07:30 PM
RadarPerformers
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Event Details
Built around the lyrical and elegant Trio written by Johannes Brahms in 1891, this offering of musical gems for clarinet, cello and piano brings together three musical colleagues whose paths have crossed in myriad ways. Also on the program are trios for the same instrumentation by Belgian clarinettist/composer Werner DeBleser and Viennese pianist/composer Carl Frühling, an arrangement of the Agnus Dei from Bach’s B MInor Mass, and Astor Piazzolla’s celebrated tango Oblivion. Brighten this dark January evening and join us for this celebratory kaleidoscope of musical invention and colour.
About the performers:
Stephanie Chua is an expressive and versatile Canadian pianist devoted to presenting and performing contemporary works through musical insight and innovative programming. She has been broadcast across Canada on CBC Radio 2 and in Europe on Rondo Classic FM and has performed in solo and chamber recitals across Canada, Europe, and Asia. Recent highlights include being a featured performer in Soundstreams’ ‘Keyed Up’ Piano Festival (Toronto) and the STRATA New Music Festival (Saskatoon), solo recitals at SOUL Live Music Project in Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) in partnership with Saigon Classical, New Music Edmonton, and Music Toronto’s Discovery Series; along with performances at Shanghai New Music Festival, and Impuls Contemporary Music Festival (Graz, Austria).
As a much sought-after collaborative pianist, Stephanie has performed in some of Canada's most important contemporary ensembles including Continuum Contemporary Music, Esprit Orchestra, Trio Fibonacci, and Toca Loca. In 2009, Stephanie co-founded junctQín keyboard collective with Elaine Lau and Joseph Ferretti. junctQín is a trio of pianists committed to performances of contemporary music and commissioning new works for their unique instrumentation. Since its inception, the group has commissioned and premiered over 40 new works from emerging to internationally established living composers. junctQín recently launched the digital platform PLAYrePLAY (playreplay.ca) with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts, featuring breakthrough interactive compositions for the ensemble by composer-creators Germaine Liu, Nicole Lizée, and Lieke van der Voort.
A dedicated educator, Stephanie has taught masterclasses and given lectures at the University of Toronto Scarborough, University of Western Ontario, University of Saskatchewan, University of Lethbridge, Lakehead University, and the Victoria Conservatory of Music. She has adjudicated at the Ontario Music Festivals Association’s 2024 Provincials, Contemporary Showcase Festival in Mississauga and Saskatoon, and the Kiwanis Festival in Orillia. Stephanie is a proud Artist Mentor through the Toronto District School Board’s tdsbCREATES program.
Cellist Mary-Katherine Finch enjoys a diverse performing career with numerous ensembles and in a wide variety of musical genres. She has appeared with the orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra, Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, and has served as guest principal cellist with Hamilton Philharmonic, Windsor Symphony, and Niagara Symphony, and is principal cellist of Mississauga Symphony. Mary-Katherine regularly performs chamber music on various concert series in Ontario. Summer festivals include Elora, Shaw, Toronto Summer Music, Festival of the Sound, and Ottawa Chamber Festival. MK is a featured soloist on the most recent Elora Singers recording In Beauty May I Walk, and is excited about the soon to be released Art Decade album with her band ContaQt, which features music of Bowie and Eno.
Colin Savage has been principal clarinetist with the Mississauga Symphony for over 30 years, and regularly performs on recorder and historical clarinets with a wide variety of chamber and orchestral ensembles in Southern Ontario. He has toured Japan and performed several times in the Royal Opera House at Versailles with Opera Atelier, and worked with New York Collegium, Tafelmusik, Canadian Opera Company, Apollo’s Fire, les Boréades, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Consort.
Colin has particularly enjoyed playing recorder and bass clarinet with the Arctic fusion band Ensemble Polaris, whose recordings of Nordic/Canadian/Mediterranean genre-bending music have received international critical acclaim and delighted audiences across Canada.
Colin's interest in analog photographic processes finds him in well-lit and very dark places; his images of abandoned spaces, shot with a vintage twin lens reflex camera, drew high praise in a solo exhibition of his work at Toronto’s Alliance Française in April 2018, and at Gerrard Art Space in 2019. He continues to hone his limited hockey skills on rinks around the city, and has recently play-tested most of the outdoor ping-pong tables in Toronto parks.
Featured Program
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897): Trio op.114
J.S Bach (1685-1750), arr. C. Savage: Agnus Dei from the Mass in B Minor BWV 232
Carl Frühling (1868 –1937): Trio op.40 (movements II and III)
Carl Frühling (1868 –1937): Trio op.40
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992): Oblivion