Gryphon Trio Will Showcase its New 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 Piazzolla, Beethoven, and more.

Broken Hearts & Madmen joins two of Canada's leading musical forces: the Gryphon Trio and vocalist Patricia O'Callaghan. Featuring popular songs from the Americas and the U.K. arranged by Roberto Occhipinti, Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing, this haunting new recording takes us on a musical journey through the complexities of the creative spirit. With 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. Broken Hearts & Madmen was recorded with a pop music sensibility and produced by Roberto Occhipinti, a Juno-award winning musician and producer, active in both classical and jazz music..

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 Gryphon Trio has had a long and successful association with Music TORONTO. Broken Hearts & Madmen is a natural offshoot of the cross-genre programming that the Gryphon Trio developed with Brazilian and Cuban jazz artists for Music TORONTO'S Chamber at Lula series.

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 is proud to feature Progress Place as its community partner for this project, just as the week-long national campaign for Mental Illness Awareness Week begins on October 3. The stigma of mental illness affects not only the nearly 6 million, or 1 in 5 Canadians who will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, but also their family members, friends and colleagues. Progress Place is dedicated to improving the lives of people living with mental illness. Their community-based recovery centre in Toronto, 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, Chamber Factory, Music Toronto, Analekta, Andrew Kwan Artists Management, and Classical 96.3 for their support of Broken Hearts & Madmen.

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