Join us for a Celebration of Small Ensembles – ancient, classic and 21st century music boldly curated and performed by small ensembles.
April 6: SHHH!! Ensemble and the Obsidiana Duo.
Taking place in the Aperture Room, a light filled space on the top floor of a beautifully restored building just north of Yonge and Dundas Square, each COSE event will be as much a social gathering as it will be an opportunity for musical discovery.
Each concert will feature two 45 minute sets presented by new and established artists performing music rooted in different small ensemble traditions. Events will commence at 4 pm and conclude after 6 pm and will include short stretch and chat breaks between sets. Refreshments will be available for purchase.
General Admission - $40, Students & Arts Workers - $20
3 Concert Pass - $90 and includes admission to all three events (April 6, May 4, June 1)
Programme - April 6, 2024, 4pm
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“SHHH!!… a powerful utterance designed to draw attention forward… creating space and awareness… opening ears to something important.”
Percussionist Zac Pulak and pianist Edana Higham are the two members of SHHH!! Ensemble, a duo carving a space for themselves as compelling performers of electrifying new music. A keen taste for experimentation and discovery has guided their “avant-accessible” approach—where new music is as accessible as it is groundbreaking.
Known for their “truly virtuosic and intense” (Confluence Concerts) performances, SHHH!! has toured broadly across Canada, performing new works written for them by both leading and emerging composers, including Jocelyn Morlock, Kelly-Marie Murphy, John Beckwith, Monica Pearce, Harry Stafylakis, and Mari Alice Conrad.
In 2023, SHHH!! “enthralled” (Winnipeg Free Press) audiences in the world premiere of Kelly-Marie Murphy’s double concerto Machines, Mannequins, and Monsters with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, followed by recital appearances at the SMCQ’s Montreal New Music Festival, New Works Calgary, Ottawa Chamberfest, GroundSwell, and many others. Their debut album Meanwhile (2022, Analekta) released to critical acclaim including an ECMA nomination for Classical Recording of the Year. La Scena Musicale gave SHHH!!’s 2023 sophomore album An Auditory Survey of the Last Days of the Holocene a 5 star rating, calling it a “masterpiece”.
4:00pm
Starry Night
SHHH!! Ensemble
Edana Higham, piano
Zac Pulak, percussion
Starry Night flows through a dreamscape of beautiful and unexpected sounds. The music of Starry Night reflects on the night sky, evoking a sense of wonder at the vastness of space, distilling celestial motion into human scale, and exploring how dreams help process emotions, memories, and even our own self conception.
Concert Programme
Jocelyn Morlock - Spirit Gradient * (2020)
Monica Pearce - rem * (2023)
Georges Aperghis - Retrouvailles, movement 2 & 3 (2013)
Paolo Griffin - Resonant Bodies in Space * (2023)
Harry Stafylakis - Light Symbolic: i. the quiet violence of celestial motion; ii. death of a sun, act of creation * (2023)
* written for SHHH!!
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Pianist Yolanda Tapia and singer Camila Montefusco co-founded the Obsidiana Duo with a clear mission: to celebrate the vibrant tapestry of Ibero-American musical culture and give voice to composers who have been historically overlooked.
The duo has a reputation as an international prize-winning collaborative pair, having been featured at CollabFest and Collabaret 2020, and the International Keyboard Collaborative Arts Society in 2021. Recent achievements include First Prize at the Puerto Rico Collaborative Piano Competition, a fellowship with the Toronto Summer Music Festival and an artistic residency at the Banff Centre.
This season marked their first tour with Prairie Debut and the premiere of ‘Circular Sky’, a new song written for the Obsidiana Duo by composer Alice Ho and writer Madeleine Thien. This collaboration inspired “Homebound”, a new segment of their program which explores themes of immigration and belonging. In the 24/25 season they look forward to touring their most recent curation with Debut Atlantic.
Camila and Yolanda call Toronto home, where they explore meaningful routes of their personal artistic ventures. Creating sincere and purposeful connections with their audiences is what drives them forward.
5:00pm
AIRE Y TIERRA
Obsidiana Duo
Camilla Montefusco, mezzo-soprano
Yolanda Tapia, piano
AIRE Y TIERRA is a musical tribute to the stories of our ancestors and the never-ending search for belonging. Through a collection of Canadian and Ibero-American music, the Obsidiana Duo takes their audiences on a journey inspired by the stories of their grandmothers and their own immigrant journey in Canada.
Concert Programme
SOARING
Alice Ho - Circular Sky
Alice Ho - Cyclone
Ian Cusson - Birdsong
COLONIZATION
X. Montsalvatge - Cuba dentro de un piano
X. Montsalvatge - Canto Negro
STRENGTH
X. Montsalvatge - O Kinimba
A. Ginastera - Triste
HOPE
A. Ginastera - Arrullo/Arrorro
X. Montsalvatge - Canción de cuna para dormier a un negrito
FREEDOM
A. Ginastera - Chacarera/Gato