Arlan Vriens is the guest curator for Waiting for Godot? The concert’s theme reflects the reduction in scope that our lives took during the pandemic, a world that was largely reduced to the immediate neighbourhood. Arlan’s experience led him to a renewed appreciation for the everyday, the trees in the park, and even Toronto’s ubiquitous raccoons. The concert he’s curated features music that is attentive to the small details with the same revelatory perspective.
All of the composers are female-identifying, and come from across Canada.
Anna Pidgorna’s Obsessive Circularity of Thought (solo harpsichord) — the piece revolves around the repetition and re-examination of short passages;
Nicole Lizée’s Urbexploitation (viola, viola, cello, harpsichord, video & soundtrack) takes the harpsichord into new and digital territory;
Jocelyn Morlock‘s Petrichor (violin and piano) and Carmen Braden‘s The Seed Knows (violin and piano) both examine the everyday miracle of natural growth;
Vivian Fung’s String Quartet 4 “Insects and Machines”, Veronique Vaka’s Flowen, and Dorothy Chang’s Beautiful Things, all string quartets, are characterized by a focus on subtleties of expression;
Beverley McKiver’s world premiere Perfect Light (piano trio) was inspired by the composer’s immediate environment during the pandemic.