Our Beginnings
The history of Listen Up!
Listen Up! began through the vision of world-renowned professional chamber ensemble the Gryphon Trio. Throughout this award-winning Trio’s tours across the country, they connected with local presenters and community leaders, and observed the inequities of arts access in communities, most specifically for young people in under-resourced schools. Listen Up! was conceived as a response to that gap in access. Click below for more…
Our Team
Roman Borys
Artistic Director
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For more than three decades, cellist and producer Roman Borys has distinguished himself as one of Canada’s leading artistic voices. A founding member of the three-time Juno Award-winning Gryphon Trio, Roman, violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon and pianist Jamie Parker have released 22 acclaimed recordings on Analekta, Naxos, and other labels; toured internationally since 1993; and broken new artistic ground through cross-genre collaborations and multimedia performances.
During his tenure with the Ottawa Chamber Music Society the organization evolved from a grassroots festival to a year-round arts organization producing a summer festival, a fall-winter concert series and a suite of community engagement and education initiatives. Borys served as Artistic Director from 2007 to 2015 and as Artistic and Executive Director from 2016 to 2020.
Honours include three Juno Awards and eleven nominations for Classical Album of the Year. In 2013, Canada Council for the Arts presented Gryphon Trio with the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. That same year the Ukrainian Canadian Congress presented Roman with the Shevchenko Medal Award recognizing his contributions to culture and the arts. In 2015, Roman received an Honorary Doctorate from Carleton University, in Ottawa, as recognition for his contributions to the community.
Deeply committed to classical music outreach and audience development, in 2010 Roman conceived the Gryphon Trio’s Listen Up! arts education program. Taking place over the course of an academic year, the program engages elementary school students in workshops with professional musicians, writers, composers, visual artists and choir leaders and concludes with a rousing public performance. The Listen Up! program has been produced in communities across Canada and as far north as Inuvik, and now has two permanent hubs in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario.
In 2023 Roman was appointed as the Artistic and Executive Director of Music Toronto, one of Canada’s leading presenters of chamber music ensembles and pianists. Listen Up! is now the flagship program of Music Toronto’s Community Engagement and Education pillar.
Patty Jarvis
Program Director
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Patty has worked for more than 35 years with arts organizations, schools and communities in developing meaningful partnerships and programs that support accessible and relevant arts engagement. Past positions include; Interim Associate Director, Education and Outreach, Canadian Opera Company; Executive Director, Prologue to the Performing Arts; Director of Education/Outreach - Canadian Stage. Patty was the co-author (with Creative Trust) of The Performing Arts Education Overview Report (2011), a first-time analysis of arts education programming in arts organizations in Toronto.
Patty is a co-founder and past Chair of Professional Arts Organizations Network for Education (now AENO) and has held Board and Advisory positions with Cultural Pluralism in the Arts Movement in Ontario (CPAMO), Canadian Network for Arts and Learning, Toronto Theatre Alliance (now TAPA) and Ontario Presents and currently sits on the Board of Studio 180 Theatre. She is a faculty member in the Arts Management and Arts Education and Community Engagement Programs at Centennial College.
Our 2025-26 Artists
Toronto, Ontario
St. Luigi Catholic School
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Gryphon Trio is firmly established as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios. For more than 30 years, it has earned acclaim for and impressed international audiences with its highly refined, dynamic, and memorable performances. The Trio’s repertoire ranges from traditional to contemporary, and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia. It is committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.
Violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys, and pianist Jamie Parker are creative innovators with an appetite for discovery and new ideas. They have commissioned over 85 new works, and they frequently collaborate with other artists on projects that push the boundaries of Classical music.
The Trio tours regularly throughout North America and Europe. It enjoys longstanding relationships with prominent festivals and arts incubators like Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Orford Music Academy, Music Toronto, Ottawa Chamberfest, and Festival del Lago International Academy of Music in Ajijic, Mexico. Gryphon Trio often performs triple concerti with the world’s major symphony orchestras and smaller chamber orchestras.
Gryphon Trio’s prolific recording catalogue includes 22 releases on Analekta, Naxos, and other labels; it is an encyclopaedia of works for the genre. Honours include 11 nominations and three Juno Awards for Classical Album of the Year in 2004, 2011, and most recently in 2019. In 2013, Canada Council for the Arts presented Gryphon Trio with the prestigious Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.
The Gryphons are deeply committed to community engagement, education, and the development of next-generation audiences and performers. They conduct masterclasses and workshops at universities and conservatories. Since 2010, the Trio’s ground-breaking outreach program, Listen Up!, has inspired 18 Canadian communities to collaborate on large-scale multifaceted arts creation projects.
From 2007 to 2020, Roman Borys served as Artistic Director and subsequently as Artistic and Executive Director of Ottawa Chamberfest. During this period, Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker were Chamberfest’s Artistic Advisors. Mr. Parker holds the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music, where Ms. Patipatanakoon is Professor of Violin and Chamber Music. In 2023, Roman Borys was appointed Artistic and Executive Director of Music Toronto.
To learn more about Gryphon Trio, please visit https://www.gryphontrio.com
Chris Thornborrow
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Composer
Chris Thornborrow is an award-winning composer for film, theatre, and the concert stage. His work has been described as “heightened and brashly percussive” (Variety), “urgent, masterful” (Now Magazine), and “elegiac music that casts a spell” (Hollywood Reporter). He has been awarded the Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music, multiple SOCAN Awards for Audio Visual Composers, two Dora Award nominations, and the Louis Applebaum Composers Award Nomination.
