PRIVATE EVENT – Concert-workshop with Xenia Concerts: Michael Bridge & Diane Kolin at Safehaven, in Toronto
2024-07-10 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Toronto) | BC
Xenia Concerts makes a private appearance at Safehaven with a family-friendly concert that embraces neurodiversity and disability! This collaboration between Xenia Concerts and Safehaven provides an inspiring musical experience to the organization’s attendees!
This concert has been designed to be enjoyable and accessible for neurodivergent listeners, those with disabilities, and their families and caregivers.
More information on Xenia Concerts’ website

Organ Festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland
2024-09-01 - 2024-09-15 | St. Laurenzen Church, Kirche St. Laurenzen, Marktgasse 25, St. Gallen, 9000, Switzerland
After the September 2023 inauguration and April 2024 book launch festivities, this new edition will feature local and international organists and artists.
The new surround organ from Orgelbau Goll is celebrated with two annual festivals: a two-week autumn festival and a weekend festival in spring. The 2024 automn edition will take place from September 1st to 15th, with a rich and top-class musical program. You can reserve tickets for the concerts by Bernhard Ruchti, Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin (Saint-Sulpice, Paris) and Jonathan Scott (London), and get information all the other events. The concerts are free.
In addition to a voice and organ concert on September 6, I will be the international musicologist in house, interviewing artists during the festival.
Program (in German): https://www.laurenzen.ch/festivals
Read the article published in St. Gallen 24 (in German): https://stgallen24.ch/articles/255672-orgel-festival-in-der-laurenzen

Chanson-Vesper - Organ Festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland
2024-09-06 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Zurich) | St. Laurenzen Church, Kirche St. Laurenzen, Marktgasse 25, St. Gallen, 9000, Switzerland
A Laurenzen Vespers combining the depth of French chansons and spiritual texts. With Diane Kolin (vocals), Pastor Kathrin Bolt, Philipp Kamm and Bernhard Ruchti (organ).
Free event.
Full program of the festival (in German): https://www.laurenzen.ch/festivals

Bernhard Ruchti Swiss Tour 2025
2025-02-05 - 2025-03-01 | Switzerland, Switzerland
The Swiss pianist, musicologist and composer Bernhard Ruchti will tour Switzerland from February 5, 2025 to March 1st, 2025. I will accompany him as a touring agent.

Tempo is the pulse of music. Since 2018, Swiss pianist Bernhard Ruchti has been exploring and interpreting this pulse – and uncovering surprising new ways of interpreting classical music. His work is based on historical research into one of the most important interpreters of the 19th century: Franz Liszt.
Ludwig van Beethoven’s great Hammerklavier Sonata Opus 106 is the focus of Bernhard Ruchti’s tour of Switzerland. He interprets it in the duration handed down by Franz Liszt himself: “presque une heure”. That is noticeably longer than today’s average. For the interpretation, it means one thing above all: more time, more breath and more richness of detail.
Experience Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, one of the core works of the A Tempo project, in a new interpretation, complemented and contrasted with works by Franz Liszt and Bernhard Ruchti.
More information and tickets: https://www.bernhardruchti.com/en/tour/

St. Laurenzen Mittwoch-Mittags-Konzert: Women's Month French-chansons with Diane Kolin and Bernhard Ruchti
2025-03-12 12:15 - 12:45 (America/Toronto) | St. Laurenzen Church, Kirche St. Laurenzen, Marktgasse 25, St. Gallen, 9000, Switzerland
French-chansons repertoire for Women’s Month in St. Laurenzen, on March 12, 2025, with Diane Kolin (voice) and Bernhard Ruchti (piano, organ).
The program includes chansons by Barbara, Maurane, Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, Céline Dion and Isabelle Boulay.
Free entrance.

Vivaldi and Mozart at Carnegie Hall
2025-05-24 13:00 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | Carnegie Hall, 57th Street & 7th Ave, New York, NY, 10019, United States
I will be one of the singers of the York University Singers ensemble, directed by Lisette Canton, who will conduct the Vivaldi. We will also perform the Mozart with Wen Chin Liu-Young.

