the Chorale, whose talent stretches beyond the traditional expectations of a classical chamber choir, seek to broaden their vision to include all styles and genres of music, from classical to jazz, folk, blues and popular music, as appropriate to the traditions of the African Diaspora.

The Chorale’s vision is to be a premier performer of Afrocentric composers – past, present and future – and to be a touchstone for the education of audiences and communities regarding the full spectrum of Afrocentric choral music.

The Nathaniel Dett Chorale’s mission is to build bridges of understanding, appreciation, and acceptance between communities of people, both Afrocentric and other, through the medium of music. The Chorale seeks to dissolve the barriers of stereotype, to empower humans in general, and those of African descent in particular.

The Chorale adds another dimension to all of its activities by creating a cultural and historical context for its music. All of the Chorale’s concerts and outreach initiatives include an educational element, and our conductor and singers draw audiences together by increasing their knowledge of Afrocentric music and culture, with the aim of fostering pride in those of African heritage, and informed admiration in those of other cultural backgrounds. The Chorale builds vibrant and healthy communities by uniting its audiences in a love of Afrocentric choral music, and by creating a deeply-contextualized understanding of the complex roots of this music.

D. Brainerd Blyden-Taylor, conductor
Christina Faye, collaborative pianist
Jaideep Goray, ASL Interpreter

Sopranos:
Ann-Marie Barrett-Tandy
Anaïs Kelsey-Verdecchia
Ineza Mugisha
Alison Ryan
Jewel Scott
Karen Weigold

Altos:
Jenna Cowans
Alexandra Garrison
Sarah Mole
Ianjai Mounsey-Ndemo
Érika Wood

Tenors:
Jacob Abrahamse
Ryan Downey
Nicholas Gough
Jamie Hillman
Adam Wicks

Basses:
Wade Bray
Victor Cheng
Ryan Hofman
Jeremy Nasmith
Dérrell Woods

KUNÉ, formerly known as the New Canadian Global Music Orchestra (NCGMO), was created by The Royal Conservatory of Music to celebrate the cultural diversity and pluralism of our country as it turned 150. This ensemble brings together virtuosic musicians who have immigrated to Canada from the four corners of the earth as well as an Indigenous Canadian representative. The ensemble members were in residence at The Royal Conservatory starting December 2016 writing music together, participating in educational activities, and creating new traditions that reflect what Canada sounds and looks like today.

In the fall of 2019, KUNÉ completed their first OAC-sponsored US tour. In early 2020, KUNÉ received a National Creation Fund grant and in partnership with Banff Centre for the Arts premiered six of their compositions with the Winnipeg Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. KUNÉ’s debut record was also sponsored by the Banff Centre and is distributed by Universal Music Canada.

KUNÉ’s influences come from each member’s individual cultural upbringing. Kuné strives to create the feeling of grounded-ness and sense of being embraced and accepted in a new and unfamiliar place; generating and re-envisioning new memories and associations through music in a safe and accepting space; establishing an understanding that we are all experiencing the same struggles and joys together. KUNÉ strives to disrupt the “other-ness” narrative, absorbing the audience in a humanistic experience. While collaborating, fusing different cultures together in their creations, KUNÉ’s members retain their personal musical and cultural identities, expressing their musical language and personalities within the context of a musical framework.

With musicians from different backgrounds, KUNÉ is creating the sounds of Toronto. The group is finding a way to delve into a musical genre that has just begun to be explored, sharing it with the world through recordings, performances and social media.

KUNÉ – Canada’s Global Orchestra – includes:

Rolston String Quartet

Luri Lee & Jason Issokson, violins
Hez Leung, viola
Peter Eom, cello

With their debut recording, “Souvenirs” recently named BBC Music Magazine ‘recording of the year’, Canada’s Rolston String Quartet continues to receive acclamation and recognition for their musical excellence. As the 2018 recipient and first international ensemble chosen for the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America, their accolades and awards precede them. In 2016, a monumental year, they won First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition, Grand Prize at the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and Astral’s National Auditions.

Recent highlights include debut performances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, The Freer Gallery, and Chamber Music Houston, two major Canadian tours under the Prairie Debut and Debut Atlantic touring networks, and three European tours with dates in Leipzig, Berlin, Lucerne, Heidelberg, Barcelona, and Graz among others. Their 2019-20 season includes concerts at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, Texas Performing Arts, Chamber Music Northwest, and Calgary Pro Musica; the chamber music societies of Detroit, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Vancouver; and the Louvre Museum. As Süddeutsche Zeitung states, “they showed such delicacy, slender elasticity, impeccable intonation, and such eminent sense of tonal balance…This is a new bright star on the truly not empty string quartet sky of our day.”

Notable collaborations include performances with renowned artists Janina Fialkowska, Gary Hoffman, Nobuko Imai, Miguel da Silva, and David Shifrin, as well as the St. Lawrence, and Dover Quartets. The quartet are associated artists at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel, and completed a two-year term as the Yale School of Music’s fellowship quartet-in-residence in spring 2019. Previously, they were the graduate quartet-in-residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Keeping in the teaching tradition, they have taught at the Yale School of Music, University of Toronto, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival among others. Primary mentors include the Brentano Quartet, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith, and the quartet has received additional guidance from the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Miguel da Silva, and Alastair Tait.

Hampton Avenue features founder/director Debbie Fleming, Dylan Bell, Suba Sankaran and Tom Lillington. All members are in-demand session singers who have appeared on numerous jingles, albums and film soundtracks. Winner of Jazz Report’s Vocal Jazz Group of the Year, Hampton Avenue’s recent highlight performances include SING! The Toronto Vocal Arts Festival and Toronto Beaches International Jazz Festival.