Panelists

Torquil Campbell, member of the band Stars; co-host of Soft Revolution podcast

Kate Helsen, Assistant Professor, Don Wright Faculty of Music at the University of Western Ontario; member of Tafelmusik Chamber Choir

Reginald Mobley, countertenor; programming consultant for Handel and Haydn Society

Moderator

Raha Javanfar, musician, theatre performer, creator, theatre lighting designer, and educator, currently teaching at Ryerson University

MUSIC AS RESISTANCE: Beyond protest songs

A conversation that explores how music has given voice to resistance over the centuries, whether political, religious, social, or economic. Music is a concise, effective, and universally understood way to convey the complexity of human existence. Music is easily passed down and internalized.

Throughout history, music has been a means of expressing resistance against the status quo, either openly or covertly. From Bach’s struggles with Leipzig town councillors to prioritize art over ideology, to Billy Bragg and the Red Wedge movement in Thatcher-era England, and from  cloistered 17^th century nuns whose music challenged papal authority, to the rise of Black gospel music during the Civil Rights movement, music has done the heavy lifting when words alone failed.  

At a time when the very act of performing live music can be seen as an act of resistance, our conversation explores music’s power to lift up, unite, and give voice to the oppressed and forgotten.

Space is limited and pricing is subject to change based on demand.