Soundstreams has kicked off their 41st season with their presentation of The Bright Divide. A brand new programme featuring compositions by Morton Feldman and Cecilia Livingston with Duncan McFarlane, The Bright Divide is an immersive, multi-faceted experience at the new TD Music Hall. Full of passion and meaning, The Bright Divide is the perfect way to start off another season of Soundstreams.

The first piece of The Bright Divide is “Rothko Chapel” by Morton Feldman. Feldman was a very good friend of modernist painter Mark Rothko. The Rothko Chapel is a nondenominational chapel in Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, it was completed after Rothko’s untimely death, and he never got to see his 14 giant canvases hanging there. Feldman was commissioned to write the piece for the opening of the Chapel itself. The Bright Divide begins with a song by Peter Gabriel called Fourteen Black Paintings, which is based on the Rothko Chapel canvases. While we listen, we see projected images of the paintings on the chapel walls, a stunning visual of Rothko’s accomplishments.

Then we are taken into the piece itself, a haunting exchange between the instruments and the choir situated around the outside of the room. As the piece went on, I found myself imagining what it would be like to be in that chapel with those monumentally large paintings, and how ethereal the experience of this piece with those paintings would be there. While it isn’t very varied melodically, something about the conversation between the vocalists and instrumentalists feels similar to how the paintings look solid black in some lighting, and yet with a different angle contain rich hues of purple.

After intermission comes the world premiere of “mark” composed by Cecilia Livingston with text by Duncan McFarlane. This piece was specially commissioned to be a companion piece to Feldman’s work, and I think this duo did that perfectly. Not only did the choir move around the room, creating several different soundscapes purely with their voices, there’s also a featured soloist, Alex Samaras, who got to show his astounding vocal range, along with his acting prowess. Samaras plays a man who is on a journey into the bright divide to find life, but there’s none to be found. However, when he returns to his world he finds that life is bigger and brighter than he had noticed before. With nods to the Feldman piece combined with beautiful melodies and haunting poetry, “mark” is both a companion and elevation of its inspiration.

Both pieces are performed by the same trio of musicians consisting of Steven Dann on the Voila, Ryan Scott on percussion, and Gregory Oh on the Celesta. Along with the members of Soundstreams Choir 21, they all performed with passion and elegance, creating this unique experience for the audience.

I love getting to see the imaginative ways that Soundstreams brings music to life, and these pieces are perfect examples of their ingenuity and creativity. Next up is their annual classic Electric Messiah which I saw last year; founder Lawrence Cherney says it’s never the same production twice, so make sure you check it out! For more information about Soundstreams and their upcoming performances, visit: https://soundstreams.ca

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Cover photo courtesy of Soundstreams

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