ARUNA & THE SIRENS

Artistic Director | Composer | Vocalist
Aruna Antonella Handa is a composer and vocalist based in Toronto. Rooted in collaborative and interactive traditions of Augusto Boal, her work often invites engagement, blurring distinctions between artist and audience. As a soloist, Handa has sung with chapel choirs, theatrical productions, a cappella bands, and jazz ensembles. With her current band, The Sirens, she performs her original compositions and song cycles. The band is preparing work for a recording (tentatively called Of Bones & Addicts) due for release in 2019.
Inspired by calls into the night of families and friends searching for a missing loved one, Have You Seen My Sister? is an adaptive piece for unaccompanied voice with call/response and improvisational elements. (Photo: P. Vandersompele, 2018)

Visual Designer
Born in Tillsonburg, Pat is an import from the tobacco fields of Southwestern Ontario, designing his way through life and into Toronto where he currently lives and works. As a digital media designer, he applies his keen observation and creative problem-solving skills to a diverse range of online projects for national and international NGOs, corporations and commercial ventures. Pat has a background in architectural/interior design as well as graphics, advertising and new media/web development. He brings his design knowledge and intuitive nature to Have You Seen My Sister? as the Visual Designer.

Designer
Mild mannered Registered Massage Therapist by day, enthusiastic event planner, costume designer, and set decorator by night, Toronto-based Steve McKeown brings his unique style and creativity to a variety of arts projects and can also be found around town volunteering with various arts organizations. Whether designing a fabulous outfit for Pride or unrecognizable as his alter ego with the Triangle Tarts, a troupe of drag square dancers, Steve is equally comfortable behind the scenes as he is stealing them.

Resident Photographer
A designer, photographer and restauranteur, Cher has created and owned several of Toronto's most iconic restaurants, together with partner and husband Ellis Knightingale. The pair have animated spaces in the city evoking romance and ambiance whether of a gilded European style bistro or of a Moroccan desert tent. With an eye for texture, Cher’s photographs reveal dimensional depth, narrate stories and astonish us with fresh angles on familiar subjects. Cher approaches her camera work within a perspective shared between photographer and subject. Cher currently resides in Toronto.

Strategic Partnerships and Documentation
Director of the Culture of Cities Centre, Elke Grenzer’s work as a writer, critic, academic and filmmaker focusses on uncovering threads of memory within the fabric of the city, whether in overt monuments or in transitional street art. Under her direction, the CCC has developed a reputation for eclectic and unique programming including the acclaimed international conference series, Scenes of Urban Innovation, recent topics of which include heritage and transition and affective cities.
Elke also teaches sociology part-time at York University. Her work on memorials spans writing, talks and multi-media with a focus on collective memory and memorials ranging from the 9/11 Museum in New York to different sites of Holocaust commemoration in Berlin. (Photograph: Cher Knightgale)

K-12 Arts and Education Advisor
Shelina Knight is an award-winning educator and visual artist, currently based in Calgary, where she engages with youth in art festivals and programs and teaches in the city’s innovative "Learning in and through the Arts” Junior High school. 

Artist, Docent
"Art is beauty and truth. The agonizing pain of life truly expressed is its tragic truth. Life’s lilt, elegance, engaging stillness, captivating movement and vibrant colour, create its beauty. Art is the senses tautly stretched on the canvas of human potential and impotence. Art heals through mitigating experience. It is an agent transforming our experience making it more palpable, deeper, more vibrant, or through catharsis breaking the full brunt of life’s pain." Victor has been painting and sculpting for 40 years. Meditation and Tai Chi create a gloss of his subconscious, whose archetypal product he details with brush strokes. Victor resides in Mexico and was born in a Mennonite community in rural Manitoba. That upbringing taught him the importance of truth; Mexico and its culture taught him the value of beauty.

Reciter
Marianne Apostolides is the author of six books, three of which have been translated. Apostolides is a recipient of a Chalmers Arts Fellowship, and the winner of the 2017 K.M. Hunter Award for Literature. Apostolides currently resides in Toronto.

(Photo: Melanie Gordon)

Reciter
Playwright, director, and artistic director of RARE theatre, Judith Thompson is also professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Thompson is the author of 18 published plays, two feature films, and many radio plays. She is also the recipient of many awards including two Governor General Awards, the Dora, and the Toronto Arts Award. Her play, Palace of the End, won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award as well as the Susan Smith Blackburn Award (for best play written by a woman in English in the world that year). Recently, Thompson has been creating professional theatre with marginalized communties in partnership with Soulpepper and the Trillium Foundation. Thompson resides in Toronto.

