Described by the Ottawa Citizen as “Outstanding – no, make that astonishing!”, Canada’s premiere percussion ensemble TorQ Percussion Quartet continues to bring new vitality to percussion repertoire and performance in every situation and opportunity. Renowned for their engaging performances, members Richard Burrows, Adam Campbell, Jamie Drake, and Daniel Morphy are committed to making percussion music accessible to audiences that span generations and geographies.
Since coming together in 2004, TorQ has performed extensively throughout Canada and abroad. TorQ has made appearances at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Indian River Festival, MusicFest Canada, and the Open Ears Contemporary Music Festival. They have been featured soloists with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, and wind ensembles from the University of Saskatchewan, Memorial University, and the University of Toronto. As collaborative artists, the quartet has performed with the Larkin Singers, Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, Elora Festival Singers, Grand Philharmonic Choir and the Hamilton Children’s Choir, as well as soloists Krisztina Szabo, Rivka Golani, Beverley Johnston and composer Nicole Lizée, amongst others.
Selected by the three major Canadian touring organisations, Jeunesses Musicales Canada, Prairie Debut and Debut Atlantic, TorQ has performed throughout every province, in 10 U.S. states, and in Germany (with the Stuttgart Chamber Choir) and Luxembourg. In 2012, they launched their first annual concert series in Toronto where they collaborated with invited guest artists, composers, and dancers.
Helping to create and promote new Canadian music is an important facet of TorQ’s work. In addition to the compositions and arrangements written by each member of the ensemble, TorQ has commissioned over 70 chamber works and three concertos, including Dinuk Wijeratne’s Invisible Cities. This commitment to Canadian music creation is equally evident on their three solo recordings: “TorQ Percussion Quartet” (2009), “two + two” (2011) and the double album “Without A Map” (2014). Upcoming recording projects include an album of commissioned Canadian music for mallet instruments.
Strong advocates for music education, TorQ has performed for more than 125,000 students across North America. In addition to their performances as an artist with Prologue to the Performing Arts, they regularly present masterclasses at universities and colleges (including the Colburn Music School, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and University of Toronto. They are also regular faculty members for the Durham Integrated Arts Camp. In 2012 they founded the TorQ Percussion Seminar, a weeklong chamber music seminar for university-level percussionists that has since been run in conjunction with Acadia University, Stratford Summer Music and the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance.
TorQ proudly endorses Yamaha Percussion, Innovative Percussion, Dream Cymbals, Black Swamp Percussion and Remo Percussion.
http://www.torqpercussion.ca/