21C Music Festival Announces Lineup

The seventh edition of the 21C Music Festival will include eight concerts over three weekends, from Saturday, January 11 to Saturday, January 25, 2020. Two additional events celebrate Grammy Award-winning composer and one of America's most renowned creative pioneers, Laurie Anderson. Anderson's presentation of The Art of Falling in Koerner Hall is already sold out, but audiences can experience her work performed by students of The Glenn Gould School in Temerty Theatre, at the Royal Ontario Museum's virtual reality installation, To the Moon, and in a film screening of her documentary, Heart of a Dog at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

The 21C Music Festival will include 5 world premieres by four Canadian composers (Allison Au, Barbara Croall, Ryan Davis, and Bekah Simms) and one American (John Patitucci), 1 North American premiere (Miguel Azguime), and 4 Canadian premieres (Alice Ping Yee Ho, Zakir Hussain, Danilo Pérez, and Kaija Saariaho).

The 21C Music Festival will include 5 world premieres by four Canadian composers (Allison Au, Barbara Croall, Ryan Davis, and Bekah Simms) and one American (John Patitucci), 1 North American premiere (Miguel Azguime), and 6 Canadian premieres (Alice Ping Yee Ho, Zakir Hussain, Danilo Pérez, and Kaija Saariaho).

Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu performs a 21C Afterhours concert with a program titled True North, featuring a Canadian premiere (Alice Ping Yee Ho's 4 Seasons Suite) as well as the world premiere of a piece by Odawa First Nations composer, Barbara Croall, commissioned by The Royal Conservatory; 21C Cinq à Sept includes a world premiere by violist Ryan Davis for viola, voice and live electronics, Laurie Anderson's Shutter Island and the Canadian premiere of Kaija Saariaho's Laconisme de l'aile; The Glenn Gould School New Music Ensemble has dedicated its concert to the late American-Canadian composer Michael Colgrass and features his piece Hammer and Bow, alongside the North American premiere of Miguel Azguime's Aguas Marinhas and the world premiere of Bekah Simms's Bestiary I & II; a special Royal Conservatory Orchestra concert conducted by Zane Dalal will consist of an improvisation with Zakir Hussain, John Patitucci, Danilo Peréz, and Brian Blade, the Canadian premiere of Hussain's tabla concerto Peshkar, and the world premiere of Patitucci's Hypocrisy for jazz trio and orchestra; the final concert of the Festival, Danilo Pérez's Global Messengers and Allison Au Quartet, will include the world premiere of Allison Au's Migrations (commissioned by The Royal Conservatory) and the Canadian premiere of Danilo Pérez's Fronteras (co-commissioned by The Royal Conservatory).

Two theatrical events take place during the Festival: Against the Grain Theatre (AtG) explores Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov's Mariel, K'vakarat, and Tenebrae, and the evening culminates with Ayre, starring Canadian soprano Miriam Khalil and staged by AtG's Joel Ivany; and Philippe Sly & Le Chimera Project present a fully staged version of Schubert's song cycle Winterreise, newly arranged for klezmer ensemble.

Mervon Mehta, Executive Director of Performing Arts at The Royal Conservatory, said: "After seven years, the 21C Music Festival has become widely respected and innovative composers and artists making new music are eager to perform for us in Toronto. We are thrilled to be premiering so many works new to Toronto, including world premieres in jazz, classical, and world music genres. Join us as we traverse creative minds from Laurie Anderson to Zakir Hussain with stops along the way by Osvaldo Golijov, Danilo Pérez, Barbara Croall, and even Franz Schubert. Our heartfelt thanks to our champions, Michael and Sonja Koerner, for their steadfast support of this festival since its inception. Thanks also to our programming partners, The Royal Ontario Museum and the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema."