News

Colleen Allen (flute/sax), George Koller (bass) and I have been busy recording our first CD as a trio! We have amassed a huge repertoire of music with influences from Baroque to World music, standards, originals and music by Canadian composers. We are a chamber ensemble with a diverse musical landscape and can’t wait to share our musical conversations with you. Please join us this Thursday, Sept 19 and Friday, September 20 at Hirut Cafe 2050 Danforth Avenue. 

I’ll be entering January in full swing with my wonderful bandmates Colleen Allen and George Koller. We have a wealth of new material we’re gearing up to record and I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been up to on January 11 and 12 at Hirut Cafe. Hirut is one of the most talked about venues for jazz in Toronto and I am really looking forward to playing their recently acquired acoustic piano.

And then on January 14, I’ll be performing with Lenka Lichtenberg’s “Thieves of Dreams” at Sound and Sense: Jewish Music @ York. This project features poetry Lenka’s grandmother wrote while incarcerated at Theresienstadt Concentration Camp. Lenka commissioned an eclectic group of female composers to write the music and the album won the 2023 World Music Juno Award. I’m very excited that we’ll be debuting the song I wrote entitled “The Art of a Goodbye”. It’s a free concert, but a reservation is recommended.

edit: Please note that the “Thieves of Dreams” concert scheduled for Thursday, October 19 has been cancelled. It will be rescheduled for a later date.

I really do love this time of the year. The fall colours bring along new beginnings and a freshness in the air. I’m particularly excited about about 2 upcoming concerts. One is a full-scale production of Lenka Lichtenberg’s “Thieves of Dreams” presented by “Sound and Sense: Jewish Music @York University”. Admission is free but tickets are recommended. Lenka’s project is based on newly discovered poetry her grandmother wrote while incarcerated at the Terezin Concentration Camp. I’m particularly excited that we’ll be debuting my contribution to the project, a composition I wrote to one of the gorgeous poems: The Art of a Goodbye: a vocal duet with Lenka. 

I’m also very excited to play with “Triple Sax” presented by West End Jazz. I’ll be playing with 4 wonderful horn players: Colleen Allen, Elena Kapeleris and Carrie Chesnutt (saxophones), Rebecca Hennessy (trumpet), Ethan Ardelli (drums) and Peter Telford (bass). Tickets can be purchased here.

I’ve been making music with George Koller for much of my jazz career, and we are involved in a ton of musical projects. It’s always a special treat to be in a duo format where either one of us can take a detour, we can surprise each other and still find our way….somewhere….

We’ll be performing at the Jester’s Court in Port Perry on Thursday, September 14 at 1:30PM. Perhaps we’ll even see the beginnings of fall. Come and join us.   

and so it goes. Lots of time to reflect and write and practice and experiment followed by a full weekend of completely different gigs. On Saturday I’ll be playing standards (standards!!) with Bobby Brough (I mean…), Jim Gelcer and Victor Bateman. Beautiful interesting repertoire, much of which I haven’t played in years. It’s a fascinating marker for me to rediscover these gems and to see my own growth. We’ll be at The Pilot from 3-6 on Aug 26.

And the following day, I’ll be joining the wonderful multi-instrumentalist David Woodhead for his “Precious Little” series at the Tranzac from 5-7. We’ll be playing original material written by David and myself, some of which I’ll only have a day or two to look at. David’s music his quirky, challenging, fun and really amazing.

I’ve been preparing for a truly wonderful musical weekend. Firstly, the fabulous Jazz Room in Waterloo on Saturday, April 29, where I’lll be playing with George Koller on bass and Ethan Ardelli on drums. Some of my new material is inspired by Baroque music, and I’ll be including some rarely heard Jobim, a Duke Ellington Suite, some Canadian compositions and some originals. Details can be found on my Event’s page

The following evening I’ll be performing with Lenka Lichtenberg’s amazing Juno winning Thieves of Dreams. The music is based on poetry written by Lenka’s grandmother when she was incarcerated in the Theresienstadt Concentration camp. The music is beautiful to play. It’s evocative, moving and I’m honoured to be part of it. You can get tickets here. 

I’m totally thrilled to be part of Lenka Lichtenberg’s stunning project. This multi-media performance will take place on Thursday November 10 at the Leah Posluns Theatre, 7:30 PM. Purchase tickets here.

Here are some details:

This project is about women. Creative, strong, breaking social taboos, and in some ways… invisible. Award-winning performer Lenka Lichtenberg’s grandmother Anna Hana Friesová was a well-educated artist from an assimilated Czech family. Lichtenberg grew up unaware of her grandmother’s talent and it was only when her mother passed away that she discovered a treasure among her possessions: two worn notebooks filled with poems that Anna Hana wrote between 1940-1945, just before and during her incarceration in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Stunned by the intensity of her words, the erudite vocabulary, the raw and often disturbing honesty, Lichtenberg put her grandmother’s powerful words to music. The critically acclaimed album has risen to the top of the European World Music Radio charts. Join us during HEW for a beautiful, multi-media theatrical concert.

Created by award-winning musician, producer and composer Lenka Lichtenberg with Milli Janatková, Jessica Deutsch and others. Directed by Leah Cherniak. Performed by Lenka Lichtenberg (vocals, keyboards, harmonium); Aviva Chernick (vocals, narration); Jessica Deutsch (violin, bass, musical director); Auri Fell (vocals, ukulele, saxophone); and Fern Lindzon (piano, vocals). Visuals by Lumír Hladík.

Co-presented by the Holocaust Education Centre and the Ashkenaz Foundation. In association with Congregation Darchei Noam and the Consulate General of the Czech Republic.

I’m really looking forward to playing at the wonderful Jazz Bistro on Friday, September 16 with Colleen Allen (saxes), Bennett Young (bass) and Jim Gelcer (drums). We’ll be playing the early dinner set from 5-7. Be sure to reserve a table.

I’m also really excited about playing a one hour concert with George Koller on October 1 at 1PM for the Kensington Market Jazz Festival.

I’ll be playing 2 virtual concerts today! (November 7)
You can now enjoy Yiddish diva Theresa Tova’s fabulous “Autumn Songs” concert at the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. Guitarist and bassist David Woodhead and I accompany Tova in a “living room” concert. Click on LIVE. The concert will also be available on demand after today.

I’ll also be playing a solo piano concert for the Kensington Market Jazz Festival. My concert is scheduled for 6:30PM on November 7, (day 3) but just in case they’re ahead of schedule, tune in a little earlier, or you can always rewind. There are so many wonderful artists playing at the festival! You can tune in starting at 4 PM. Check out their website to tune in live.