Performers

Lamentations of Jeremiah by Peter Togni, with Jeff Reilly and Elmer Iseler Singers

Peter Togni has composed a haunting concerto for bass clarinet virtuoso Jeff Reilly with the renowned Elmer Iseler Singers; it represents the most significant Made in Canada work to be released by the legendary ECM record label. Halifax-based Togni, perhaps best known as a broadcaster for CBC Radio Two, has been widely commissioned for the past two decades to write choral music, string orchestra music, organ works, and other works in the field of contemporary classical music.

Lamentatio Jeremiae Prophetae is based on the Old Testament story of Jeremiah. It features Reilly's brilliant bass clarinet improvisations - by turns mournful and provocatively hectoring - elevated by Togni's careful integration of Reilly's voice with those of the chorus.

The Elmer Iseler Singers, under the current direction of Lydia Adams, are a Toronto-based 20-voice professional chorus, one of the foremost in Canada, founded by the late Dr. Elmer Iseler in 1979.