"Recurrence" Album Recording with ICOT Chamber Orchestra - May 2023
NEW ALBUM
RECURRENCE
ICOT is delighted to announce the release of our forthcoming album, “Recurrence” for ICOT chamber orchestra, which will be recorded this month in Toronto.
We are thrilled to be working with the Leaf Music label for the production and distribution of this album.
Recurrence features five new commissioned compositions of renowned Canadian composers Maziar Heidari, Saman Shahi, Keyan Emami, Jordan Nobles, and Nicole Lizée and will be available everywhere on October 13.
We are also absolutely delighted to be working with some of Canada’s most high-profile musicians as part of the ICOT chamber orchestra:
New Orford String Quartet (Jonathan Crow, Andrew Wan, Sharon Wei, Brian Makner)
Leslie Allt (Flute)
Peter Stoll (Clarinet)
Ryan Scott (Percussion)
Beverly Johnston (Percussion)
Scott Peterson (Bass)
Saman Shahi (Piano)
Maziar Heidari (conductor)
We also want to extend our deepest gratitude to Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada, and The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings (FACTOR) for their generous support in realizing this project.
Recurrence had its genesis at the beginning of the pandemic, when the notion of repetition assumed a novel and unsettling meaning for many people. The album explores the idea of repetition through different iterations in the natural and artificial worlds. The result is five exceptional artistic works, each unique in its aesthetic and sonic exploration into the vortex of repetition.
Album art: David Griffin
“Blurred Realities” and the world-premier of “Streams of the Unconscious” was an absolute success last night. Many thanks to our incredible partners: Soundstreams, Andrew Noseworthy, Jamie Drake, Richard Burrows, Yang Chen and Tim Francom for all their efforts and artistry.
Also we were pleasantly surprised and honoured to have a very special guest among us last night: The former Governor General of Canada, Ms. Adrienne Clarkson!
Also many thanks to the Ontario Arts council for their generous support towards creating this piece.
Our latest collaborative work “Streams of the Unconscious” for percussion quartet and electric guitar, commissioned and produced by Soundstreams, world-premier on April 13th in Toronto!
Book your free tickets here:
Toronto Symphony Orchestra - Open House
We had a great time performing as part of Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Open House at Roy Thompson Hall.
We performed some solo and 4-hand piano music celebrating the music that ICOT has created over the past decade. (Photos: Bahar Tavasoli)
Excited for this concert as part of the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra's season that features our piece “Images” for trumpet, clarinet, cello and bassoon.
COT is thrilled to be a part of @soundstreams ’ 40th season with a brand new commission “Blurred Realities” for percussion quartet and electric guitar.
This new piece will be part of Soundstreams’ “Encounters” series, and will be premiered in April 2023.
More details about the date and performers will be announced soon! Stay tuned!
REBOOT - Featuring The Rogue Duo
ICOT is proud to present the Canadian violin piano duet, The Rogue Duo to stage to its first in-person performance in 2 years with "Reboot" on Saturday July 24th, featuring a variety of music, including works by Canadian composers.
Very limited in-person tickets available at: http://www.reboot.brownpapertickets.com
ICOT and Scarborough Philharmonic
.jpg/:/rs=w:400,cg:true,m)
Very happy to be involved with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and their 20-21 virtual season by contributing a brand new chamber piece for a world-premiere this November.
Stay tuned for more details!
In the meantime make sure you check out SPO’s composer in residence Daniel Mehdizadeh and his SPO podcast series, which includes some fantastic interviews with experts in the music industry. We’ll partake in this series in 2021 as well!
September 2020
ICOT 2020 Call for Scores Virtual PErformances July 28-30 2020
.jpg/:/)
ICOT is proud to announce its third Call for Scores inviting all Canadian composers in collaboration with three Canadian Pianists Adam Sherkin, Megan Thibeault and Wesley Shen. The call seeks short works for Piano solo, and the winning works will be performed three times via livestream by our pianists in July 2020.
For more information regarding eligibility, submission process and prizes please visit our "Call For Scores 2020" page on this website or click on the photo.
Canada Council Grant!
Thrilled to have received a commissioning grant form the Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada for the creation of a new orchestral piece for Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra's 2020-21 season.
We are very excited for our second collaboration with SPO and we thanks the Canada Council for their continued support! @canada.council.
January 2020
New Chamber piece by ICOT in Toronto
We are thrilled to partner up with Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra and Canadian Sinfonietta's chamber music series on February 8th with their "Beethoven's Septet and More" concert featuring a brand new piece by ICOT titled "Caravan Rhapsody". We are also very happy that our music director, Maziar Heidari will be conducting this new composition as well as a piece by Elizabeth Raum.
December 2019
One year from our Opera
Exactly one year ago, on November 2nd and 3rd, ICOT took to its second opera “The Journey: Notes of Hope” to stage with a fantastic and hardworking team. Hard to believe a year has already passed!
Photos: Farshid Soleimanpour
November 2019
ICOT's music in Ottawa
Very excited about the second performance of our Rumi’s Fables this this summer by Ladom Ensemble at the Ottawa Chamberfest!
August 2019