For pay-what-you-can tickets, for more information or to request accommodations please contact Michelle Poirier, Brock University Human Rights and Equity office at mpoirier@brocku.ca or 905-688-5550 x 6859.
Vivek Shraya is an artist whose body of work crosses the boundaries of music, literature, visual art, and film. Her best-selling new book, I’m Afraid of Men, was heralded by Vanity Fair as “cultural rocket fuel,” and her album with Queer Songbook Orchestra, Part Time Woman, was included in CBC’s list of Best Canadian Albums of 2017. She is one half of the music duo Too Attached and the founder of the publishing imprint VS. Books. A Polaris Music Prize nominee and four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, Vivek was a 2016 Pride Toronto Grand Marshal, was featured on The Globe and Mail’s Best Dressed list, and has received honours from The Writers’ Trust of Canada and The Publishing Triangle. She is currently a director on the board of the Tegan and Sara Foundation and an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Calgary.
The Toronto based Queer Songbook Orchestra are a 12-piece chamber pop ensemble, dedicated to exploring and uplifting queer narrative through the lens of popular music, while reimagining the traditional concert experience. Formed in 2014 the QSO are made up of many of the top musicians in Canada from across the classical, pop and jazz spectrum, and have performed all across Canada and been featured at many of the countries top performing arts festivals. The QSO have played venues ranging from the National Arts Centre to the St. John’s Farmers Market, with innumerable stops in between. The QSO are a highly collaborative ensemble and have worked with many guest artists and arrangers including Beverly Glenn Copeland, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Owen Pallett, Cris Derksen, and high school students across Canada.
The QSO have released two albums, the 2017 collaborative album with Vivek Shraya, Part-Time Woman (Long Listed for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize) and the 2018 solo debut, Anthems & Icons. The QSO have also produced a short animated film, Reach the Sky, which has been playing festivals around the world, including screenings in Japan, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Russia, Mexico and across the US and Canada.
