Peter-Anthony’s music is spiritually rooted and contemplative.  It ranges from the ethereally quiet to the explosive outer limits of contemplation. He is an award-wining composer, pianist, organist, conductor and former CBC broadcaster, who tours nationally and internationally; his music is regularly performed and broadcast worldwide.

Togni’s compositions have been released on XXI Records, CBC Records, Hänssler Classics, and Warner Classics UK. His Lamentatio Jeremiah Prophetae, a concerto for bass clarinet and choir offering a poignant interpretation of a prophet who speaks the truth and is disregarded, was recorded by bass clarinettist Jeff Reilly and the Elmer Iseler Singers and released on the ECM label, produced by Manfred Eicher.  Other notable CD releases include Peter-Anthony’s solo piano disc Piano Alone, Sanctuary Trio’s Estuary, Hymns of Heaven and Earth, Responsio, Luminous Voices’ Sea Dreams, and Blackwood’s Lost and Found and Passages.

In 2006, Togni’s Illuminations, a concerto for bass clarinet and string orchestra, was nominated for a Juno award in the category Classical Composition of the Year. 2011 brought two nominations for Lamentations of Jeremiah, for an East Coast Music Award in the Classical Music category, and for a Juno award in the category Classical Composition of the Year.  The work was also a finalist in 2010 for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award, celebrating outstanding works of contemporary art that inspire and promote the development of artistic endeavour in Nova Scotia. In 2012, Togni’s Missa Liberationis, the result of a project with the Latvian Youth Choir BALSIS, was published by Musica Baltica. Also in 2012, Peter-Anthony was the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. 

The Responsio project, a contemporary response to the medieval composer Guillaume de Machaut written for bass clarinettist Jeff Reilly and vocal quartet, premiered 2013.  The work is the grand prize winner of the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award and was nominated for a 2016 Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance.  Warrior Songs, a work for percussionist Jerry Granelli and choir premiered in Bolder Colorado in 2014, with its Canadian premiere taking place in 2015 with the Elmer Iseler Singers in Toronto. In 2016 Peter’s opera Isis and Osiris, based on the libretto of Sharon Singer and in collaboration with Opera in Concert, premiered to critical acclaim in Toronto.  

Sea Dreams, drawn from the texts of T. S. Elliot’s four quartets, is a reflection of a journey of faith in relation to the ocean and premiered in Calgary in 2018 with Luminous Voices and flutists Sara Hahn-Scinocco and Sara Geick. The work is part of their CD of the same name, which was nominated for a Juno award, and won the 2021 ECMA for Classical Composition of the Year.  Togni’s Living Flame of Love premiered in 2019 with Edmonton’s Pro Coro Canada with harpist Nora Bumanis and accordionist Joseph Petric, and two commissions for the RCCO premiered during its 2019 National Competition.  2020 brought the work Magnificat for the Calgary Renaissance Singers and Players.

Togni’s Voice of the Weaver, commissioned by Jeff Reilly for bass clarinet and choir, with texts by Mi’kmaq poet Mary Louise Martin, premiered in Canada in 2022 with the Elora Singers. This work will be performed at the 2025 Scotia Festival and at the Millbrook First Nations, featuring Jeff Reilly and The Elora Singers, with a commercial recording to follow.  His newest endeavour is The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, which premiered in November 2024 in Toronto and Guelph with the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Elora Singers in joint concert.

Peter-Anthony is a pianist, improviser, conductor and organist and has given many performances across Canada and in Europe. In 2015, he took part in the 53rd Magadino International Organ Festival in Switzerland, which was co-founded by his late father, Victor Togni. He has also worked extensively in Canada as a church musician.  He was music director at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Calgary, an organist at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto and organist and choir director at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica in Halifax.  Togni was the organist in the internationally acclaimed trio Sanctuary alongside bass clarinettist Jeff Reilly and cellist Christoph Both. Sanctuary formed in 1999 and performed across Canada and around the world, at venues such as St. John’s, Smith Square in London, Saint- Séverin in Paris and the Dom Cathedral in Riga, Latvia. In 2008 they were the first Canadians since Glenn Gould to play at Philharmonic Hall, in St. Petersburg Russia. They have released several recordings including their acclaimed CD The heart has its reasons for Warner Classics UK.  Peter-Anthony also collaborates with artists such as jazz saxophonist Mike Murley and cellist Jeffrey Zeigler. He is currently half of the duo Blackwood with bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly and who recently perform with cellist, composer and improviser India Gailey. Their debut recording of original music, Lost and Found, was nominated for two ECMA awards, and their latest release Passages came out in November 2024. Peter-Anthony tours his solo piano works.

Born in Pembroke, Ontario in 1959, he spent his early years in Toronto where he attended St. Michael’s Choir School. He later went on to study at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, studying organ with Frederick Geoghegan and composition with Stephen Chatman. He furthered his studies in organ and improvisation in Paris, France with the great French organist Jean Langlais. Togni also studied composition with Allain Gaussin at the Schola Cantorum in Paris where he was awarded first prize in composition.

For over twenty years, Peter-Anthony was a broadcaster, hosting radio programs for CBC Radio 2 in Canada, including That Time of the Night, the award-winning Stereo Morning, Weekender and Choral Concert. Peter-Anthony teaches at Acadia University’s School of Music in Wolfville, and is the organist and choir director at St. Benedict Parish. He resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2024

---

Short Bio – Peter-Anthony Togni

Canadian Peter-Anthony Togni (b.1959) is an award-winning composer, pianist, organist, conductor and former CBC broadcaster. His music is spiritually rooted and contemplative, ranging from the ethereally quiet to the explosive outer limits of contemplation. He tours internationally, and his music is regularly performed and broadcast worldwide. Notable recordings include releases on Warner Classics UK, ATMA Classique and ECM Records (Lamentations of Jeremiah). His Juno nominated work Responsio won the 2014 Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Arts Award and in 2021, Sea Dreams won an ECMA for Classical Composition of the Year.

In 2016 Peter-Anthony’s opera Isis and Osiris premiered to critical acclaim in Toronto. Voice of the Weaver, a commission for bass clarinettist Jeff Reilly and choir, with texts by Mi’kmaq poet Mary Louise Martin, premiered at the Elora Festival in 2022 with the Elora Singers and will again be performed at the 2025 Scotia Festival and at the Millbrook First Nations, with a commercial recording to follow. Togni’s newest work The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom premiered in Toronto and Guelph in November 2024 in a joint concert with the Elmer Iseler Singers and the Elora Singers.

Peter-Anthony performs with his longtime collaborator Jeff Reilly in the duo Blackwood, who recently released their newest album Passages, and tours his own music for solo piano. He teaches composition at the Acadia School of Music and is the organist and choir director at St. Benedict Parish.  Originally from Pembroke Ontario, he composes from his beautiful home in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

2024