Make your voice heard!
Jacob Clewell, Outreach Coordinator
American violinist/violist Jacob Clewell stands in the vanguard of musicians of his generation. Gold Medalist of the 2017 Vancouver International Music Competition, he leads a multifaceted career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber player, and educator.
Standout moments from recent performance activities include solo and chamber performances at the Scotia Festival, Green Lake Chamber Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Lake District Summer Music, Northern Lights Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico, and Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, France. Jacob has appeared alongside members of the Escher, Emerson, Endellion, Cypress, and Penderecki quartets, Gryphon Trio, Berlin Philharmonic, Seattle and Toronto Symphonies, and with pianists Pedja Muzijevic and Andrew Armstrong. Alongside his duo partner, pianist Sasha Bult-Ito (The Ezra Duo), he has appeared as a guest artist with numerous orchestras and chamber series, toured in the US and Canada, and performed in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Weill Recital Hall in New York, and as a guest at a G7 Summit event held at the Royal Ontario Museum.
As an outspoken advocate for outreach in classical music, Jacob has presented outreach events everywhere from schools and retirement communities to a federal prison. He is the outreach coordinator for the Scarborough Philharmonic and Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival, and has led performances and educational events at Toronto’s Baycrest Hospital, the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, and Toronto Public Library.
Jacob holds degrees from the Cornish College of the Arts, Stony Brook University, and The Glenn Gould School, and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto, where he was a teaching assistant in violin, viola, and chamber music. He is Co-Artistic Director and Artist-Faculty of Viola at the annual Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival in Florida, and directs the Mosbacher Salon Collective in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is currently a violist with the JUNO-winning chamber orchestra Sinfonia Toronto, and serves as principal second violin with the Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra, where he is also a member of the NextGen Performance Program.
Special Thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for support of a two year Outreach program, funded through the Resilient Communities Program
From our Partners: Toronto International Dance Festival
Our friends at Dancing Damsels wanted the SPO community to know about the upcoming 10th Annual International Dance festival happening November 19 & Nov 26, 2023
PRESS RELEASE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Toronto International Dance Festival Celebrates 10th Anniversary, Unites Cultures through Dance
and Art
Toronto, ON – The Toronto International Dance Festival (TIDF) is thrilled to announce its 10th-anniversary
celebration, set to take place at the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, located at 5183 Sheppard Ave
E., Scarborough, ON. This annual event, organized by the non-profit organization Dancing Damsels Inc., is
dedicated to promoting cultural diversity through the art of dance. The festival is scheduled to unfold over two
exciting days on November 19 and November 26, 2023, from 7pm to 9pm.
TIDF has become a cherished tradition in Toronto, bringing together artists and audiences from various
backgrounds to celebrate their rich heritage through the universal language of dance. Over the past decade,
TIDF has played a pivotal role in fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation for the art of dance.
On November 19, the festival will showcase a vibrant array of cultural dances, hip-hop performances, and
social dances. Audiences can look forward to an exhilarating evening featuring outstanding talent, including
Nirkoda Israeli Dancers of Toronto, Rangara Performing Arts, Elite Chinese Arts Troupe (ECAT), Mimi Batho,
BollySass, Sakura Performers, Sentir Venezuela, Mexican Folklore Group TONATIUH, MM Entertainment,
Portuguese Cultural Centre of Mississauga Inc., Dantitude Elites, Kaleidoscope Chinese Performing Arts
(KCPA), BollySalsa, Ensemble Topaz, Gaana at Mac, and SG Expressions.
The program on November 26 will spotlight classical, contemporary, ballet, and modern dance styles. The
stage will be graced by remarkable performers, including Saugandhikam Dance Academy, Karika – Verses of
Dance, Dance Fachin, Mississauga Chinese Arts Organization (MCA0), UV Movement, Shivani Shivakumar,
Sapna Sehravat and Ayushi Sharma, Prajakta David, Kaleidoscope Chinese Performing Arts (KCPA), Hoor
Dance Team, Roosara Dance, Canada’s Ballet Jörgen, Arte Flamenco, The Candy Shop Dance, Tdot Tdat Thai
Dramatic Dance Troupe and ICONS.
What sets the Toronto International Dance Festival apart is its commitment to making the arts accessible to all.
The festival offers free admission to the community, with an RSVP required to ensure venue capacity is not
exceeded. Audience members can secure their spot by following the Eventbrite link, which will be shared on
the festival’s social media channels closer to the event. Furthermore, there will also be free dance workshops
hosted by TIDF across Toronto and GTA leading up to the festival. Details for the workshops will be
announced on our social media channels as well.
