Hearing a City: Music, Migration, and Belonging
“To understand that feeling, you must be willing to embrace challenges. It is an experience I would be willing to live again. There is something powerful about stepping into the unknown and allowing yourself to grow through it."
In 1928, George Gershwin wandered the streets of Paris listening to taxi horns, café chatter, and jazz drifting out of clubs. The result was An American in Paris, a vivid musical portrait of a composer encountering a city that was not yet his own.
There is excitement in that music - swagger, curiosity, wide-eyed energy. But there is also something more familiar: the feeling of being new somewhere. Of hearing a city before you fully understand it.
That feeling resonates in Toronto.
Nahal Sajjadi
Ours is a city shaped by arrival. Different languages on the streetcar and LRT. Different musical traditions in rehearsal rooms. Different stories converging into shared space. Like an orchestra, it is many voices learning to breathe together.
OT Bassist Nahal began her musical journey at just six years old with the piano, before discovering the double bass at eleven, an instrument she immediately felt connected to. At twelve, she was accepted into the Tehran Girls’ Music Conservatory in Iran, where she developed her artistic identity and commitment to orchestral playing.
Over the past decade, she has performed with the National Orchestra of Iran, the Rhein Orchestra, AISO Orchestra, and in musical theatre and recording projects. Yet through every stage of her career, one constant remained: her desire to be part of an ensemble.
When Nahal first arrived in Toronto, the city itself felt like an orchestra of unfamiliar sounds.
“The city sounded incredibly diverse and full of movement. In such a busy and vibrant place, I initially found myself searching for familiar sounds and familiar images. But over time, I realized that familiarity is not always necessary—new experiences can be created and embraced. The diversity of cultures invites connection and curiosity. While there is a sense of unfamiliarity at first, it also opens the door to discovery and growth.”
Her first rehearsal with Orchestra Toronto marked a turning point.
“From the very beginning, I encountered professionalism and kindness. I was searching for that moment when the ensemble truly comes together, and I found it. It was especially meaningful that my first performance after immigrating to Toronto was with Orchestra Toronto. It feels like a safe, welcoming, and joyful place for me.”
Playing An American in Paris carries particular resonance.
“To understand that feeling, you must be willing to embrace challenges. It is an experience I would be willing to live again. There is something powerful about stepping into the unknown and allowing yourself to grow through it."
This program explores the exchange between France and America in the early 20th century, with composers listening across oceans, absorbing and transforming one another’s sounds. Alongside Gershwin, we hear the music of Maurice Ravel, who himself was fascinated by American jazz and its rhythmic vitality.
Music travels. Ideas travel. People travel.
And in performance, those journeys come together.