Join composer and musician, Owen Pallett in conversation with Bojana Stancic, AGO Assistant Curator Live Projects & Performance, as they explore the legacy of Songs of Heaven and its current reverberations.

A divinely inspired mash up, Songs of Heaven put a contemporary spin on the centuries old tradition of antiphonal (call and response) choral singing, in celebration of the opening of Early Rubens in October 2019. Commissioned by the AGO and performed by the Choir of St. James Cathedral, under the direction of Robert Busiakiewicz, the program featured the world premier of three new choral pieces composed by leading Canadian musicians Owen Pallett, Cris Derksen and Matt Smith.

According to Pallett, “What Peter Paul Rubens sought to create in his enormous religious paintings is a particular sensation that I loosely describe as making the viewer aware of the concept of the infinite— a sense of spiritual vertigo, of being bowled over by the scope of his vision. Although Rubens’s own version of ‘the infinite’ relates to his Christian beliefs, I am seeking to convey a similar sense of vertigo regardless of the beliefs of the viewer.”

Owen Pallett is a Grammy award winning composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. He has released a string of critically praised solo recordings, winning the inaugural Polaris Prize in 2006. He has performed as a solo performer with orchestras worldwide. His chamber music work has been commissioned by The National Ballet of Canada, The Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Bang On A Can, The Barbican, among many others. He served as curator of the TSO’s New Creations Festival in 2017. He currently lives in Toronto.