Summer Live Music Festival Returns to SummerSeries in Trillium Park at Ontario Place
2024 Summer Live Music Festival kicks off this month with a lively and diverse jazz, pop, world music, and a capella lineup designed to showcase award-winning young professional performers and high-profile a cappella ensembles. As part of SummerSeries in Trillium Park, Summer Live Music Festival is a FREE, family-friendly, two-day music festival that takes place in Trillium Park at Ontario Place. The much-anticipated festival is the result of a partnership between SING! and TU Jazz Festival, two vital arts organizations that have designed this showcase to give emerging talent an opportunity to learn, network, and perform alongside seasoned performers. Concerts take place over two evenings on Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28. Performances include the SING! In the Summer a cappella series which runs each day from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, followed by two headline performances during the Live Jazz & World Music series, curated by T.U. Jazz Fest, which gets underway at 7:25 until 10:00 pm.
“Summer has long been synonymous with outdoor concerts but one of the best ways to experience an open-air performance is against the backdrop of Toronto’s picturesque waterfront,” says David Lee, Artistic Director at T.U. Jazz Fest & Summer Live Music Festival and Executive Director of Emerging Artists Association, an organization that develops opportunities to recognize and promote the works of young professional musicians in local and broader communities. “We are very excited about this year’s line-up, which features four top emerging music bands who were selected by EAA Emerging Artists Association and SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival, from over 140 applicants to this year’s festival.”
Presented by EAA Emerging Artists Association and SING! The Toronto International Vocal Arts Festival, Summer Live Music Festival includes an a cappella program that features four different groups ranging in styles from live looping, world, jazz, and pop, as well as a special appearance by the youth SING! program.
“There truly is something for every musical taste and so much more to be discovered in this eclectic group of award-winning, world travelling musicians,” says Pat Silver, Co-Manager of SING! Canada’s only major programmer solely dedicated to celebrating a cappella music. “These performances will not only amaze audiences, but they will also demonstrate that the human voice has no limits, knows no constraints of genre, language or cultural background.”
The 2024 Summer Live Music Festival includes:
● Kalendar – Saturday, July 27th at 5:00 pm & 6:05 pm
Based in Toronto, Kalendar are a group of Canadian women singing in the Ukrainian village style. Formed in late 2013 to extend the ancient singing traditions of rural Ukraine into a contemporary and relevant transnational urban practice, Kalendar’s performances are said to “transplant you deep into rural Ukraine.
● Turkwaz – Saturday, July 27th at 5:35 pm & 6:35 pm
Turkwaz is a unique combination of four musician/singers, immersed in diverse traditions from mysterious Sufi devotional love songs to rousing Thracian dance music. While they have a long-standing collective interest and respect for Balkan, Albanian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian repertoire, they are not afraid to arrange the tunes in new and unexpected ways to give them a fresh spin.
● Fernanda Cunha Quintet – Saturday, July 27th at 7:25 pm
Canadian-based Brazilian jazz singer Fernanda Cunha is a Latin Grammy member who has recorded 10 albums and performed at prestigious jazz festivals around the world, such as Wien Jazz in Austria, Aarhus Jazz Fest in Denmark, Jazz a Juan in France and Borneo Jazz in Malaysia.
● Sarah Bernadette – Saturday, July 27th at 9:00 pm
Sarah Bernadette is a versatile vocalist, improviser, and composer based in Boston. An expressive performer, her vocal stylings fuse the musical complexity of jazz and R&B with the catchy hooks of pop music. She has worked with world-renowned Kathleen Flynn, Dominique Eade, Cristi Catt, and more recently Grammy-winner Cecile McLorin Salvant, whom she considers one of her biggest musical inspirations.
● FreePlay – Sunday, July 28th at 5:00 pm & 6:05 pm
Award-winning duo Dylan Bell and Suba Sankaran are international leaders in the a cappella world, having worked with legends such as the Swingles, the Nylons, and the New York Voices. They have performed in over 20 countries across six continents. Using nothing but their voices and innovative live-looping techniques, genre-bending FreePlay tackles musical styles from Bach to Birds, the Beatles, to Dylan.
● Beatsync – Sunday, July 28th at 5:35 pm & 6:35 pm
Beatsync is an eight-piece powerhouse vocal band from Toronto combining eclectic repertoire with dynamic beats and sophisticated arrangements. From pop to electronic to classic soul, Beatsync draws upon diverse influences to craft its unique contemporary sound, interpreting modern hits from Björk to Frankie Valli to Ariana Grande and even a contemporary Chinese hit and folksongs.
● Flö – Sunday, July 28th at 7:25 pm
Flö is a captivating quartet whose compositions and strong melodies mix folk, rock, and pop influences. They formed in 2022 and have since performed across Quebec and recorded a series of videos titled Live Session à l’Orbite. The collective plans to record their first EP in Fall 2024 and release it in Spring 2025.
● Noah Abrahamse & The Mumbo Jumbo Combo – Sunday, July 28th at 9:00 pm
Toronto-based Latin Jazz band, Noah Abrahamse & The Mumbo Jumbo Combo perform everything from traditional Cuban Son to Latin Jazz fusion. The group has won accolades from Hilario Duran, Laura Fernandez, Joaquin Nũnez Hidalgo among others. Noah Abrahamse just released his first studio EP entitled “Noah Abrahamse” with plans to release his debut studio album this summer.
SummerSeries in Trillium Park at Ontario Place features live music, arts and culture, and wellness events from July 13 to September 1. Weekend programming has been carefully curated by program partners to deliver a summer season with FREE entertainment for all ages! For more information on how to access Trillium Park, please check the Ontario Place – Visit Us page. Trillium Park has lawn seating so bringing blankets or lawn chairs from home is recommended.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage. For full Summer Live Music Festival details visit: www.tujazz.com and www.singtoronto.com.