PIVOT

Apr 7, 2024   8:00 pm

Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 8pm

Hugh’s Room Live

296 Broadview Avenue, Toronto

Teen Composer Award Presentation at 7:45pm

In collaboration with the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre, Continuum presents premieres by five early-career composers from across Canada selected through a juried process. PIVOT participants mentor with professional composers of their choice for six months, and then gather in Toronto for professional development sessions and rehearsals. The program culminates in this concert of premieres by the Continuum core ensemble. We also present the 8th annual Teen Composer Award in a pre-concert presentation.

**Please note the updated venue.**

Pre-Concert Teen Composer Award Presentation

Marie-Pauline Chaffanjon (CA)
Creation* (2024)

Program

Alexander Bridger (CA)
Group Hug* (2024)

Ricardo Ferro (CA)
Ecstasy & The Devil* (2024)

Liberté-Anne Lymberiou (CA)
Vague à l’âme* (2024)

Anju Singh (CA)
The Chasm* (2024)

Janet Sit (CA)
An imperfect herding of ions* (2024)

*world premiere

 

Carol Fujino, violin

Carol Lynn Fujino joined the TSO in 1991 and made her solo début with the Orchestra two years later, playing in Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins. Prior to her joining the TSO, Carol served as Assistant Concertmaster for the National Ballet of Canada orchestra.

Carol has concertized throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She has also been heard on CBC Radio as a soloist with Esprit Orchestra and is an active chamber musician, performing regularly as a member of the Accordes String Quartet and Continuum Contemporary Ensemble.

Aside from playing in the violin section, Carol’s duties also involve keeping her colleagues well caffeinated backstage. She also enjoys spending great amounts of time discussing and making baked goods.

 

Paul Widner, cello

An active cellist in Toronto, Paul Widner is resident cellist of several contemporary music ensembles, including Continuum Contemporary Music and Arraymusic. He is also principal cellist of the Esprit Orchestra and performs regularly with New Music Concerts.

He has toured throughout Canada and Europe with these groups and appears on several recordings of contemporary Canadian music.

Paul is also the assistant principal cellist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and performs with the Amadeus Ensemble and the National Ballet Orchestra.

 

Tristan Durie, flute

Tristan Durie is an accomplished flautist who is very active as a performer and freelancer in Toronto. Recently he has performed with groups including The Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet of Canada, Esprit Orchestra, Soundstreams, Hamilton Philharmonic, The Bicycle Opera Project, (performing at Toronto Summer Music, Stratford Summer Music and the Westben Festival ) Sneak Peek Orchestra, the Exultate Chamber Singers, the Casa Loma Orchestra and Musica Reflecta. Other notable performances include world premiers of both Gabriel Prokofiev’s “Flute Trios” and Jonathan Harvey’s “Vajra”, the Toronto Premier of Brian Harman’s “Surface” for Solo flute at the CMC. He holds a both Bachelor & Master of Music Performance from the University of Toronto where he studied flute with Leslie Newman & Douglas Stewart, and composition with Prof. Norbert Palej.

Tristan has performed in masterclasses for many world renowned flautists including, Emmanuel Pahud (Berlin Philharmonic), James Galway (Berlin Philharmonic), Mathieu Dufour (Chicago Symphony), Lorna McGhee (Pittsburgh Symphony), Philippe Bernold, Robert Langevin (New York Philharmonic), Peter Lloyd (London Symphony), Andras Adorjan (Baden-Baden & Munich), Jeffrey Khaner ( Philadelphia Orchestra), William Bennet and Trevor Wye.

Tristan is the proud and grateful recipient of the 2014 and 2015 Arthur Plettner Graduate Fellowships, the 2010 James Craig Opera Orchestra Award, the 2009 Percy Faith Award, the 2009 and 2010 David and Marcia Beach Summer Study Awards, the 2010 Jean A. Chalmers Award as well as a CBC Radio Canada Galaxy award.

 

Anthony Thompson, clarinet / bass clarinet

As a freelance clarinetist, Anthony Thompson performs with many Toronto-based ensembles. As an orchestral musician, Anthony has appeared with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company, and the Esprit Orchestra.

Anthony has a deep passion for contemporary music, performing regularly with many of Canada’s premier new music ensembles. He has toured across Canada and parts of Asia with Soundstreams, Continuum Contemporary Music, and the Thin Edge New Music Collective.

In addition to his performance career, Anthony has a large private teaching studio. Away from the clarinet, he enjoys spending time with his family, practicing yoga, and triathlon training.

 

Geoffrey Conquer, piano

Geoffrey Conquer is a versatile and dynamic Toronto-based pianist. He was a 2016-17 Rebanks Family Fellow at the Glenn Gould School and is a two-time winner of the McGill Symphony Concerto Competition. Passionate about both contemporary music and collaboration, recent highlights include performing Pouya Hamidi’s The Battle Within at The Music Gallery in Toronto, premiering three art songs by Gavin Fraser with mezzo-soprano Nicole Percifield as recipients of grants from the University of Toronto and the Canada Council for the Arts, and performing Felix Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor at the Caledon Music Festival. Geoffrey is a Doctor of Musical Arts candidate at the University of Toronto where he studies piano performance with Jamie Parker, where he was the recipient of the Alice and Armen Matheson Graduate Scholarship, the Marilyn Cook Graduate Scholarship, and a Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He holds an M.Mus and B.Mus from McGill University, where he studied in the class of Marina Mdivani. Geoffrey is the faculty pianist at the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and is a faculty member at The Royal Conservatory. For more, go to www.geoffreyconquer.com.

 

Ryan Scott, Percussion

Dr. Ryan Scott (he, him) has performed extensively as a marimba and multi-percussion soloist in contemporary music festivals in Europe, Japan, China, Indonesia, South Africa, the UK and The Netherlands. He has also performed as guest soloist in over 25 different percussion concerti with the Esprit Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, The Hyogo Performing Arts Centre Orchestra, The Austin Symphony and numerous other orchestras and chamber ensembles across North America.

Ryan is a stalwart figure in the Toronto contemporary music community and has performed in over 400 world premieres. In addition to his work as a regular guest artist with NEXUS, Principal Percussionist of the Esprit Orchestra and Percussionist in the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra since 1996, he is also a sought-after chamber musician and teacher. A core member of Continuum Contemporary Music (founded 1985), he also serves the organization as Artistic Director.

 

Gregory Oh, conductor

Canadian pianist and conductor Gregory Oh holds graduate degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Michigan. He is the artistic director of Toca Loca, a resident artist at Soulpepper Theatre and also works with Continuum, New Music Concerts, Arraymusic, CONTACT, the Toronto Symphony and the NACO. Formerly the musical director of the San Diego Opera Ensemble, he has also taught at the Banff Centre’s Contemporary Opera and Song Training program and worked at Florida State Opera, Lyric Opera San Diego, Theatre Direct, Volcano Theatre, Canadian Rep Theatre, Tapestry New Opera and the Canadian Opera Company.