dearness features Fred Frith, certainly one of the great contributors to adventurous new music, John Oswald, (in)famous for his landmark plunderphonics work, and Anne Bourne, who carries her sense of musical adventure along with her cello gracefully across the musical spectrum.

This uniquely thrilling brassy ensemble includes Hugh Fraser's most diverse compositions from African, Latin to European forms that invoke the full contemporary musical spectrum and create a sonic feast like never heard before.

Flutist Karin Aurell is a freelancing musician in the Maritimes, combining chamber music performance, orchestra playing and teaching.

Chor Leoni commissioned Vancouver composer Rupert Lang to write Magnificat. Using the unusual combination of mezzo-soprano soloist and male chorus, Lang seeks to express Mary’s personal, human response to the formal biblical text, with wonderful results.