Songs of Hope

TRACKS:

1.      Shreya Jha: Walk With Me (5:03)  [notes and lyrics]

2.      Elienna Wang: Rosé Leaves (5:36) [notes and lyrics]

3.      Ted Runcie: Where Shadow Chases Light (5:42) [notes and lyrics]

4.      Leela Gilday: All Alone (4:11)

5.      Daniel Mehdizadeh: New Castles (5:12) [notes and lyrics]

6.      Rachel McFarlane: Eternal Embrace (4:15) [notes and lyrics]

7.      Bruno Degazio: Seven Parables of the Rising Dawn (17:09) [notes and lyrics]

8-10.  Ronald Royer: Women of Dante’s Divine Comedy, Three Songs [notes and texts]

    • Francesca da Rimini (Inferno) (6:05)
    •  Sapia of Siena (Purgatory) (6:42)
    • Beatrice (Paradise) (5:55)

Danielle MacMillan, Mezzo Soprano (Tr. 1-10)

Maghan McPhee, Soprano (Tr. 3, 5)

Ronald Royer, Conductor (Tr. 1, 6-10)

Ted Runcie, Conductor (Tr. 3)

SPO Chamber Players:  

Kaye Royer, Clarinet (Tr. 1, 3, 6-10)

Kristin Day, Bassoon (Tr. 7-10)

Gilles Thibodeau, Horn (Tr. 1, 3, 7-10)

Lisa Tahara, Piano (Tr. 1-3, 5, 7-10)

Odin Quartet:

Tanya Charles, Violin (Tr. 1, 3, 4, 6-10)

Alex Toskov, Violin (Tr. 3, 4, 6-10)

Matthew Antal, Viola (1-4, 6-10)

Samuel Bisson, Cello (1, 3-10)

Production:

Matt Antal, Recording Engineer; Jamie Way, Cover Design; Ronald Royer, Producer

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Odin Quartet, 2024

Artistic Statement:

In 2023, the SPO decided to embark on a musical journey. We asked ourselves: “How can artists respond to the times in which we live?” Our answer was to create a song cycle embracing the theme, “through adversity, hope”.  We brought together composers with a variety of lived experiences and cultural perspectives, who were also at different stages of their lives and careers. We selected 2 singers and chose an ensemble of 8 musicians from the SPO community, including our ensemble-in-residence, the Odin Quartet. We asked mezzo soprano Danielle MacMillan to be involved as we developed the various stories, lyrics, and music. Some of our composers wrote their own lyrics, and others were inspired by and adapted historical works. Each composer maintained their own musical voice but worked collaboratively while creating their lyrics and music. The SPO wanted to create a unified song cycle with the goal of engaging and touching our audience with music that finds hope in the face of challenge. For the next stage, Songs of Hope was workshopped, rehearsed, performed and finally recorded. Soprano Maghan McPhee summed it up for our team,

“For me, this project reaffirmed a core truth: music isn’t just about notes and rhythms—it’s about the stories we tell and the bonds we form along the way.Here’s to hope, collaboration, and the enduring power of art to connect us all.”

Mirage Video Online

“My intent in this composition is to explore the shifting and illusionary world of the dream state. Mirage begins with a slow meditative introduction representing the act of falling asleep. A solo viola cadenza follows, starting a sequence of musical episodes, each emphasizing different emotions and parts of a dream. As the ensemble enters, the music takes on a melancholy air with occasional mysterious interludes. In the next section, the music speeds up and takes on a restless and more intense character employing a bluesy and jazz-infused theme. The music moves into a more flowing and serene section before leading into a faster and more agitated section representing the dream taking a more troubled direction. Leading to an unsettling climax, the music abruptly stops leaving silence. The original meditative music returns as the dreamer starts to awake entering that in-between world of wondering if the dream was real or not.”

Ronald Royer, composer; Joyce Lai, violin / Máté Szücs, viola / Andras Weber, cello / Kaye Royer, clarinet / Talisa Blackman, piano. An SPO/Canadian Sinfonietta co-production.

Night Music: Echoes of Film Noir

Ronald Royer, composer | Alexander Panizza, piano

Notes from the Composer: Night Music for piano (2021) was created during the Covid-19 pandemic. Feeling nostalgic, I was drawn to night themes and music from the past. The composition is in the form of a piano sonata, but each of the four movements also functions as an independent character piece. Night Music was written for and dedicated to the wonderful Argentinian/Canadian pianist Alexander Panizza. Due to Toronto’s restrictions concerning live concerts, it was composed to be premiered on the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra’s YouTube channel. Echoes of Film Noir was inspired by the dramatic, gripping, and multi-layered music commonly found in this genre. Film noir was commonly set in dark locations and shot in black and white. In creating music for my fantasy nighttime crime drama, I used a traditional sonata allegro form for the structure. The movement starts with a first theme representing a hardboiled detective, followed by a second theme representing a “femme fatale”. The rest of the movement allows for the music (and the story) to develop, build to a climax, and come to a conclusion. I invite listeners to create their own stories.

 Audio recording and video by Alexander Panizza This video was sponsored by the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and was made possible in part by support from the Toronto Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation.

Websites:

https://www.spo.ca https://alexanderpanizza.com/ https://ronaldroyer.com/

Audio recording copyright 2021 Alexander Panizza and Ronald Royer Video copyright 2021 Alexander Panizza Music copyright 2021 Ronald Royer —