Peter~Anthony Togni

Peter Togni

Since 1989, Peter-Anthony Togni has received a steady stream of commissions for choral music, string orchestra, chamber music, concertos, film scores and solo organ and piano works. As a performing organist he has toured Canada and Europe as a soloist and with his trio Sanctuary, presenting new works on every occasion. Performances include St. Bartholemew’s in New York, St. John Smith Square in London, St. Severin in Paris, the Dom Cathedral in Riga, Latvia, the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai, China.

Peter-Anthony’s works are regularly broadcast on the CBC, as well as internationally, including on the BBC, NPR, Deutsche Wella, Radio France, the Netherlands and performed by artists such as the Penderecki String Quartet, pianist Jane Coop, and the Elmer Iseler Singers, throughout Canada the United States and Europe.

His works have been released on ECM, XXI Records, CBC Records, Hänssler Classics and Warner Classics UK. In 2006, Peter-Anthony was nominated for a Juno award in the category “Classical Composer of the Year” for his work Illuminations, written for bass clarinet and string orchestra, and released on the Sanctuary album The Heart Has Its Reasons. In October 2008, Peter-Anthony’s Lamentations of Jeremiah (a concerto for choir and bass clarinet) was recorded by Jeff Reilly and the Elmer Iseler Singers for release on the ECM label in 2010. This recording took place in Halifax at All Saints Cathedral and was produced by Manfred Eicher.

In May of 2008 Peter toured Russia with the Sanctuary Trio. The tour included a concert featuring Peter-Anthony performing on the famous pipe organ at the Shostakovich (Philharmonic) Hall in St. Petersburg. Peter has recently completed Lux Aeterna for Sundanese Gamelan and voice, as well as Reqium Lux for mixed choir, and Seven Preludes for organ.

Peter-Anthony, a native of Pembroke, Ontario, studied organ and composition at the University of British Columbia, and at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, France, where he won first prize in composition, and studied organ and improvisation with Jean Langlais.

For twenty one years, he has been a broadcaster for CBC Radio 2, on programs including “That Time of the Night”, “Stereo Morning”, “Weekender” and presently “Choral Concert”. He currently resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he plays with the Peter Togni Trio and regularly gives public talks and master classes on organ and improvisation.  In April 2011, Peter-Anthony will be giving the annual Christianity and the Arts Lecture at St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.

2010