Endings

 Endings is an experimental music-driven performance. It was rapidly conceived in September 2017 through a partnership between Jumblies and Soundstreams in response to Claude Vivier’s 'Musik für das Ende’. We liked the piece so much that we revisited it thanks to funds from the Ontario Arts Council’s Music program, and performed it on November 22nd, 2018, at the Grace Centre for the Arts. Moving from scored to improvised vocals, combining music, movement, words and visual imagery, Endings explores and expresses things that end - whether for better or worse, for a while or forever.

Concept & Composition: Lieke van der Voort
Concept & Design: Ruth Howard
Soprano: Vania Chan
Baritone: Keith Lam

Gather Round Singers:
Director: Shifra Cooper
Accompanist: Daev Clysdale
Anchor Singers: Simon Black, Jackie Omstead, Soraya Peerbaye, Risa de Rege, Liz Rucker, Gehan Udayanga, Arie Verheul van de Ven
Choir Members and Performers: Margaret Bojin, Tamyka Bullen, Melissa Burgess, Sam Egan, Jon Field, Ken Harrower, Harshi Hemachandra, Ken Harrower, Rimah Jabr, Shelley La Hay, Hodan Ibrahim, Sandra Kanagasabai, Daphne Morgan, Sheyla Peerbaye-Jones, Mario Pietrantoni, Janis Proctor, Ashley Riley, Lily Rovillos, Sam Rowlandson-O’Hara Shifra Saltzman, Ariana Santistebum, Bruno Santistebum, Bernadette Shuman, Marlene Sheehan-Carey, Natalija Spasic, Tijana Spasic, Tasmeen Syed, Vivian Quing Wei, Herold van de Ven.

Stage Manager: Jules Vodarek Hunter
Production & Outreach Coordinator: Bella Lyne
Performance Coordinator/Facilitator: Tijana Spasic
Production & Performance: Jamie-lee Oshkabewisens, Ashley Riley
Catering & Design: Marianne Alas
Technical Director: Steafan Hannigan
Admin & Design: Sam Egan
ASL Interpretater: Stacey Park
Childcare: Hodan Ibrahim, Tasmeen Syed
Graphic Design & Video Documentation: Adrienne Marcus Raja
Photo Documentation: Liam Coo

Thanks: Stephen Cooper, Parker Dirks, Chris-Ann Manning-Forde, Ian Cusson and staff of Grace Toronto Church.

VENUE PARTNER

FUNDERS

AUDIO

https://soundcloud.com/user-439037178/endings/s-LvB4T

REHEARSAL PHOTOS

Guest Artists Bios

Lieke van der Voort – Composer Composer and vocalist Lieke van der Voort was born in The Netherlands and moved to Toronto in 2009. Her works focus heavily on improvisation and strive to combine jazz, classical music and all aspects of the human voice. Her work has been described as emotionally complex, raw and honest. Lieke further leads Kontraband Kollektif, an art music collective. She was selected as a composer for Toronto Creative Music Lab 2017, Soundstreams Emerging Composer Workshop 2018, and participated at Banff’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative music. Currently she is under mentorship with Juliet Palmer through PIVOT. Lieke’s works have been supported by Canada Council of the Arts and Ontario Arts Council.
Keith Lam – Baritone Hong Kong born, Toronto-based baritone Keith Lam was described as “a suave, fine grained baritone” by the Boston Globe. Most recently, he portrayed the role of Major Lyons in Stephanie Martin’s new opera “Llandovery Castle” with Bicycle Opera Project. Among his other operatic roles, highlights include the title role of John Blow’s “Venus & Adonis”, Papageno in “Die Zauberflote”, Melisso in “Alcina”, Don Basilio in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, Sacristan in “Tosca”, and Schaunard in “La Bohème”. Keith is a member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and has made appearances with companies such as Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Against the Grain Theatre and Theatre of Early Music.
Vania Chan – Soprano Lyric Coloratura Soprano Vania Lizbeth Chan (M.M. – Manhattan School of Music) made her Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall – first prize in the Barry Alexander International Competition, NY. Her “gently shimmering coloratura” can be heard in the recording of the Dora Award winning opera THE LESSON OF DA JI (Toronto Masque Theatre), which received a critic’s choice review in Opera News, New York. Past collaborations with Jumblies Theatre include recording her voice for the operatic cartoon THE VIEW FROM HERE (Palej/Rucker/Bohdanowicz) and singing the soprano solos for UNDERNEATH (van de Ven/Howard) at the 2017 Touching Ground Festival. www.vaniachan.com
Shifra Cooper – Choir Director Shifra Cooper is choral director and community artist who is passionate about bringing together singers of mixed abilities and backgrounds with professional composers, musicians, and artists. Since 2009, Shifra has collaborated on community arts projects with companies including: Jumblies, The Bain Arts Collective, Making Room Community Arts, and Arts4All. She received a nomination for the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting (2016) and completed her BA in Literature at the University of Toronto (2014). She has been leading community choirs across Toronto since 2014 – with Making Room and Jumblies – and is proud to bring singers from these projects together this spring as part of the new inter-community choir: the Gather Round Singers.

Lieke van der Voort – Composer

Composer and vocalist Lieke van der Voort was born in The Netherlands and moved to Toronto in 2009. Her works focus heavily on improvisation and strive to combine jazz, classical music and all aspects of the human voice. Her work has been described as emotionally complex, raw and honest. Lieke further leads Kontraband Kollektif, an art music collective. She was selected as a composer for Toronto Creative Music Lab 2017, Soundstreams Emerging Composer Workshop 2018, and participated at Banff’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative music. Currently she is under mentorship with Juliet Palmer through PIVOT. Lieke’s works have been supported by Canada Council of the Arts and Ontario Arts Council.

Keith Lam – Baritone

Hong Kong born, Toronto-based baritone Keith Lam was described as “a suave, fine grained baritone” by the Boston Globe. Most recently, he portrayed the role of Major Lyons in Stephanie Martin’s new opera “Llandovery Castle” with Bicycle Opera Project. Among his other operatic roles, highlights include the title role of John Blow’s “Venus & Adonis”, Papageno in “Die Zauberflote”, Melisso in “Alcina”, Don Basilio in “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”, Sacristan in “Tosca”, and Schaunard in “La Bohème”. Keith is a member of the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir and has made appearances with companies such as Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Against the Grain Theatre and Theatre of Early Music.

Vania Chan – Soprano

Lyric Coloratura Soprano Vania Lizbeth Chan (M.M. – Manhattan School of Music) made her Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall – first prize in the Barry Alexander International Competition, NY. Her “gently shimmering coloratura” can be heard in the recording of the Dora Award winning opera THE LESSON OF DA JI (Toronto Masque Theatre), which received a critic’s choice review in Opera News, New York. Past collaborations with Jumblies Theatre include recording her voice for the operatic cartoon THE VIEW FROM HERE (Palej/Rucker/Bohdanowicz) and singing the soprano solos for UNDERNEATH (van de Ven/Howard) at the 2017 Touching Ground Festival. www.vaniachan.com

Shifra Cooper – Choir Director

Shifra Cooper is choral director and community artist who is passionate about bringing together singers of mixed abilities and backgrounds with professional composers, musicians, and artists. Since 2009, Shifra has collaborated on community arts projects with companies including: Jumblies, The Bain Arts Collective, Making Room Community Arts, and Arts4All. She received a nomination for the Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting (2016) and completed her BA in Literature at the University of Toronto (2014). She has been leading community choirs across Toronto since 2014 – with Making Room and Jumblies – and is proud to bring singers from these projects together this spring as part of the new inter-community choir: the Gather Round Singers.

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