We wanted to give you an update on what we have been up to this season!
Main Stage Series
Over the past seven months we have presented a number of performances in both sensory-friendly and dementia-friendly formats, in partnership with T.O. Live and the Alzheimer Society of Toronto. These concerts have featured incredible artists such as Ahmed Moneka & Friends, Jenna Marie Pinard & Jay Yoo, the Bridge-Wolak Duo, VC2 Cello Duo, Min-Jeong Kohn & Bo-Yon Koh, the Queer Songbook Orchestra, as well as Payadora Tango Ensemble.
We have even more exciting events coming up in May and through the Summer, so remember to check your inbox for updates from us!
sound.colLab
Between November and April, we held three workshops for the sound.colLab project in partnership with National accessArts Centre. At this first workshop, our participating composers were introduced to the instruments of the string quartet as well as musical terms and compositional techniques in a presentation led by composer Bekah Simms. In workshop number 2, our composers presented sound offerings from cats purring, to toy xylophones, to dragon roars. Bekah introduced them to ways that these sounds can be manipulated and integrated in to their pieces for string quartet. In our third workshop, held in both Toronto and Calgary, composers presented the first drafts of their new pieces, heard them performed by the Rolston String Quartet, and finalized their scores.
Congratulations to our participants Anthony Hodgetts, Laura Lapeare, Nathan Neutel, Rory Berk, Thomas Sinclair, and Maddux Ma, who are now officially published composers!
On Saturday July 16, you can hear the WORLD PREMIERE of these brilliant new pieces of music. We’ll be announcing more details soon, so watch this space!
Special thanks to our partners, TO Live and NaAC, and our supporters The Canada Council for the Arts and Unity for Autism for supporting this groundbreaking project.
Donate Today!
Our upcoming projects include:
- Touring the sound.colLAB project to new audiences across Ontario and beyond
- Post-production on the sound.colLAB documentary that shares our participants’ creative journey
- Our neurodiversity-focused Artist Training Program
- An innovative co-creation project called “Sharing Our Stories Through Song” for family caregivers of people living with dementia, in partnership with Baycrest@Home and singer-songwriter Avery Florence
- A Pride celebration concert for the older adult 2SLGBTQIA+ community in partnership with Sunshine Centres for Seniors
- Bringing Xenia Concerts to Northern Ontario through new partnerships (details to be announced soon!)
Your donation helps us continue to deliver sensory-friendly concerts and innovative creation projects in a welcoming environment. Donate today to help us celebrate neurodiversity through music and advance inclusion in the arts!
Thank you to our partners and supporters
Land Acknowledgement
Xenia Concerts Inc. is based in what is now known as Toronto (Tkaronto), on the homelands of the Huron-Wendat First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River.
This territory was the subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes.
Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and Xenia Concerts is grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.