On Saturday, May 24, 2025, 1:00 PM
Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
New York New England Symphonic Ensemble
with the following participating choruses:
Heritage Chorale, Oak Park, IL (Wen Chin Liu-Young, Director) NeoVoce Philharmonic Choir, Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA (Leo Li, Director) The Ebell of Los Angeles Chorale, Los Angeles, CA (Yu Hang Tan, Director) Waukesha Choral Union, Waukesha, WI (Danielle Bridges, Director) York University Singers, Toronto, Ontario, CANADA (Lisette Canton, Director)
Program:
Vesperae solennes de confessore, K.339, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – conducted by Wen Chin Liu-Young
Gloria in D Major, RV 589, Antonio Vivaldi – conducted by Lisette Canton
Tickets: https://www.carnegiehall.org/Calendar/2025/05/24/New-England-Symphonic-Ensemble-0100PM

CCMP Accessibility and Theatre Workshop - Private event
2025-10-04 | BC
This private event will be a Community Theatre and Accessibility workshop organized by ArtsAbly, which I will lead for City Centre Musical Productions (CCMP) in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Theorizing Trauma and Disability in the Arts: Vocal Pedagogy Panel (virtual)
2025-10-17 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Toronto) | Online
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music and the Center for Musical Humanities present a four-day event exploring different perspectives on trauma and disabilities in the arts. Free and open to the public, the conference will feature musical performances, art installations, panel discussions and audience interaction.
Friday, October 17, 2025, Lani Hall, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, Los Angleles
2:30pm PDT – 4:00pm PDT/ 5:30pm EST –7:00pm EST
Vocal Pedagogy Panel (presented virtually in Lani)

Katherine Meizel
Anne Slovin (in person)
Emily Jaworski Koriath
Adam Moxness
Diane Kolin
Maria Georgakarakou
Marita Stryker

About the conference: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/trauma-and-disability-in-the-arts-conference/
Full program: https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/trauma-and-disability-in-the-arts/
Live stream (day and time of the conference): https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/school-of-music-live-streams/#lani-hall

Amadeus Choir: VERTIGO | A Choral Tango
2025-11-01 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Toronto) | The Plaground, 388 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Step into the seductive world of tango at VERTIGO: A Choral Tango—a thrilling, Halloween-adjacent evening of music, movement, and drama. The night kicks off with a fun, beginner-friendly tango lesson you can join or simply enjoy watching. Then, be captivated by renowned accordionist Michael Bridge, stunning choral performances, and a breathtaking aerial tango dancer. With a cash bar available throughout the evening, this is the perfect chance to sip, sway, and soak up the magic of tango’s rich history. Don’t miss this uniquely immersive concert experience—one night only!

2025 Joint American Musicological Society and Society for Music Conference - Musicking in Disabled Community: Access Intimacy and Cultural Activism
2025-11-08 13:30 - 15:00 (America/Toronto) | Hyatt Regency Minneapolis, 1300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, United States
Organized by the AMS Music and Disability Study Group. Saturday, November 8, 2025. 12:30pm – 2:00pm CDT / 1:30pm – 3:00pm EST
The Music and Disability Study Group of the AMS hosts three presentations and a conversation on the theme “Musicking in Disabled Community: Access Intimacy and Cultural Activism.”
We have chosen three presentations that:

Are driven by the interests and priorities of disabled people;
Involve people collaborating across disability identities, prestige categories, and professional affiliations;
Engage with co-creating disability culture (see Brown, “What is Disability Culture,” ​Disability Studies Quarterly 22:2 (2022) and/or access intimacy (See Mingus, “Access Intimacy: The Missing Link”, 2011; https://leavingevidence.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/access-intimacy-the-missing-link/ ) as a form of resistance to structural ableism.

The presentations will be followed by general conversation on the themes above. All are welcome!
Presentations:

Access Culture at the Cedar – Elizabeth McLain
ArtsAbly and Disability Culture – Diane Kolin
Crip Sonorities – Molly Joyce

Full details: https://www.conftool.pro/minneapolis2025-ams-smt/index.php?page=browseSessions&form_session=258

Lecture at OCAD University: Accessibility assessments of public art installations
2025-11-12 11:30 - 14:30 (America/Toronto) | OCAD University, 100 McCaul St, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1G1, Canada
My colleague Roman Romanov, Sessional Lecturer at OCAD University and fellow Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) Professional, asked me to present my public art accessibility assessments work to his class.
This presentation is not public.