To stay updated with all the latest news and announcements regarding TIDF and related workshops, please
follow @tidfcanada on Instagram and Facebook.
For inquiries and further information, please reach out to:
Parul Verma
Festival Manager
Email: contacttidfcanada@gmail.com
Meet the SPO’s 2023-24 Composer-in-Residence
Ted Runcie was born in Jamaica and grew up in Scarborough where as a teenager he played violin in the Scarborough Schools’ Youth Orchestra and sang in the Scarborough Schools’ Youth Choir as a teenager. Runcie is a graduate of McGill University where he studied composition, voice and conducting. Runcie did further studies in composition studies with Christian Wolff in the U.S.A and further conducting studies in Finland with Jorma Panula of the Sibelius Academy.
Over the years Runcie has composed a varied body of work including chamber music, solo instrumental works, choral works, art songs and symphonic works. He has written two ‘sinfoniettas’ based on Jamaican history. His Jamaica Quartets No. 1 & 2 have been recorded by SPO’s ensemble-in-residence, the Odin Quartet.
Runcie spent more than two decades as a conductor and educator in Taiwan where was Music Director of the Hsinchu Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hsinchu Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and where he taught at Changung University.
Ted Runcie, Composer-in-Residence
Born in Jamaica, growing up in Scarborough, Ted is a graduate of MacGill University in composition and conducting.
Over the years Runcie has composed a varied body of work including chamber music, solo instrumental works, choral works, art songs and symphonic works. He plans to write a series of operas on Caribbean subjects as well as to continue writing his series of ‘sinfoniettas’ based on Jamaican history.
His Jamaica Quartets No. 1 & 2 have been recorded by SPO’s ensemble-in-residence, the Odin Quartet.
As a conductor and music educator, Ted was appointed Music Director of the Hsinchu Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hsinchu Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Taiwan. He teaches at Yuteh and Chang Gung University in Taiwan.
Born in Jamaica, growing up in Scarborough, Ted is a graduate of MacGill University in composition and conducting.
Over the years Runcie has composed a varied body of work including chamber music, solo instrumental works, choral works, art songs and symphonic works. He plans to write a series of operas on Caribbean subjects as well as to continue writing his series of ‘sinfoniettas’ based on Jamaican history.
His Jamaica Quartets No. 1 & 2 have been recorded by SPO’s ensemble-in-residence, the Odin Quartet.
As a conductor and music educator, Ted was appointed Music Director of the Hsinchu Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hsinchu Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Taiwan. He teaches at Yuteh and Chang Gung University in Taiwan.
Learn more about Ted and his music at: https://tedruncie.com
Máté Szűcs, viola
Hungarian born violist Máté Szücs has had a career as an award winning soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player.
Máté was principal viola in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra from 2011 to 2018 where he also appeared as a soloist playing the Bartók Viola Concerto in September 2017.
Máté was seventeen when he switched from the violin to the viola and graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels and the Royal Conservatory of Flanders in Antwerp with the highest distinction. He further undertook a session at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth in Waterloo, Belgium where he obtained his diploma, also with the highest distinction.
Máté was eleven when he won the Special Prize of the Hungarian Violin Competition for Young Artists. Not much later he won First Prize of the Violin Competition of Szeged (Hungary) and the First Prize for the Best Sonata Duo of the Hungarian Chamber Music Competition. Since then, he has won First Prize at the International Violin and Viola Competition in Liège in Belgium, as well as finalist of the International Viola Competition “Jean Françaix” in Paris and Laureate of the International Music Competition “Tenuto” in Brussels.
As a chamber musician, Máté has been a member of various chamber ensembles including the Mendelssohn ensemble; Con Spirito piano quartet, Trio Dor, Enigma Ensemble and “Fragments” ensemble. He has worked with prominent musicians such as Janine Jansen, Frank-Peter Zimmermann, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Repin, Ilja Gringolts, Vladimir Mendelssohn, László Fenyő, Kristof Baráti and István Várdai, Camille Thomas, Kirill Troussov and Julien Quentin.
In addition to performing solo with the Berlin Philharmonic, he has soloed with orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the “Bamberger Symphoniker”, the “Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden”, the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra and at the “Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen”., where he was as well principal viola.
Máté is also a sought after pedagogue. Since the summer of 2006 he has been a regular professor at the “Thy Masterclass” chamber music summer festival in Denmark and between 2012 and 2014 was also teaching at the Britten-Pears Festival in Aldeburgh, England. He has taught two years at the University of Music in Saarbrücken, between 2014 and 2018 at the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, between 2015 and 2018 at the “Hanns Eisler” University of Music in Berlin and between 2015 and 2016 the Music Academy of Budapest.
