ALLEGRA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA: festivELLE
SUNDAY, 16 MARCH 2025 | DOORS at 19:30, Music at 20:00
This is a TICKETED EVENT
Janna Sailor hosts this Allegra Chamber Orchestra concert featuring Saina Khaledi on santur and Katie Rife on percussion. Katie will be performing on marimba and vibraphone. Her set will showcase pieces written for her by local composers Jennifer Butler, Dorothy Chang, Anna Höstman, Saina Khaledi, and Jocelyn Morlock. festivELLE always manages to find introspective and exquisite works by female identifying composers and Allegra remains one of Vancouver’s most thoughtful and superlative cultural institutions.
About festivELLE
festivELLE is a biannual celebration of female identifying musicians and composers that showcases innovation and social change through music. Recently named Classical Ensemble of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards 2024, Allegra is of the only all female professional orchestras in the world, and creates relevant, inclusive, impactful, and innovative live performances. This year, the theme of festivELLE is Migration, Displacement, and Belonging, with each thoughtfully curated performance reflecting elements of the lived experiences of each of us, whether we are immigrants, First Peoples, minorities, or simply finding our way.
About Saina
Saina Khaledi, an Iranian-Canadian musician, achieved significant recognition by emerging victorious in the Iranian Santour Festival in 2003. Holding a diploma from Iran’s most prestigious music school, the Tehran Music Conservatoire, Khaledi dedicated herself to her musical education and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the Tehran Music University in 2007. Subsequently, she relocated to Canada in 2009.
Since her arrival, Khaledi has performed extensively across various countries, including Iran, Austria, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, the United States, and Canada. Her performances have showcased her versatility as a composer, soloist, and collaborator with esteemed groups such as Music On Main, Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra (VICO), Vashaan Ensemble, Vancouver Bach Choir, BC Chinese Music Ensemble (BCCME), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO), Vancouver Opera Orchestra, Canadian Music Centre (CMC), Richmond Choir, Medusa Society, Artemis Society, National Orchestra of Iran Conservatoire, Mellal Orchestra, and Hamnavazan Ensemble. Additionally, she has actively participated in various music productions and recordings. Currently, Khaledi holds teaching positions at Capilano University, and offers private lessons.
About Katie
Vancouver-based percussionist Katie Rife is a multifaceted artist who delights in exploring the shimmering and captivating sounds of the many instruments she plays. She is an enthusiastic performer of new music, with appearances in concerts presented by Music on Main, Vancouver New Music, Redshift Music Society, the Canadian Music Centre, Little Chamber Music, and the Blueridge Chamber Festival, and has worked closely with composers to premiere dozens of new works. Equally admiring of orchestral music, Katie is the principal percussionist with the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, and has performed in numerous concerts with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra, and Allegra Chamber Orchestra.
Also an accomplished producer, Katie is a founding member and director of Driftwood Percussion, Redshift Music Society’s percussion ensemble, and previously founded and directed the Ethos Collective, a new music and improvisatory sextet. Her production collaborations include events with Driftwood Percussion for the ISCM World New Music Days in Vancouver, the Music on Main Modulus Festival, and more recently an event that had thirty percussionists take over the atrium of Vancouver’s Central Library.
As part of her dedication to the fostering of new works, since 2020 Katie has been commissioning short solo pieces for vibraphone and marimba by Canadian composers, with the support of the BC Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.
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