Chris film composition credits include Sleeping Giant, which was nominated for the Critics Week Grand Prize and Golden Camera Award (Cannes Film Festival), three Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Motion Picture and won the Best Canadian First Feature Award (TIFF). It has been broadcast internationally in 40 countries.
We Ate the Children Last, a film based on a story by Yann Martel (Life of Pi) for which Chris composed a unique noise-inspired electronic-classical fusion score, premiered at the Claremont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and was honoured as one of Canada’s Top 10 short films at TIFF along with The Camera and Christopher Merk for which Chris collaborated with Brandon Cronenberg.
His first full-length hybrid-musical Hook Up, commissioned and produced by Tapestry Opera, premiered to critical acclaim in 2019 and was nominated for Outstanding New Opera at the Dora Awards. Firmly established as a leading composer and facilitator in contemporary music theatre for young people, Chris works regularly with school boards and top arts organizations across Ontario. Through his work with the Canadian Opera Company’s After-School Opera Program, Chris has collaborated directly with thousands of students and co-written over 60 musical theatre works.
His instrumental music has been performed, recorded, and commissioned by Array Ensemble, the Bicycle Opera Project, Ensemble Paramirabo, Esprit Orchestra, junctOin keyboard collective, Tapestry Opera, the Thin Edge New Music Collective, and The Toy Piano Composers, of which he was the Co-Founder and Artistic Director for eight seasons.
As an avid fan of tabletop games, Chris composes original orchestral music for Dungeons and Dragons campaigns while serving as a game master.
Kelly-Marie Murphy
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Visual Artist
Kelly-Marie is an award-winning and highly sought after Canadian composer who has created memorable works for some of Canada’s leading performers and ensembles including the Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the Gryphon Trio, James Campbell, Shauna Rolston, the Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets, and Judy Loman.
Dr. Murphy’s music has been performed around the world by outstanding soloists and ensembles, and has had radio broadcasts in over 22 countries. Her music has been interpreted by renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, David Brophy, Bramwell Tovey, and Mario Bernardi. Her music has been heard in iconic concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall in New York, The Mozarteum in Salzburg, and The National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Jackie Hawley
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Choir Master / Conductor
Jackie Hawley is the founding Artistic Director of the Cantiamo Choirs of Ottawa. She has conducted and toured internationally with adult, youth and children’s choirs and has been a clinician for choirs and schools throughout Canada for nearly 40 years. She has presented at numerous events including Festival 500, Podium and the International Symposium of Singing and Song II.
As in the Toronto program we have also created “Mentee” artists positions for each of the three modules in support of emerging artists.
Madeline McKinnell
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Visual Artist
Madeline McKinnell draws from her extensive experience as a puppeteer, installation artist, community arts organizer, production manager, stage manager, and designer to facilitate accessible and inspiring places both within and beyond the classroom. Madeline centers imagination and experimentation with every new project and the goal is always for her learners to try something new, take a creative risk, and, most importantly, enjoy the process of creating.
Madeline is a graduate from the Masters of Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and holds a BFA, specialization in Design for the Theatre, from Concordia University.
Madeline McKinnell
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Visual Artist
Madeline McKinnell draws from her extensive experience as a puppeteer, installation artist, community arts organizer, production manager, stage manager, and designer to facilitate accessible and inspiring places both within and beyond the classroom. Madeline centers imagination and experimentation with every new project and the goal is always for her learners to try something new, take a creative risk, and, most importantly, enjoy the process of creating.
Madeline is a graduate from the Masters of Education program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto and holds a BFA, specialization in Design for the Theatre, from Concordia University.
Paula Wing
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Creative Writing
Paula Wing is a teacher, playwright, translator, and dramaturge who is delighted to be returning to the joyous creativity of Listen Up. She is in demand both in Toronto and nationally for her work with young people, emerging and established artists, and students from kindergarten to university. She designs and runs programming for Tarragon, Soulpepper, and Young Peoples Theatres. Paula is a Sessional Professor at the University of Waterloo and the University of Windsor, and a frequent guest at Laurier University as well. For the past ten years she has been the creative writing instructor at the Native Men’s Residence in Toronto. Her original play, Roadkill, is in development at Roseneath Theatre in Toronto.
Ottawa, Ontario
Roberta Bondar Public School
Jamaal Amir Akbari
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Visual Artist
Jamaal Amir Akbari or JustJamaalThePoet (previously Jamaal Jackson Rogers) is an award-winning poet, arts educator and performer and served as Ottawa's English Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. He uses his style of free verse, spoken word and prose mixed with his influences from RnB/Rap/Hiphop, to share his story of moving from tragedy to triumph locally and abroad. His favorite moments are when he makes connections with audiences and participants in his workshops or on stage.
Listen Up! is a Gryphon Trio program produced by Music TORONTO
in partnership with St. Luigi Catholic School, Roberta Bondar Public School
and Ottawa Chamberfest
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Gryphon Trio is firmly established as one of the world’s preeminent piano trios. For more than 30 years, it has earned acclaim for and impressed international audiences with its highly refined, dynamic, and memorable performances. The Trio’s repertoire ranges from traditional to contemporary, and from European classicism to modern-day multimedia. It is committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st century.
To learn more about Gryphon Trio, please visit https://www.gryphontrio.com
