Gryphon Trio Raises Awareness for Progress Place With A Concert & CD 10/2

The JUNO Award winning Gryphon Trio will showcase its new CD, Broken Hearts & Madmen, featuring guest vocalist Patricia O'Callaghan, with a CD release concert at Toronto's Lula Lounge on Sunday, October 2 at 8 PM. The performance will feature selections from the new recording intertwined with concert pieces by Piazzola, Beethoven, and more.

Broken Hearts & Madmen joins two of Canada's leading musical forces: the Gryphon Trio and vocalist Patricia O'Callaghan. Blending classical music with popular songs from around the world, this haunting new recording takes us on a musical journey through the complexities of the creative spirit. Featuring songs by Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Lhasa de Sela, and Laurie Anderson alongside traditional melodies from Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil, Broken Hearts & Madmen is global in spirit and celebrates the romantic soul inside us all. Produced by Roberto Occhipinti, a classically trained jazz musician renowned for his work in Latin music, and who has toured with experimental hip-hop band Gorillaz, Broken Hearts & Madmen was recorded like a pop album, with live in-studio performances and close miking of the musicians, unlike any other Gryphon Trio recordings.

Having impressed audiences and the press with its refined, dynamic performances, two-time JUNO Award winning Gryphon Trio has firmly established itself as one of the world's preeminent piano trios. With repertoire spanning traditional to contemporary, the Gryphons continue redefining chamber music, with over 50 commissioned works from established and emerging composers worldwide, and regular collaborations with other musicians, actors, visual artists, and choreographers. The Gryphon Trio regularly tours North America and Europe, and is highly involved in educational programs for students in elementary school through university. The Gyphons have been Ensemble-in-Residence at Music Toronto from 1998-2008, where they developed the Chamber at Lula series, collaborating with many of Canada's leading Latin and Jazz musicians. Since 2007, cellist Roman Borys has been Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Society, and violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon and pianist Jamie Parker serve as OICMS's Artistic Advisors. The trio prolifically records for Analekta, having released 13 albums to date, and serve on the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto. www.gryphontrio.com.

Patricia O'Callaghan has been reviewed in Billboard as "the most promising cabaret performer of her generation". First signed by Marquis/EMI, Teldec/Warner picked up her worldwide distribution outside Canada. Her most recent CD, Naked Beauty, co-produced by vocalist Steven Page, received critical and popular praise; she toured Europe and North America for her previous recording, Real Emotional Girl. www.patricia-ocallaghan.com.

The Gryphon Trio pleased to dedicate this performance to raise local awareness for its community partner Progress Place, located in Toronto, Progress Place is a recovery centre for people with backgrounds of mental illness, a stigma that affects 1 in 5 (roughly 6 million) Canadians and their family members, friends, and colleagues. Their community-based recovery centre, part of a network of centres around the globe, offers programs and services which provide opportunities for friendship, employment, education, housing and recreation in a welcoming and accessible environment of support, respect and dignity.

Gryphon Trio wishes to thank the John McKellar Charitable Foundation; Music Toronto; Analekta; Andrew Kwan Artist Management, and Chamber Factory for their support of Broken Hearts & Madmen.

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