Wednesday Noon Hours: Looking Glass Ensemble

The Looking Glass Ensemble is an interdisciplinary collective founded by clarinetist Christine Carter and dance artist Shannon Litzenberger, spotlighting collaboration and co-creation among a diverse group of artists. The interdisciplinary nature of the ensemble underpins the creative practices of its members, the originality and accessibility of its performances, and the diversity of artists with which the Ensemble can collaborate. The performances of The Looking Glass Ensemble are imagined as multi-layer concerts, allowing for audiences to experience the novelty of multiple art forms, including music, dance, poetry, and film, in the recognizable and accessible context of music presentation. We value art not only as a creative product but also as a process that brings about new ways of knowing and relating in the world. The ensemble has toured across Canada, and “Everything is Green,” the group’s first dance film, recently won “Best Dance Short” at the Berlin Indie Film Festival, Mannheim Arts and Film Festival, and the Cine Paris Film Festival, and is an Official Selection for the San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival, Barcelona Film Experience, and LA Film & Documentary Award.

Known for her visionary interdisciplinary projects, clarinetist Christine Carter has built an international career as a captivating chamber musician, teaching artist, and scholar. She is the clarinetist of the critically acclaimed Iris Trio, co-founder of the inter-arts Looking Glass Ensemble with dance artist Shannon Litzenberger, and regularly collaborates with Duo Concertante, with whom she has released two albums on Marquis Classics. She has performed across the globe, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House, and has been praised for her “striking expression” (Bremen Wester Kurier), “seductive tone and effortless fluidity” (The Clarinet), and “golden legato” (Fanfare Magazine). She has also performed extensively as an orchestral musician, including engagements with the New World Symphony, Symphony Nova Scotia, Montréal Symphony Orchestra, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Manhattan School of Music, is an Associate Professor of Music at Memorial University in St. John’s, and was recently inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. Christine is a Buffet Crampon Artist. www.christine-carter.com

Shannon Litzenberger is an award-winning dancer, choreographer and director based in Toronto. Her work explores our relationship to land, the politics of belonging, and the forgotten wisdom of the body. Her imaginative productions have been presented across Canada and the US and she has collaborated with some of Canada’s most celebrated artists including Marie-Josée Chartier, Lorna Crozier, Christopher Dewdney, Susan Aglukark, David Earle, Ravi Jain, Don McKay, Renelta Arluk, Yvette Nolan, Karen Solie, and Michael Greyeyes, among others. She is the co-founder of the interdisciplinary Looking Glass Ensemble with Christine Carter and has been an invited resident artist at Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Banff Centre, Saskatoon’s Remai Modern and Memorial University. Shannon is the recipient of the Jack McAllister Award for accomplishment in dance, the recipient of a 2019 Chalmers Arts Fellowship, a nominee for both the 2023 Johanna Metcalf Prize and the 2024 Gina Wilkinson Prize, and a twice-shortlisted finalist for the prestigious KM Hunter Award. Her recent work World After Dark was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award. www.shannonlitzenberger.com

Gregory Oh tends to wander the genres, appearing in places from the legendary Berlin techno club Berghain to Lincoln Centre. He conducted RUR A Torrent of Light (Nicole Lizée/Nic Billon) for which he received the 2022 Dora Mavor Moore award for Outstanding Musical Direction, as well as The Cave (Tomson Highway/John Millard) and Bearing (Michael Greyeyes/Signal Theatre) for the Luminato Festival, and the recording Ride the Wind with Roscoe Mitchell and the Montreal-Toronto Jazz Orchestra. On piano he premiered Scott Good’s Hands of Orlac with the London Symphonia and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, toured Rwanda and the UK with Neema Bickersteth and Century Song (Volcano), and was featured as conductor and pianist at the Shanghai New Music Festival and the Beijing Modern Music Festival. He is currently writing and creating a concert play called Lessons in Failure that was recently featured on CBC Q, which Wholenote Magazine hailed as “one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.” He teaches at the University of Toronto and NYO Canada and programs Summer Music in the Garden at Harbourfront Centre.

An avid performer and teacher, cellist Vernon Regehr serves on the faculty of the School of Music at Memorial University and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival, and has been invited to festivals and concert venues across North America and Europe. His solo album, Full Spectrum, features Canadian works for unaccompanied cello including Lamentations, winner of an East Coast Music Award for Composition of the Year. Recently he commissioned and premiered Andrew Staniland’s Calamus song cycle with soprano Jane Leibel, and is currently collaborating with author and filmmaker Kenneth J. Harvey to reimagine the cycle as a collection of short films. Regehr is also the conductor and musical advisor to the Kittiwake Dance Theatre.