Soundstreams Presents SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Soundstreams presents, "Seven Deadly Sins," original music theatre based on timeless transgressions by an eclectic company of composers, songwriters, and performers. Seven Deadly Sins will be at The Great Hall in Toronto, for three performances, April 9, 10 and 11, 2019.

Evagrius Ponticus (345-399 AD) is hardly a familiar household reference for most of us. Yet this fourth century monk and ascetic is credited with the classification of the seven deadly sins, namely: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. His writings and those of his followers helped to eventually lead the Roman Catholic Church to designate these as cardinal sins. Naturally enough, the seven deadly sins have been the subject of countless depictions in the arts, including music. For Soundstreams' artistic director, Lawrence Cherney, they seemed to be eternal sources of inspiration for musical creation and therefore a source to be tapped for the seven commissions of original musical works that form the program of Soundstreams' "Seven Deadly Sins."

Given the broad relevance of such transgressions in human experience, Cherney has assembled a collection of musical settings that reflect a great diversity of approaches, both in the style of musical genres and of participating artists. As a result, we have great contrasts both between and within the commissioned pieces, in styles ranging from classical, jazz, soul and avant-garde, to pop, and world music.

Four of the "sins" were created by singer song-writers, Chloe Charles, Elizabeth Shepherd, Robin Dann, and Aviva Chernick (in collaboration with composer James Rolfe).

Contemporary music composers Analia Llugdar and Christopher Mayo have both created pieces that mezzo-soprano Andrea Ludwig will interpret. Composer John Kameel Farah, renowned for his improvisational skills as a pianist, in addition to his new piece, will also handle keyboards in the concert's ensemble.

The participants in their own words, on their featured sin:
Chloe Charles - Gluttony - "Gluttony, to me, stems from existential loneliness and the ever-present but not often acknowledged truth that we don't understand our existence or purpose. Thus, we are left to fill this void with worldly goods, in an attempt to distract ourselves from this emptiness. Sadly, this ends in failure and the emptiness returns and the cycle repeats itself."

Elizabeth Shepherd - Envy "I'm fascinated with envy, because out of all the sins it's the most corrosive in that there's no joy to it. It's not like something in excess, something that is pleasurable in excess, it's just totally corrosive, so it's a weird one. And of course, it's one that everyone can relate to, especially artists."

Aviva Chernick - Wrath - Aviva Chernick, offers a verse from her work. "Under the surface is a storm, contained yet perpetually brewing. The voice is the conveyor of this previously stifled potency. There is sound riding on supple breath. There is language, sacred and spitting. The containment gives way to an unleashing. What damage will there be in the wake of this storm?"

Analia Llugdar - Lust - "Lust finds its essence in the pleasure of the transgression of the forbidden, in the delectation of going beyond what seems natural and socially accepted, more than the pursuit of frenzied sexual pleasure."

Robin Dann - Sloth - "I'd like to write music that a sloth (the animal) might live by. The constant aim will be to generate music that flows slowly and yet is thick with intention, in the same way that a sloth might reach for a leaf on a branch with single-minded intention and focus."

John Kameel Farah - Pride - "Pride is related to balance. This piece alternates between the two extremes of bluster and dejection, and how both extremes reside within us."

Christopher Mayo - Greed - Christopher chose to reflect on a branch of a 17th century Russian religious sect, the Sons of Freedom Doukhobors. "The Doukhobors held an extreme aversion to material wealth. To protest their own temptation by greed and an aggressive reminder of humility, the Doukhobors would burn down their own houses, schools and community buildings rather than accumulate wealth and belongings."

The performers will be accompanied by a stellar six-piece ensemble that will feature Erika Raum, violin, John Kameel Farah, keyboards, Jesse Dietschi, bass, Joel Schwartz, guitar, Jamie Drake, percussion, and Moshe Shulman, accordion.
A pre-show chat with Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney will be held at 7:15 pm before the performance.

Tickets start at $22 and are available through The Royal Conservatory Box Office at 416-408-0208 or online at http://bit.ly/2HXdZ9f.

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