Pursue Peace: Contemporary Chamber Music by Canadian Jewish Composers

York University’s Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies and the Department of Music in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design invite you to the opening of the fifth season of Sound and Sense: Jewish Music at York, with a special release concert celebrating Pursue Peace, the initiative’s debut album. The program brings together the work of three distinguished Canadian composers and leading performers in an evening of music shaped by memory, identity, history, and the many ways music gives voice to human experience.

Released by New Focus Recordings, the New York-based independent label devoted to contemporary and creative music, Pursue Peace features composers Noam Lemish (ON), Sid Robinovitch (AB), and James Rolfe (ON), whose music spans intimate works for violin and piano, string quartet and clarinet, and a larger work for choir, soprano and ensemble.

More than three years in the making, the album is the culmination of an ongoing artistic collaboration at York, bringing the work of Sound and Sense: Jewish Music at York to a wider audience. We invite you to join the ongoing conversation through music and celebrate this milestone with us.

“Sound and Sense: Jewish Music @ York” is a performance and lecture series dedicated to showcasing the multicultural diversity of Jewish musical expression as well as the ongoing intersections between Jewish and non-Jewish musical practices and communities. The initiative is driven by an inclusive philosophy that believes in the power of music to serve as a bridge-builder and a vehicle for cultural exchange and dialogue.

The series has been made possible via the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation.