The Elora Festival Returns With Four World Premiere Performances!

The Elora Festival, under the direction of Mark Vuorinen, returns to its first live Festival in three years with a diverse and interesting program, including four world premiere performances.

On Sunday, July 17, The Elora Festival welcomes celebrated Halifax-based Canadian composer Peter-Anthony Togni, Mi’kmaq artist, poet and writer Mary Louise Martin and bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly along with The Elora Singers in the world premiere performance of Peter’s new creation – Voice of the Weaver. This work is a five-movement concerto for bass clarinet and chamber choir based on a poem by Mary Louise Martin, who lives in Millbrook First Nations in Nova Scotia. 

Peter’s setting is based on Mary Louis Martin’s poem, it is good to be reminded of the weaver. The poem reminds us that life is built on a series of tiny episodes in our minute-to-minute experience, episodes that can often hold great meaning. Humanity is noble and graceful, but then so are the tiniest of spiders producing and weaving their beautiful silken threads. Mary Louise Martin reminds us that we are no greater than these tiny ancient weavers. It is not just the small experiences Mary Louise Martin asks us to reflect on, she also invites us to look out beyond ourselves and to know that we are all related and connected. As we stand underneath the tall overwhelming cedars, the great trees are, in her words, “dancing our spirit!”.

The Elora Singers were invited by Peter to perform the world premiere of this new work and workshopped the piece in May. A glimpse into the creative process can be viewed on our Vimeo channel. 

The TorQ Percussion Quartet commissioned new compositions for choir and percussion quartet from some of North America’s leading women composers, including Carmen Braden, Annika Sokolofsky, and Melody McKiver. All three composers bring unique voices to this project, and were meaningfully chosen due to their relationship to place and its influence on their artform. TorQ will present the world premiere performances of these new works together with the Elora Festival’s ensemble-in-residence, The Elora Singers, on Friday, July 22 at 7:30 pm in the iconic Gambrel Barn. 

Please join us this summer for these unique and powerful world premieres at the Elora Festival! Your seat is waiting!

 For tickets and more information, please visit: www.elorafestival.ca