Vesnivka and Toronto Ukrainian Male Chamber Choir, Christmas Concert, January 2025. Photo courtesy of Vesnivka / Nykola Parzei.Sixty years ago, Vesnivka Choir stepped onto the Toronto music scene – young girls whose voices were uncertain but full of promise. Their conductor, Halyna Kvitka Kondracki, wasn’t much older but had clarity of vision and purpose – to share her passion for Ukrainian choral music and culture.

Read more: Vesnivka Choir at 60

The Musicians of the Egg: (l-r) Alison Melville, Jonathan Stuchbery, Michele Deboer, Veronika Muggeridge, John Pepper and Cory Knight. At the Toronto Music Garden, July 2025. This past summer, an early music band was asked for a promotional group photo and a name for a concert at Toronto Harbourfront’s Music Garden. They realized they had neither, so they searched for a Renaissance painting to capture their spirit. The image they chose, by a follower of imaginative painter Hieronymus Bosch, shows a group inside a giant egg gathered around a book of music, singing and playing – and so they dubbed themselves The Musicians of the Egg.

Read more: NEWLY HATCHED! A beloved Toronto early music band is reborn

Alexis Baro. Photo credit - Discover HalifaxAfrokando, an ode to the Cuban big band, is a searing, scorching album with the deepest groove. With it, bandleader, composer, arranger and Cuban trumpet player Alexis Baro is continuing to build his discography, documenting and sharing important aspects of Afro-Cuban music. Baro travelled to Toronto from Cuba in 2001. The young player was quickly snapped up by Archie Alleyne and his group Kollage. Since then, Baro has written and recorded many of his own albums, all rooted in Afro-Cuban jazz.

Read more: A LEGENDARY FORMAT GETS A FACELIFT - Afrokando, Alexis Baro Y La Big Band

“I’m proud to have been chosen to share my all-Cree song Kiyash with thousands of students and educators across the country, who are using music as a tool for learning. As a musician from Attawapiskat. I believe music carries our stories, our language, and our spirit. I hope this song inspires young people to learn and to walk together in love and respect.”The Coalition for Music Education in Canada has announced that Adrian Sutherland is the featured artist for this year’s “Ancestors Voices: Music and Learning for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation” and that his all-Cree song Kiyash will be shared coast to coast to coast, inviting students to learn about truth, reconciliation, and the power of music as storytelling.

Read more: NATIONAL DAY FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION - CMEC announces Adrian Sutherland as featured artist...
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