Amadeus Choir: Bach's Christmas Oratorio
2025-12-07 16:00 - 21:00 (America/Toronto) | Kingston Road United Church, 975 Kingston Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Featuring the Amadeus Choir with performers from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and University of Toronto Faculty of Music. Conducted by Kathleen Allan.
Immerse yourself in the festive splendour of J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, performed in full across two captivating concerts. Composed in 1734, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is celebrated as one of the greatest works in Western choral tradition, blending jubilant choruses, exquisite arias, and vivid storytelling of the Nativity. Be part of this historic masterpiece, enhanced by community warmth and holiday cheer—an unforgettable seasonal experience awaits!
Ticket includes two concerts & dinner!
4 PM: Cantatas 1, 2, and 3
5:30 PM-7:00 PM: Dinner at one of six local restaurants (included in your ticket price!)
7:30 PM: Cantatas 4, 5, and 6
Amadeus Subscribers receive an exclusive 20% off discount. Promo codes will be emailed to within a week after your subscription purchase.
Purchase tickets: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/js-bach-christmas-oratorio-eat-drink-be-merry-tickets-1542887430839

Elmer Iseler Singers: Handel’s Messiah
2025-12-12 19:30 - 22:00 (America/Toronto) | Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St, Toronto, Ontario, M4T 1Z9, Canada
Bringing together the mass voices of the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Amadeus Choir, and our associate choir, the VIVA Chamber Singers, to present Handel’s Messiah. The three choirs are joined by soloists Leslie Fagan, Soprano; Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-soprano; Colin Ainsworth, tenor; and Doug MacNaughton, bass; and orchestra. This is the third year in the row that the Elmer Iseler Singers are joined by VIVA Chamber Singers, Carol Ratzlaff, Artistic Director, and Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto, Kathleen Allan, Artistic Director for Messiah at the beautiful Yorkminster Park Baptist Church.
Conductor: Lydia Adams.
Tickets: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/handels-messiah

FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir: "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
2026-01-23 19:30 - 23:10 (America/Toronto) | Meridian Hall, 1 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B2, Canada
Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden! For the hour has finally arrived to behold the final installment of Peter Jackson’s epic saga The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. Join the FILMharmonique Orchestra and Choir – 250 musicians onstage – on their final journey into the west and experience Howard Shore’s Academy Award®-winning score performed live to the motion picture in HD! Forth Eorlingas!
The Lord of the Rings, the characters, names and places therein are trademarks of (TM) The Saul Zaentz Co., d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Duration: 3h40 with intermission.
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-toronto-ontario-01-23-2026/event/10006231B71722DD
Use the code FILM15 to purchase tickets at a discounted rate.

FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir: "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
2026-01-24 13:00 - 16:40 (America/Toronto) | Meridian Hall, 1 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B2, Canada
Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden! For the hour has finally arrived to behold the final installment of Peter Jackson’s epic saga The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. Join the FILMharmonique Orchestra and Choir – 250 musicians onstage – on their final journey into the west and experience Howard Shore’s Academy Award®-winning score performed live to the motion picture in HD! Forth Eorlingas!
The Lord of the Rings, the characters, names and places therein are trademarks of (TM) The Saul Zaentz Co., d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Duration: 3h40 with intermission.
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-toronto-ontario-01-24-2026/event/100062D3B4C0305A
Use the code FILM15 to purchase tickets at a discounted rate.

FILMharmonic Orchestra and Choir: "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
2026-01-24 19:30 - 23:10 (America/Toronto) | Meridian Hall, 1 Front Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1B2, Canada
Arise now, arise, Riders of Théoden! For the hour has finally arrived to behold the final installment of Peter Jackson’s epic saga The Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. Join the FILMharmonique Orchestra and Choir – 250 musicians onstage – on their final journey into the west and experience Howard Shore’s Academy Award®-winning score performed live to the motion picture in HD! Forth Eorlingas!
The Lord of the Rings, the characters, names and places therein are trademarks of (TM) The Saul Zaentz Co., d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.