Arts Administration | Docent
Catherine Nugent is currently exploring opportunities that permit her to dive deeper into her interests in healthcare, green energy and human rights. She is a project coordinator and administrator in her previous lives and currently works out of Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation. Catherine resides in Toronto.

Vocalist

Studying theatre gave Bethany voice and studying yoga gave her resilience. She enjoys sharing both. Bethany continues work in several service modalities and enjoys helping others in whatever way she can. She is thrilled to have an opportunity to honour missing women in Have You Seen My Sister. Bethany currently resides in Toronto.

Vocalist
Raised on a farm in Alberta, Haven has been described by friends as "bucolic"; her clown persona Braidy sports overalls and rubber boots. The inspiration for all of her creative endeavours is found deep at the heart of all of her relationships: with her children, partner, parents, siblings, friends, the earth and sky, the stranger on the street, the community, the Creator, and herself. She experiences this condition of being in relationship, and being formed and nurtured by these relationships, as a prerequisite for freedom and a spiritual fountainhead. Haven currently resides in Toronto.

Stage Manager Understudy
Noah Handa-Kipphoff is a man of few words.

Vocalist
A composer for more than 15 years, Lindsay has had her pieces and arrangements performed across Canada, the UK and Thailand. As a co-founder of a social enterprise her product has been sold across Canada and in 22 states south of the border. Now, as a consultant, she focuses on the cross-over creativity in arts-based and business-based pursuits. Lindsay is both excited and grateful to be joining Artists of Aurora in this project. Have You Seen My Sister? is a response, through art, to a deeply systemic societal problem. Lindsay currently resides in Toronto.

Vocalist
Jennifer Wakefield, soprano, completed a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance with George Evelyn at the University of Lethbridge, and then pursued further vocal studies before completing a Bachelor of Education in Secondary Music at the University of Calgary. She relocated to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for five and a half years, where she conducted the Dar es Salaam Community choir, Chamber choir and participated in the local music scene as soloist and pianist. In Toronto, Jennifer has conducted, composed and led sections, for various ensembles including the Vespera Choir and the Jubilate Singers. She also performs on stage, in an a cappella quartet and in a Celtic vocal and instrumental duo. Jennifer is a native Albertan who currently resides in Toronto where she has been teaching voice for over 15 years.

Reciter
Adil Dhalla is a civic entrepreneur and community organizer who is driven to co-create new and inclusive economies. He is the Executive Director of the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI), the Chair of the Board of the StopGap Foundation and Co-Founder of Camp Reset. Adil was recently named a BALLE Fellow in recognition of his contribution to the new economy. He is the first Muslim to receive the honour. Adil currently resides in Toronto.

Vocalist
Noreen (Kirwin) Donnell is a music psychotherapist, composer, pianist, and playwright. She has composed music for theatre, children’s and gospel recordings, events, and radio. In her work as a therapist, she has worked with hundreds of individuals with neurological, communicative, physical, emotional, and psychological challenges. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Music Therapy and a Master's degree in Music Therapy from Wilfrid Laurier University, Noreen has extensive experience working in different settings helping children and adults with developmental delays and physical disabilities, psychiatric and emotional challenges, and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Noreen is owner and director of a private practise, MusicByDesign.

Vocalist
Sarah Greene is a writer and songwriter living in Toronto. She’s Exclaim!'s Wood, Wires and Whiskey editor and a longtime contributor to NOW. Her writing has also appeared in This Magazine, Quill & Quire, The National Post, Broken Pencil and more. She's released three albums (The Pickups' self-titled debut and Country Houses, City Streets EP and solo album Toronto Blues) and shared stages with Basia Bulat, Abigail Lapell, Oh Bijou, Kat Burns (Kashka), Ron Sexsmith, Don Kerr, Kevin Hearn and others. When not at home writing she’s often at the Tranzac, a not-for-profit arts venue where she works and plays regularly. She is also on the jury for the Polaris Music Prize.

Vocalist
Susanna Klassen was born in rural Manitoba, and grew up with 14 (mostly older) brothers and sisters. The mother of three, and grandmother to seven, Klassen is a registered nurse who continues to work at CAMH, despite having retired over ten years ago. Klassen has sung as a chorister in the Pax Christie choir for a number of years, and sees her involvement in this project as a good fit with her active social conscience. Klassen resides in Toronto.

Vocalist
Alan Gasser is an experienced conductor, professional chorister, singer and voice teacher. He co-directs the Echo Women's Choir (since 1993), and has led countless choirs in Toronto over the past twenty years. He worked with Village Harmony for many years in Vermont, and founded Worldsongs (in Canada) in 2005, as well as the hospice choir Singing Through Life (2015). (photo Marty Chowder)

Reciter
Surkhab Peerzada is the Regional Manager for Chronic Disease at the South Riverdale Community Health Centre. She has a Master of Public Health degree from New York University and Honors Health Science degree from the University of Western Ontario. The adage, "think global, act local" continues to bring Surkhab to the field of community health care. She has engaged with unique opportunities in New York City and Toronto, working on projects that support health and well-being of individuals living in underserved areas of these cities.

