We were pleased to provide a free, one-week screening of Alison Mackay's Safe Haven from August 28 to September 4, 2020.
Featuring Maryem Tollar, Naghmeh Farahmand, and kora virtuoso Diely Mori Tounkara, this multimedia concert of masterworks by Vivaldi, Corelli, Lully, and Bach portrays the influence of migration on the musical life of Europe—and equally of present-day Canada.
To connect the inconceivable struggle and heartbreak of the Syrian refugee crisis with something as mundane as a cup of coffee may seem like an impossible task. Tafelmusik, Canada’s award-winning baroque orchestra, however, find themselves drawing that bizarre parallel in their new show opening in Toronto on Thursday.
Safe Haven is an exploration in music, words, and images of the influence of refugee populations on the culture of their adopted countries. From the beginning of human history, war, persecution, poverty, and climate crises have caused people to abandon their homes and seek asylum beyond their borders. The British poet Warsan Shire, who was born of Somali parents in Kenya, has captured the anguish of making the decision to leave one’s own country in her poem called Home:
