Recap and Updates 2025-26

“Breathe, and simplify.”

Hello, again.

It’s that time of year: reviewing, reflecting, rewriting - mantras, truths.
Gifts to hold on to, gifts to let go.
Unlearning, relearning.
Renewing.

:||

Windwood Music Festival 2025 Opening Concert. Bert Church Theatre, August 15, 2025. © Levi Bulloch.

A few milestones to recap:

  • China Tour (May-June)

    This trip was … life-changing. Or, no. Life-making. Surreally real. Tender, necessary, profound.

    “To truly, earnestly feel this connection. To begin to understand, even just a little, what it means to say, “find my roots”. Where I came from. Whom I came from. To touch, smell, and taste the land. To sit beside these blood relatives, to listen, to share a meal, to feel the warmth, the time, the accumulation of meaning and responsibility that I, little ‘Tongtong’, go on carrying.”

    • More reflections here.

    • Beijing and Hong Kong concert videos here.

  • Windwood Music Festival 2025 (July-August)

    Season IV “Wanting to Start Again” - another one for the books. Another year to cherish, to marvel at, to cry for - just how lucky we are, to do what we do, to work with this team, these resident artists, this family that brings to life a dream, a community, an ecosystem that grows and surprises and gives year after year. Thank you all, endlessly.

    • Photos here.

    • Opening concert videos here.

    and…

  • I’m officially “Dr. Cute”!

    After 5 years of DMA work, 8 years at McGill, I’ve finally completed my doctorate degree. I’ve cheekily taken on the nickname ‘Dr. Cute’ for my very fun, very sweet yet surreal/horrific/uncanny dissertation “Kawaii Power! The Phenomenon of Cuteness in Music’  

“Four Impressions of China” Tour. Central Conservatory of Beijing, June 6, 2025. © Music Confucius Institute.

A few announcements for the coming seasons:

  • DoSi Tour (October, 2025)

    Maitreyi and I will be returning to our favourite communities across Canada this fall to share a new rendition of “Wanting to Start Again”. This program features new works by Wesley Chu, Kevin Lau, and Nick Bentz.

    • Red Deer:

      • Thu, Oct 2, 12:15pm-1pm Red Deer Public Library

    • Montreal:

      • Sat, Oct 11, 7pm-9pm, Joseph-Rouleau Hall

    • Ottawa:

      • Fri, Oct 17, 7pm-9pm, Glebe-St. James United Church

      • Sat, Oct 18, 7pm-9pm, Carp United Church

      • Sun, Oct 19, 1pm-3pm, Manotick United Church

    • Lunenburg:

      • Sat, Oct 25, 2pm-4pm Chicory Blue

      • Sun, Oct 26, 2pm-4pm Riverport Inn 

    • Tickets and details here.

  • Atlantic Debut Tour (February, 2026)

    Bringing back Stravinsky, Scriabin, and Chopin next February for the Maritimes audiences!

    • Detailed dates announced soon here.

  • “With Skye: Music as a Connection Cure” (March, 2026)

    In collaboration with Alberta Health Services, I’ll be presenting a new project featuring 5 solo piano works written for me by dear friends and colleagues throughout the past 8 years. This project is made possible by the generous support of the inaugural Gerda Hnatyshyn Launch Grant.

    • Read the newsletter here.

  • Prairie Debut Tour (2026/27 season)

    Finally, I’m extremely grateful to be touring with Prairie Debut for the 2026/27 season. “My Big Prairie Sky” is a program born out of my love for the land - the wheat fields, the foothills, the mountains and snow, the awe and openheartedness under that big, big sky. This program will feature a new composition by Calgary-based composer Roydon Tse.

    • Official announcement here.

  • …and some other concerts sprinkled in between.

    Boston, Providence, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Canmore…and China again!

    • Follow my calendar here.

A little encore, “彩云追月”。

Once again, as always, thank you for your time and attention.

This is a public hello, but I do know many of us are facing all kinds of private challenges, trials, grief alongside joy and celebration. Please don’t hesitate to reach out and say hello. So many of you have day in and day out stayed by my side, in small and huge ways, with quiet, tender, or unapologetically loud, daring, and extravagant gestures of love. I would be humbled to be gifted a chance to listen, to give back - any moment of camaraderie or connection, it could be as simple as saying, hello. Otherwise, I hope to meet you and hear you soon on one of my adventures.

Little infinity, we’ll keep giving it back.

All my relations,

王通

Tong WangComment