Duration: 3h40 with intermission.
Tickets: https://www.ticketmaster.ca/the-lord-of-the-rings-the-toronto-ontario-01-24-2026/event/10006231B71922E7
Use the code FILM15 to purchase tickets at a discounted rate.

Voice and vibration exploration workshop with VibraFusionLab
2026-01-28 - 2026-01-30 | BC
VibraFusionLab invites Diane Kolin to explore the relationship between voice and vibrations in a 3-day workshop.

Amadeus Choir: Choral Creation Lab Showcase
2026-02-21 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Toronto) | Eglinton St. George’s United Church, 35 Lytton Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, M4R 1L2, Canada
Conducted by Kathleen Allan.
Discover the future of Canadian choral music at this vibrant showcase, featuring brand new works born from an inspiring collaboration between three poets and three composers. Experience original pieces developed within the Choral Creation Lab residency and witness the next wave of Canadian choral excellence—where bold ideas and collective artistry converge in song.
Tickets: https://trellis.org/choral-creation-lab

ArtsAbly and UBC: Music and Collective Access Symposium
2026-02-27 - 2026-02-28 | St. John’s College, 2111 Lower Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada
We are delighted to announce the Call for Papers for the Music and Collective Access Symposium, which will occur in February 2026 in Vancouver.

Music and Collective Access Symposium
Link to the published CfP: https://www.artsably.com/call-for-papers-cfp-music-and-collective-access-symposium-2026/

Organizers:
Anabel Maler (UBC), Stefan Sunandan Honisch (UBC), Diane Kolin (ArtsAbly)
When:
February 27 & 28, 2026
Where:
In-Person: St. John’s College, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Online (Zoom)

Call for Papers:

Dear all,
We are pleased to invite you to the upcoming Music and Collective Access Symposium, which will take place from Friday, February 27 to Saturday, February 28, 2026, in Vancouver BC, Canada, hosted by St. John’s College at the University of British Columbia.
This hybrid (in-person and online, synchronous) conference is a collaborative undertaking between ArtsAbly, a not-for-profit organization working with performers and schools to make the arts more accessible to all, faculty members at UBC, and Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture, a Vancouver not-for-profit organization.
The symposium will offer performances, workshops and lectures, led by specialists, scholars and performers from across Canada, and will provide a forum for claiming access as a collective responsibility, while thinking through the theoretical, practical, aesthetic, and educational questions that individual access needs present in performance and learning environments. Four workshops will be featured: Braille notation, American Sign Language (ASL), accessible technology and instrument design, and performance and improvisation.
We gratefully acknowledge that the symposium has been made possible by the support of our host, St. John’s College, UBC, a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Development Grant, a SSHRC Race, Gender, and Diversity Initiative Grant, and UBC Strategic Equity and Anti-Racism (sTEAR) funding. The UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded lands of the Musqueam Nation. Elder Larry Grant is a Faculty Fellow of the College.

Categories:

Papers (20 minutes, with 10 minutes for discussion)
Lecture Recitals (30 minutes, with discussion)

Access Supports for the Symposium:
The symposium organizers will provide maximum access support to the best of our ability.
The symposium is in a hybrid format, welcoming both online and in-person synchronous presentations. All symposium sessions will include Sign Language interpretation, and Communication Access Real Time (CART) captioning. In addition, hired students will be available to provide help moving around the University of British Columbia for both days of the symposium. All symposium materials will be available in large print format (24 point, Sans Serif). For participants attending in person, there will be a designated quiet room, and we will provide a scent-free environment. For participants attending online (Zoom), participating in discussion both by speaking and by typing will be available. Symposium organizers will read typed comments and questions aloud for everyone. For online sessions, we will ask participants to avoid using emojis, and to refrain from typing comments during sessions, to avoid access barriers for people using assistive technology.
If you wish to discuss specific access needs with us at any point, please feel welcome to write to the symposium organizers using the dedicated email address provided below.

Submission deadline:
Please submit a 250-word (maximum) abstract to musiccollectiveaccess@gmail.com by Monday December 15th, 2025.
If you have any questions or concerns, please email musiccollectiveaccess@gmail.com.

