Can you hear me?

The season finale, “Can You Hear Me?” is a reflective, yet uplifting celebration of music seeking to amplify society’s underrepresented voices. We hope you’ll join us on this journey of discovery.

Music by Beethoven, Sarah Quartel 🍁, Shireen Abu-Khader 🍁, Andrew Balfour 🍁, and a premiere by Chris Kovarik 🍁.

With special guests
Maryem Tollar 🍁, soprano
Richard Burrows 🍁, percussion
and the Guelph Youth Singers

Tickets are $35/$30/$10/$5

ONLINE SALES ARE CLOSED. 

LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR

A Silence Haunts Me (2019) by Jake Runestad 

Based on a letter written by Beethoven describing his experience of gradually losing his hearing, this deeply moving work ends in silence with the choir mouthing words that can no longer be heard.

This is a very personal piece for several choir members, who are experiencing their own hearing loss.

I Forgive (2022) by Shireen Abu-Khader 🍁

This work features the words of Egyptian LGBTQ activist Sarah Hejazi (1989-2020) who was tortured and imprisoned in Egypt before being granted refugee status in Canada. She died by suicide shortly after arriving in Canada, leaving behind a note that went viral on social media.

Egyptian-Canadian singer Maryem Tollar will sing the solo of this work in Arabic.

Towards Infinity (Oblivion) (2024) by Chris Kovarik 🍁

🌍 World Premiere!

Finalist in the 2023-24 GCC Emerging Composer Competition.

Chris writes, “I came of age in a time and place where being transgendered was not part of the daily experience of life the way it is for so many today – it would get you shunned, expelled, erased from society. Coming out is finally allowing me to be open and free in my work; to explore feelings, structures, textures, and styles that previously I would never have allowed myself.”

Read more about this concert in our profile article on GuelphToday.com