With a special concert by two-time Polaris Prize winner Jeremy Dutcher, and an after-hours cocktail party on the patio, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will welcome the summer solstice in memorable style. The performance, on June 21, also celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day, and Pride.
Two-Spirit artist Jeremy Dutcher performs as a vocalist, while Lucas Waldin conducts the orchestra, with members of the WICIW | Togetherness Choir accompanying the Tobique First Nation singer.
As a classically trained pianist and innovative composer, pop, neoclassical, jazz, and traditional Indigenous influences blend in Dutcher’s music, which has garnered international acclaim. Dutcher will be singing music from his debut release Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, (which won both the Polaris Prize and a JUNO Award in 2018,) and his newest album, Motewolonuwok, which garnered his second Polaris win.
“This is more than a concert — it’s a celebration of light, identity, and artistic freedom,” says Mark Williams, Beck Family CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. “We’re thrilled to welcome Jeremy Dutcher and invite Toronto to come together in joy and reflection on this special night.”
To add to the occasion of celebrating Indigenous and queer pride, along with the official arrival of summer, there will be a cocktail party with a DJ, and the opportunity to mingle with Dutcher and musicians of the TSO.
Jeremy Dutcher with WICIW: The Choir from Motewolonuwok:
Jeremy Dutcher has emerged as much more than a crossover music star. The Canadian pianist, tenor, composer, musicologist and activist is a member of the Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), of the Tobique First Nation based today in North-West New Brunswick. Dutcher is a graduate of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, where he studied music and anthropology. He’s trained as an operatic tenor.
Jeremy took his training and began to incorporate elements of his roots, including the vocal style as well as repertoire. His debut album was recorded entirely in the traditional (and almost vanished) Wolastoqey language.
He continues to weave together an artistry that has produced a unique sound.
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