Máté gives masterclasses all over the world including New York, Los Angeles, Michigan, London, Berlin, Brussels, Shanghai, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo.
Since 2018, he has been the Professor of Viola at the Geneva University of Music in Switzerland.
In 2020 he got his PhD Diploma and became Doctor of Arts.
Jacob Clewell
American musician Jacob Clewell stands in the vanguard of musicians of his generation. Gold Medalist of the 2017 Vancouver International Music Competition, he leads a multifaceted career as a soloist, recitalist, chamber player, and educator. In his home base of Toronto, Canada, he has appeared in the contemporary music festival 21C, and has recorded Brahms’ 2 Gesänge for the Canadian Broadcasting Company with Wallis Giunta and Steven Philcox. Jacob also collaborates with painter Karen Mosbacher on Paint:Music, a project focusing on the audio/visual manifestations of synesthesia.
Recent activities include solo and chamber performances at the Scotia Festival, Green Lake Chamber Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Lake District Summer Music, Northern Lights Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico, and Festival Pablo Casals in Prades, France. Jacob has appeared alongside members of the Escher, Emerson, Endellion, Cypress, and Penderecki quartets, Berlin Philharmonic and Seattle Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Players, Gryphon Trio, Pedja Muzijevic, Andrew Armstrong, and Benjamin Bowman. In May 2018 he gave his first solo performance in Chicago’s Symphony Center, performing on the VIMC winner’s tour with works by Henri Vieuxtemps.
Together with his duo partner, pianist Sasha Bult-Ito (The Ezra Duo), he has appeared coast to coast in Canada and the United States. In November 2017 they appeared in Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, and in April 2018 performed as guests at a G7 Summit event held at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. In 2019 Ezra toured with their “Women in Music” and “Art of the Duo” programs, and in the midst of the 2020 lockdowns appeared in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, performing in a celebration of composer Patricia Morehead’s 80th birthday. Ezra began traveling again in 2022 with “Colorfully Contemporary”, a program highlighting relatable works by living composers. Ezra is currently ensemble-in-residence for the Emerald Coast Chamber Music Festival and Institute in Niceville, Florida, where Jacob and Sasha are co-artistic directors and Artist Faculty alongside their colleagues Nicholas Hatt and Jordan Galvarino in the Velox Quartett.
Upcoming highlights include chamber appearances with the Mosbacher Salon Collective, as a guest with the Toronto-based Odin Quartet, and concerts with Ezra and Velox in Canada and the United States. As part of Paint:Music, in November 2023 Ezra will present a finished collaboration with Karen Mosbacher on the complete Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano. Ezra will also release their first album during the 2023-2024 season, and continue their livestream series using electric instruments Ezra Electrified.
Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, he holds diplomas from the Cornish College of the Arts, Stony Brook University, and The Glenn Gould School, where he studied with Mara Gearman, Nicholas Cords, Lawrence Dutton, and Steven Dann, and spent two years of intensive study under the Emerson String Quartet. He has undertaken additional study in Europe with Yuko Inoue, Roger Chase, and Nobuko Imai. Jacob completed his Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Toronto under the guidance of Masumi Per Rostad and Annalee Patipatanakoon, where he was a teaching assistant in violin, viola, and chamber music.
Jacob draws influence from many fields, citing William Primrose, Itzhak Perlman, Martha Argerich, Boris Kroyt, My Chemical Romance, Hayao Miyazaki, and Satoru Iwata among his greatest inspirations. Away from the viola he enjoys board games, soccer, tennis, and brewing specialty coffee. He can often be found transcribing rock and video game music for Ezra.
Learn more at: https://www.jacobclewell.com
Season 2021-22 Videos
The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra community of musicians and composers made a phenomenal effort to continue to practice their art and stay in touch with their audience during Covid-19 lockdown. The silver-lining was developing new skills and finding new friends.
New Generation Composer Program Videos
The New Generation Composer’s Program is offered in collaboration with the Canadian Music Centre and involves the participation of ensembles selected annually,
The New Generation Film Composer Program is made possible through the support of:
New Generation Film Composer Program Videos
The New Generation Film Composer’s Program is offered in collaboration with Sheridan College Film Studies Program, involving emerging composers in creating an original film score for an animated short during a year long mentorship program.
The New Generation Film Composer Program is made possible through the support of: