Soundstreams has announced the program for its final mainstage concert of 2026, “In Terra Pax.”

The showcase, taking place on Saturday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jane Mallett Theatre in Toronto, will be curated by Anna Pidgorna, winner of the Soundstreams New Voices Curator Mentorship Program.

The concert brings together Pidgorna as both composer and vocalist, Ukrainian pianist Anna Sagalova, violist Steven Dann, and Ensemble Soundstreams conducted by Tania Miller.

“The Latin phrase ‘in terra pax’ is usually translated as “peace on earth,” carrying a pacifist message, but the preposition ‘in’ can also be translated as ‘in’ rather than ‘on’ in English,” Pidgorna said per an official press release. “Peace in earth. When faced with aggression, peace is not a passive state, but an active resistance requiring sacrifice, not just on the battlefield but in everyday life. For many, resistance ends in earth. The Ukrainian tradition of lamentation or gholosinnya is a reckoning, not just with death, but with the life ahead. In Victoria Amelina’s text the lamenter plants the names of her perished sisters in the soil, to grow new sisters who will sing life back onto the earth. This concert program laments and honors all those who have resisted aggression in whatever way they could. Those who remain must continue to sing life.”

The evening’s centerpiece is “Black Crow,” a Soundstreams world premiere commission by Pidgorna for voice, piano, and string orchestra, drawn from the poetry of the late Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina. The work will be joined by Benjamin Britten’s “Lachrymae” for solo viola and string orchestra, alongside pieces by Tõnu Kõrvits, Kelly-Marie Murphy, and Oleksiy Voytenko.

Projections of Ukrainian landscapes by photographer Yevhen Samuchenko will accompany the performance.