Canadian Chamber Orchestra presents the third concert in their 2024/25 season
String Theory
Music of Time & Space
Thursday, April 10, 2025
7:00pm
Eglinton St. George’s United Church
35 Lytton Blvd., Toronto, ON
The Canadian Chamber Orchestra is excited to present our second concert of the 2024/25 season! String Theory: Music of Time and Space, explores the ways music evokes space, time, and the different approaches composers use to conjure the cosmos. Featured composers will include Kelly-Marie Murphy, Marjan Mozetich, Aaron Jay Kernis, Jessie Montgomery, Arvo Pärt, Pink Floyd, and Debussy. Visit our Eventbrite Page for tickets.
The CCO is thrilled to be joined by special guests Maureen Honoré (voice), Bevis Ng (percussion), and SarahRose Black (piano/narration) for this program!
Featuring works by:
Kelly-Marie Murphy
Marjan Mozetich
Aaron Jay Kernis
Jessie Montgomery
Arvo Pärt
Claude Debussy
Pink Floyd, and more!
General Admission (comes with a free drink ticket) - $45+fees
Seniors - $30+fees
Students/Arts Workers - $20+fees
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HONORÉ is an internationally recognized beacon of vocal diversity. Born in Detroit, Michigan to a Creole family from central Louisiana (Black, French and Native American from the Avoyel tribe), she grew up with strong musical impressions of where she came from, and where she came to be.
With a strong African-American musical tradition upbringing that included Jazz, Soul, Blues, Funk, Country and Gospel, the foundation of her musicality is rich.
HONORÉ has been the featured vocalist for Detroit Jazz and Gospel choirs, lead soprano for the Twelve Oaks Youth Pops Orchestra, and with the use of her 5-octave range, won the grand Prize in Walt Disney World’s All-American Music Festival (a U.S.-wide competition).
With the momentum that confidence brings HONORÉ found a home in the Detroit music scene as lead singer for the band Zebula Avenue.
She performed with Zebula Ave for nine years, co-writing its breakthrough studio album “Life Will Be Fine”. The album went on to win “Best Recording - World/Reggae/Ska” at the Detroit Music Awards, with two songs further receiving awards from both the Michigan Songwriting Contest, and the national Song Of The Year Competition.
HONORÉ is currently working on her first solo album of original Soul music: a fresh, new take referencing the classical styling of Soul from the 1970s and early 80s with its gorgeous orchestral arrangements, coupled with an infectious Tokyo City Pop soft aesthetic.
Creating this music with HONORÉ is multi-instrumentalist and producer Thomas McKay of Exeter Sound Studios, who has signed in London UK to R.C.A Records, Tommyboy Records N.Y.C., Warner Chappell N.Y.C and B.M.G. Canada. Thomas is platinum-awarded and Juno Nominated. The songs are arranged by Maurice Heard, who is behind the orchestral moments of 2024 GRAMMY Best New Artist Winner Victoria Monét. The songs are mixed by 3 x Juno-winning engineer Vic Florencia and feature the talents of:
Ron Otis (drum): Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Earl Klugh, SWV, Ken, Joann Shaw Taylor, Brian O'Neal, Tim Bowman
Takashi Iio (bass): 9-time Detroit Music Award Winner for Best Bassist, Michael Bolton, Sara Bareilles, Marcus Belgrave
Thom McKay (guitar): Nightcrawlers (4th & Broadway UK/Island UK), Five Guys Named Moe (RCA UK/BMG UK), Joydrop (Tommyboy NYC/Warner Chappell NYC), JUNO Nominated and Platinum awarded producer
Antony Gordon (keys): The Dramatics, Glenn Jones, Alexander O’Neal, Cherelle, Lin Rountree, Les Nubians
KC Roberts (guitar): Snarky Puppy
Since falling in love with and marrying a Canadian, she moved to the city of Toronto “Where life became the sweetest I’d ever known.” HONORÉ’s new music is born from true love. In her own words: “I even surprised myself!
This love has changed the very fabric of my world, and I can’t help but write songs about that joy and sweetness. Hopefully I can inspire others with my tiny miracle to dare to do the unusual because we all deserve to be happy.”
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Originally from Hong Kong, Bevis Ng is a Toronto-based percussionist, specializing in contemporary classical music. He is completing a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree in Percussion Performance at the University of Toronto with the support of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship and Terence Clarkson and Cornelis van de Graaff Graduate Scholarship. As a musician passionate about chamber music, his doctoral research focuses on rehearsal strategies for percussion chamber music.
Bevis founded two Toronto-based percussion groups: KöNG Duo, with fellow percussionist Hoi Tong Keung, and Kairos Percussion Quartet. Award-winning KöNG Duo has actively performed in Canada and abroad, including Darmstadt (Germany), Portland OR, and Eindhoven (The Netherlands). KöNG Duo is Marimba One’s ensemble artist. Kairos Percussion Quartet was formed in 2023. Members include Andrew Busch, Nikki Huang, and Thomas Li. The quartet has performed in various places across Canada, including the Aga Khan Museum, the Music Garden, McGill University, the University of Windsor, and Arcadia University. In 2024, They were featured as the solo quartet in Kevin Lau’s Charon’s Dance at UofT’s Wind Symphony concert.
Bevis believes in the power of combining thoughtful programming, composer-collaboration, and recontextualization of existing repertoires in a contemporary music concert. He hopes to create a more inviting concert experience for the audience by making contemporary classical music more relevant and relatable through these tools. His co-curation in KöNG Duo—good morning, hong kong—unfolds the duo’s memories about a place they used to call home. Intertwining video projection, lighting, voice, and music, it explores the sensation of longing, nostalgia, and being lost in memories.
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Dr. SarahRose Black PhD RP MTA is a certified music therapist and registered psychotherapist, specializing in palliative care and psychosocial oncology at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and her private psychotherapy clinic (Whole Note Psychotherapy) in Toronto, Ontario. She is a pianist, vocalist, and music health educator, and has performed, taught, and presented on her clinical work and research across Canada. SarahRose specializes in educating health care providers in the use of music as a tool for optimal wellness. She has presented at conferences, arts-based workshops and medical education events throughout the country.
In 2020, her doctoral research on music therapy and medically assisted dying earned her a collaborative specialization in palliative and end-of-life care through the Institute for Life Course and Aging. In 2019, SarahRose and Dr. Andrew Ascenzo founded Pulse Music, a collaboration which explores the intersections between the performing arts and music therapy through storytelling and performance. Together, they have performed with the Canadian Opera Company, Xenia Concerts, the Gryphon Trio, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Public Library, Google Canada, Pocket Concerts, Concerts in Care, and the Room 217 Foundation.
As founder and coordinator of the inaugural music therapy programs at both the cancer centre and Kensington Hospice, SarahRose has introduced models of music psychotherapy for patients with varying diagnoses and psychosocial needs, across varying ages and stages of treatment. SarahRose has published on music and health care, music therapy, as well as oncology, palliative and end of life care in a number of peer-reviewed academic journals, as well as The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, MacLean's Magazine, and the Cancer Knowledge Network. Her music therapy specializations include improvisation and songwriting, and her clinical work has been featured on Global TV, Wholenote Magazine, and the West End Phoenix. She is an academic graduate supervisor at Wilfrid Laurier University, an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, and the former Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Music Therapy.
