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Art of Healing

Members of the TSO performing at CAMH with Yo-Yo Ma and Jeremy Dutcher

In partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and in collaboration with Shkaabe Makwa—the Centre for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Wellness—CAMH patients will work with Métis composer Ian Cusson and members of the TSO to compose a piece that will receive its première in 2023 at CAMH and at Roy Thomson Hall in June 2024. 

In partnership with CAMH’s Gifts of Light, a program with the goal of improving the patient experience, and Shkaabe Makwa (“Spirit Bear Helper” Centre for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Wellness), Art of Healing brings together traditional knowledge and medical expertise in the establishment of a culturally safe space to support patients’ mental well-being.

Art of Healing joins the TSO’s slate of health and wellness initiatives intended to reach more age groups, people with different abilities, and more diverse communities in Toronto.

Ian Cusson sitting in a red velvet chair

Ian Cusson

Ian Cusson is a composer of art song, opera and orchestral work. Of Métis (Georgian Bay Métis Community) and French Canadian descent, his work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures. 

He studied composition with Jake Heggie (San Francisco) and Samuel Dolin, and piano with James Anagnoson at the Glenn Gould School. He is the recipient of the Chalmers Professional Development Grant, and grants through the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. 

Ian was an inaugural Carrefour Composer-in-Residence with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 2017-2019 and was Composer-in-Residence for the Canadian Opera Company for 2019-2021. He is a Co-artistic Director of Opera in the 21st Century at the Banff Centre and the recipient of the 2021 Jan V. Matejcek Classical Music Award from SOCAN and the 2021 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. Ian is an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers. 

He lives in Oakville with his wife and four children.

The TSO will have the World Première of Ian Cusson's new work as part of the Art of Healing Program at our Mendelssohn’s Violin performances in 2024.
Yo-Yo Ma and Jeremy Dutcher performing at CAMH.

Culture in Action

On November 17, 2022, the TSO and CAMH launched their partnership with a Day of Culture in Action. As part of the celebratory launch event, the TSO and CAMH hosted Yo-Yo Ma and Jeremy Dutcher, who created a community space for conversations about culture’s ability to heal, and performed along with members of the Orchestra, Métis mezzo-soprano Rebecca Cuddy, and Mi’kmaq dancer and choreographer from Eskasoni First Nation Sarah Prosper.