Amadeus Choir: WANUSKEWIN: Seeking Peace of Mind
2026-05-09 19:30 - 21:30 (America/Toronto) | The Plaground, 388 Carlaw Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Conducted by Kathleen Allan.
Special Guest: Cris Derksen, cellist and composer.
Experience a moving evening of music, storytelling, and connection at WANUSKEWIN: Seeking Peace of Mind. This concert features acclaimed Indigenous artists—including acclaimed cellist and composer Cris Derksen—alongside instrumental ensemble and choir. Inspired by the Cree word “Wanuskewin,” meaning “seeking peace of mind,” the performance explores themes of reconciliation and harmony. Audiences will be immersed in powerful new works, including the world premiere of Andrew Balfour’s choral work of the same title, and a new arrangement of Cris Derksen’s Mass for Nîpîy: A Prayer for Water.
Tickets: https://trellis.org/wanuskewin

EHESS: Archives of historical musicology: blind and deaf musicians in Europe, from the medieval to the classical period
2026-05-26 08:30 - 10:30 (America/Toronto) | Online
Lecture at the École des Hautes Études en Science Sociale (EHESS): “Archives of historical musicology: blind and deaf musicians in Europe, from the medieval to the classical period”
In the field of historical musicology, few academic texts bring together in a single volume the archives of disabled musicians from periods prior to classicism.
In medieval times, blind people who had access to musical training provided by their parents or churches could make a career out of it, in turn training musicians who recounted the stories of their teachers. There are also records of musicians who gradually became deaf and continued to make a living from their profession in the classical era.
How did musical training evolve in medieval times? How did the opening of specialized institutions transform musical practices in the medieval and Renaissance periods? What compositional techniques and musical practices were developed by blind music professionals? When do we find traces of the first deaf musicians and composers?
This presentation opens the doors to the archives of the medieval, baroque, romantic, and classical periods, tracing the footsteps of these blind and deaf musicians who left their mark.

For the fourth year, the seminar “Constructing a history of disability and deafness through the centuries” attempts to respond to an observation: Deaf History (the history of deafness), Disability History (the history of disability), and Mad History (the history of madness or mental disorders) have each developed their own international scientific networks and their own epistemologies with a certain degree of distance or even compartmentalization.
The aim of this seminar is therefore to bring together research that is often carried out in parallel and to build a scientific network that transcends current boundaries, notably by bringing together historians who, over the last twenty years, have been renewing the three fields of research through new approaches, methods, and subjects. Scientific communities interested in the history of disability, deafness, and mental disorders in the French-speaking world have tended to be built around specific themes (blindness, deafness, psychiatry) or historical periods and cultural areas (the history of disability in the 20th century, or in medieval Europe).
In contemporary times, these research communities have taken divergent paths. On the deafness side, historiography has based its approaches on a socio-anthropological conception of deaf people and sign language, leaving the concept of deafness tied to a medical history of disability or, at the very least, to a history of technical and institutional categories and their critique. In the field of disability history, some research has focused on the institutional history of disability and public policies for its management.
While the histories of disability and deafness are intertwined in contemporary times (the origins of education for the deaf and blind date back to the 18th century, and deaf people fought alongside blind people for the right to free, secular, and compulsory education in the 1930s), the historiographies of the two rarely intersect. The central themes diverge depending on the period: researchers interested in the medieval and modern periods pay considerable attention to the influence of religion, which is not the case for the contemporary period. Historical literature on the contemporary period has evolved from an interest in public policy, the actions of educational or associative institutions, or biographical trajectories (of major historical figures such as doctors or educators) to transnational or more biographical approaches, or to more intersectional approaches that take gender or race into account. Some historical works are beginning to integrate the intersectional paradigm into their research, where “disability” is conceptualized as one of the multiple identity characteristics of the individual. In the field of Mad History, historiography has recently focused on therapeutic alternatives to institutionalization, the life trajectories of those affected, and the relationships between institutions and families.
The full program (in French) and information are available at this link: https://enseignements.ehess.fr/2025-2026/ue/23
