For one night only, on Saturday, March 22, 2025, Soundstreams presents with you and without you, a concert program featuring four song cycles for solo voice and ensemble, coupling electrifying and seductive works that are among the greatest of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The brilliant soprano Danika Lorèn joins the virtuoso chamber orchestra Ensemble Soundstreams for a program that examines the tragic nature of song and that understands all love songs as songs of loss.
All songs are inherently derived from the love song
Curated by chamber musician and curator Brad Cherwin, winner of the 2024/25 Soundstreams New Voices Curator Mentorship Program, this performance will feature powerful juxtapositions: purely instrumental pieces by German composer and pianist of the Romantic era Fanny Mendelssohn, British contemporary classical music composer Oliver Knussen and Canadian composer Matthew Ricketts; works for voice and ensemble by English composer Tansy Davies and American composer Shawn Jaeger; rich Romantic-era consonance and striking contemporary dissonance;* and the intimacy of the love song in a work by Ana Sokolović, a Canadian composer known for her rhythm-driven music. These seemingly opposing concepts are the musical personification of two lovers, challenging audience perceptions of contemporary repertoire by featuring works that are deeply romantic and powerfully expressive.
“with you and without you evokes the beautiful tragedy of love, and imagines stark juxtapositions — vocal music versus instrumental music, warm consonance versus icy dissonance — and the recurring dialogues between these seemingly irreconcilable concepts as the musical personification of two lovers.”
– Brad Cherwin, concert Curator
About Soundstreams
Founded in 1982, Soundstreams is a global leader in the presentation of innovative, carefully curated and immersive musical experiences. It is committed to showcasing the work of living Canadian and global composers/musicians, bringing to focus contemporary conversations to its communities. Since its inception, it’s introduced audiences to works from some of the finest and most groundbreaking composers of our age, from R. Murray Schafer to Nicole Lizée.
About Danika Lorèn
With a deep-rooted passion for both performing and composing, Danika Lorèn has captivated audiences with their evocative (and provocative) compositional style and spellbinding interpretations of many classical masterpieces. A former Canadian Opera Ensemble member and Equilibrium young artist alum, Danika is currently based in Toronto.
* Consonance refers to two or more tones (played one after the other or together as a chord) that go well together and are pleasant to hear. Dissonance is the opposite, referring to two or more tones that create a grating, unpleasant sound.
(Photo credits: Danika Lorèn/Soundstreams. Photo edited with Afterlight.)
Event details
Hosted by: Soundstreams
Type of event: music concert
Curated by: Brad Cherwin
Featured composers: Tansy Davies, Shawn Jaeger, Oliver Knussen, Fanny Mendelssohn, Matthew Ricketts & Ana Sokolović
Performed by: Danika Lorèn (soprano) & Ensemble Soundstreams (chamber orchestra)
Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025
Start time: 7:30 PM ET
Duration: TBA
Cost: Single tickets: C$36.50 – $101.25 (including fees & tax)
Location: Jane Mallett Theatre, St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, 27 Front St. E., Toronto, ON, M5E 1B4
Booking link: Book your tickets here. Accessible tickets and phone/email help: 1-800-708-6754 | boxoffice@tolive.com
Contact details: Soundstreams, 20 St. Joseph St., Toronto, ON, M4Y 1J9, Canada; 416-504-1282, info@soundstreams.ca, soundstreams.ca
Accessibility: Info here. Accessible tickets and phone/email help available at 1-800-708-6754 or boxoffice@tolive.com
Refund policy: All sales are final. Single tickets cannot be exchanged or returned for refund. Become a subscriber in order to access exchangeable tickets.