2022 / 2023 Concerts

Sounds of the Season

Featuring Robert Conquer, trombone soloist

Saturday December 10th, 2:00pm

Robert Conquer - Trombone

Robert Conquer is quickly establishing himself as one of Canada’s finest young musicians. Most recently, he performed Nino Rota’s Concerto per Trombone on tour with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada as the first-prize recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts - Michael Measures Prize. In 2021, he was the second-prize winner of this same award and was also named as one of CBC Classical Music's "30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30." Robert is thrilled to be performing as the Acting Principal Trombonist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra for their 2022/2023 season, wherein he is the youngest regular musician. He was the winner of the 2020 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition, wherein he also received a full scholarship to attend Domaine Forget de Charlevoix and the prize for best interpretation of a Canadian work in the semi-final round. He is the First Prize winner of numerous other solo competitions including the American Trombone Workshop National Solo Competition, Canadian National Music Festival, North American Brass Band Association Championships, Ontario Music Festivals Association, Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival, and the Hannaford Youth Band Competition. Passionate about new music, Robert most recently collaborated with Australian-Lebanese composer Elizabeth Younan which culminated in the recorded performance of her new work "Lone Song" for solo trombone. He also recently worked with American composer Elise Arancio, performing her new work “A Negative Space for Trombone and Electronics” in December 2020. In 2018, Robert premiered the late Canadian composer Donald Coakley’s “Sound Bites for Trombone and Winds” alongside the Agincourt Collegiate Wind Symphony. Robert will remember Mr. Coakley fondly during each of his future performances. Originally from Scarborough, Ontario, Robert studied privately with trombonist David Archer for three years before pursuing his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Nitzan Haroz and Matthew Vaughn as a Carrie L. Tolson Memorial Fellow. Robert was recognized as Curtis' Presser Scholar, a prestigious scholarship awarded to one senior student who has high academic and musical accomplishments and embodies the qualities of leadership and citizenship. He looks forward to graduating with his Bachelor of Music in the Spring of 2023.

Robert Conquer is an alumni of the Hannaford Youth Program!

Rising Stars

Featuring the finalists of our Rising Stars Solo Competition

Saturday February 11th, 2:00pm

(first round Saturday November 26th, 1:00pm - Walter Hall, University of Toronto, Faculty of Music)

Side-by-Side with HSSB

Hannaford Youth Band's annual feature playing with the Hannaford Street Silver Band

Date TBA

Brass n' Keys

Featuring the Thompson Egbo-Egbo trio

Saturday April 15th, 2:00pm

Acclaimed Toronto composer and pianist Thompson Egbo-Egbo is always in key. Deeply rooted in his upbringing – moving to Canada from Nigeria at age four, commencing his dedication to playing the piano at the age of six – his innate aptitude and affection for the instrument resonates with him to this day. The key that keeps everything aligned is one where Thompson is in tune with his environment, collaborators, community and a signature approach to the art.

On his forthcoming project, set for release via MNRK Music Group this fall, Thompson will draw from themes of transition, rebirth, realignment, joy, and optimism for the future. Partly inspired by the shifts and impact the last two years of the pandemic has placed on both a personal and professional level, audiences will experience the growth and depth of Thompson’s writing, as an offering of sonic catharsis and hope.

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Thompson Egbo-Egbo - Jazz Piano

The project’s first single, Smells Like Teen Spirit, is a classic cover that many may have heard in one of Thompson’s live performances. The reimagined version shows that, no matter where it’s played or who it’s played for, it connects with people of all generations and cultures.

Before Thompson began playing his way through landmark venues across Toronto, he honed his skill in the heart of the city. At Dixon Hall, a community center down the street from where he grew up in Toronto's Regent Park, he was able to take piano lessons at two dollars a session. Growing up in subsidized government development area of Toronto, Egbo-Egbo was awed by the fact a group of people thought enough of the residences to build a musical school so that the children of the neighborhood could enjoy to enjoy the neighbourhood could enjoy the access of affordable music lessons.

As this experience struck a chord in his youth, giving back is a trademark note of Thompson’s ethos. Thompson served as a member of the board at Dixon Hall for many years and is currently, on the board at Jazz FM 91. His own organization, The Thompson T. Egbo-Egbo Arts Foundation, and Evolving Through the Arts program, targets elementary school students recognizing that a positive change and a sense of self-worth should be instilled in children early and they be afforded opportunities that all children should receive. The foundation aims to fill a void in the education of music and arts not found in many communities, and partners with talented Canadian musicians and artists to provide a well-rounded and focused curriculum, dedicated to creating a resource for underprivileged Canadian youth to advance in music and the arts, empowers them through a safe environment to learn and express themselves artistically, and provides a platform for children to build their confidence, leadership and teamwork skills.

With degrees in Music from Humber College, and music production at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, to releasing numerous works and collaborating with some of the world’s most renowned artists, Thompson’s involvement in music has seen many opportunities come his way. Last year, Thompson portrayed a young Oscar Peterson in an episode of Historica Canada’s Heritage Minutes, honouring the artist’s life and career. While he was set to cross the pond for a recording opportunity at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK, Thompson was still able to proceed in Toronto to write and record Oddly Familiar – an album released and archived with Audio Network’s sync library.

Looking ahead, listeners can expect to hear music from the new album in a docuseries project by Luminato Festival called Golden Hour. The trio will perform at a selection of Ontario festival dates including Toronto International Film Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, and Orillia Jazz Festival. Next year, Thompson will be performing Oscar Peterson's music for a special concert with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in February 2023.

Thompson Egbo-Egbo shares his experience, ideas and vision with vibrant energy. The key to his success is not solely unlocked by memorable, harmonically complex compositions that have at their core a deep, abiding groove, but the connections they create and the doors they open within the listener.