Vocalist
Sarah is an artist, activist and academic, currently working in her hometown of Toronto. When not doing academic work, she sings and writes under the name PhantomFemme. Her music is what she describes as music-theatre punk, and her writing ranges from magic realism to outright fantasy. All her work, though, dances at the intersections of Disability, gender, class, faith/spirituality, magic, and the power of love to triumph over evil and injustice.  You can find more about Sarah’s work at www.phantomfemme.com.

Vocalist
Lorie Wolf is a drummer, composer and public school music teacher in Toronto.  She can be seen playing around Toronto with various projects usually involving sind sort of folk music, probably Klezmer.

Stage Manager
Alessandra Cerroni is the founder of Mangeons Montreal, a Montreal-based food marketing and event agency, engaging people online and offline with memorable sensorial experiences. Cerroni’s credits include producer, for the Fête des Restos 1st & 2nd edition, Apéro en Chocolat, and Sugar & Spice, and site coordinator/stage manager for the Future Food Salon, the Discovery Gallery, Big Bang Bug Banquet, and the international Eating Innovation Conference (Montreal). She currently resides in Montreal.

Vocalist
Judith Cohen is an ethnomusicologist, traditional singer and instrumentalist specializing in Sephardic music, music of the hidden Jews of rural Portugal, medieval music and related traditions, including the Balkans, French Canada, Yiddish, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco; and in inter-cultural projects such as women's frame drums in Portugal and Spain, Jewish and Muslim wedding songs in Morocco, and pan-European balladry. She is the consultant for the 1952 Spain recordings of the Alan Lomax archive, and is working on an authorized edition of his Spanish field diary. Judith holds a master's and a doctorate from the Université de Montréal, in her hometown. An inveterate traveler, she is often on the road doing village fieldwork, and giving lectures, concerts and workshops, in Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Israel and wherever else her work and interests take her. Judith isthe proud mother of Toronto artist Tamar Ilana, who grew up singing and traveling with her. Judith lives in Toronto and teaches part-time at York University.

Vocalist
Caitlin Holland is a Toronto based soprano who performs regularly as a soloist and as a member of choirs, as well as with groups like The Fairest and Best. She is the music director at Malvern Emmanuel United Church in Scarborough, and teaches music for young children (MYC),as well as private students.  She is very excited to be a part of this important project.

Research | Docent
Eternal Student. World Traveler. Active volunteer.

Vocalist
Sage Tyrtle teaches The Art of Storytelling in workshops and at Seneca College. Her stories have been featured on NPR and CBC radio.

Vocalist
Mackenzie loves to sing and play piano. She is an artist with a portfolio that includes, painting, drawing and sculpture. She has been a member of the school choir and glee club and studies music privately. 

Vocalist
Calgary native Alida Doornberg, mezzo­soprano, is a classical musician with a special interest in contemporary music. Recently, Alida appeared Handel’s Julius Caesar, John Beckwith’s Night Blooming Cereus and the world premiere of Michael Rose’s Northern Lights Dream, all with the Summer Opera Lyric Theatre of Toronto (SOLTT). This coming season, Alida is a soloist and chorus member of Opera in Concert (OIC). Alida is pursuing a Master of Music degree at University of Toronto, studying with renowned soprano Monica Whicher. Alida has trained in Young Artist programs in Vancouver, Calgary, Taos, and Urbania, Italy. In 2015, Alida was a featured soloist at the Rivers Conservatory Chopin Symposium alongside pianist and scholar Roberto Poli. Alida holds a Bachelor's of Music (Honours) in Vocal Performances from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Alida currently resides in Toronto.

Record producer and engineer
David Seitz has worked with such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Pete Seeger, Bonnie Raitt, Dar Williams, Richard Shindell, Eric Anderson and Moby. Originally trained at RCA Records in the 1980s under the tutelage of Tom Shepard and Paul Goodman (where he worked with Steven Sondheim on such Grammy winning recordings as “Sunday In The Park With George”), David found his own production style working with artists like Suzanne Vega and Jack Hardy in the Greenwich Village Folk Scene. As one of the producers for The Fast Folk Musical Magazine (now owned by Smithsonian Folkways), David produced recordings for several up and coming artists both in his New York Studios and remotely. His early recordings of Tracy Chapman in Boston and Loreena McKennitt recorded “live” in Toronto for Fast Folk are examples.