Quiet Revolution Pictures

In May 2000, the Toronto Mendelssohn Youth Choir, in celebration of its 21st Anniversary and Coming of Age, performed a concert programme at the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts. Included in the programme was a newly commissioned work to celebrate this milestone in the choir's history. Toronto composer, Robert Evans chose as his subject, the youth in residence at the Portage Facility nearby, many of these were young offenders who had been given the choice of attending the facility over a jail sentence. Incorporating the experiences, trials and tribulations of these young men and women as they struggled to overcome addictions of substance abuse at the Portage Facility for Drug Dependencies into an orchestral and choral work was perhaps not the easiest choice of subject matter. Yet through extensive interviews with the residents, and with use of their personal poems and songs, Mr. Evans wove a piece of music like none other. From the darkest depths of hell, and the deepest pit of despair, this music brings us forward into the realms of hope, healing and reconciliation.