About Continuum

Formed in 1985, Continuum Contemporary Music presents concerts featuring the core ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion, as well as unusual instrumental combinations. Featuring some of Canada's top musicians, the ensemble has earned international acclaim - De Telegraaf (Amsterdam) wrote "Ensemble Continuum performs magic with sound"; Bragbants Dagblad hailed the ensemble as "sublimely skilled".

Led by artistic directors Jennifer Waring and Ryan Scott, the organization has been responsible for commissioning and premiering close to 150 new works from emerging and established Canadian and international composers. Early on voice was a focus; it was for championing new work in this area and commissioning extensively for soprano Barbara Hannigan that Continuum won the 1994 Jean A. Chalmers Award. Increasingly the group engages in collaborative and interdisciplinary work.

Continuum has performed across Canada and has toured twice to Europe, appearing in Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Ghent, Huddersfield, Leeuwarden, London, and 's-Hertogenbosch; in 2012 Continuum served as resident ensemble for the new music series at Ottawa Chamberfest. The group has recorded two CDs on its own label, formed the recording ensemble for a Centrediscs release of works by Chris Paul Harman and recently released Raw, a CD of works by James Rolfe, also for Centrediscs. Interdisciplinary projects include SHE! with choreographer Conrad Alexandrowicz; Distillation with Montreal video installation artist Ramona Ramlochand; and Souvenir, with filmmaker Gary Popovich. Special projects have included l'Oreille Fine, featuring concerts and a symposium of philosophers, poets, critics and a psychologist dealing with the subject of contemporary expression in a classical art form; and SHIFT, a festival of Canadian and Dutch music, film and literature that took place at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ in Amsterdam, in Toronto, and across Canada with a tour of the acclaimed Ives Ensemble of Amsterdam. Continuum has also collaborated with composer John Oswald, French flutist and conductor Patrick Gallois, philosopher Mark Kingwell, and actor RH Thomson, and with institutions such as the Royal Ontario Museum and TVOntario.

Continuum's 2011-12 season featured record box office revenues, standing room only concerts, an education outreach program which resulted in 12 new works by high school students and a multi-performance run of Contes pour enfants pas sages by Christopher Butterfield, for soprano, tenor, choir and ensemble.

Continuum embarks on its 2012-13 season with the premiere of a new theatrical work by the always surprising Dutch composer Martijn Voorvelt, and continues with a collaboration with New Adventures in Sound Art (NAISA) featuring three Canadian world premieres. In April, 2013, special guest Philip Thomas, pianist of the noted UK ensemble Apartment House, performs a concert of solo works, then performs with Continuum's ensemble in a concert featuring a premiere from the much touted young Canadian composer Trevor Grahl.

Continuum is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council, the Julie-Jiggs Foundation, the SOCAN Foundation and many private donors, and is proud to be a member of the Canadian New Music Network.