MGAM INC

Change powered by music

Marilyn Gilbert Artists Management embraces change with a roster of musicians whose work challenges all boundaries and whose sparkling musicianship gives them broad appeal. We partner with artists who reach beyond the stage and who create community. We are dedicated to working closely with presenters to develop programmes that transcend the concert hall and foster a better understanding and openness between people.

Marilyn Gilbert · 6 months ago
@MGAMInc
Let's celebrate Afro-Caribbean music!😍 - https://t.co/4eLS8G8SQa
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Click to download the 2022-23 roster

This will be our reply to violence – to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.
Leonard Bernstein

Photo Josep Molina Secall / Unsplash

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A world of music

A world of music

Aleksi Campagne by the water

Aleksi Campagne

Aleksi Campagne is uniquely qualified to offer a contemporary, indie-folk take on the time-honoured fiddle-singing tradition. Aleksi grew up on stage. At five years old, he began performing alongside his mother, Canadian folk icon, Connie Kaldor. At nineteen, Aleksi moved to Paris to study under Jazz-violin legend Didier Lockwood. At twenty-one, Aleksi became the only […]

fiddle folk Quebec violin

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Amai Kuda

Amai Kuda et Les Bois

The sound of Amai Kuda et Les Bois has been described by NOW Magazine as a “tantalizing Afro-soul combo of folk, roots, desert blues and African continental music.”

afro-soul caribbean ontario trinidad

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Ruben “Beny” Esguerra

Beny Esguerra

“New Tradition was responsible for the highest-energy showcase of Mundial Montreal. The band was furiously polyrhythmic and super tight. You’ve got to experience Beny’s gaita (flute) riding overtop of Planet Rock beats to believe it. This band won’t fail to make you dance your ass off while immersing you in the richness of Afro-Colombian heritage” David […]

Afrobeat Colombia hip-hop Latin ontario spoken word

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Beyond the Pale, photo by Avital Zemer

Beyond the Pale

Inspired by Klezmer and Balkan styles but influenced by everything from jazz and classical music to bluegrass, newgrass and reggae, Beyond the Pale’s music traverses a vast and exotic musical landscape, bound by no particular idiom and shaped by many. Their stellar musicianship, meticulous dynamics, adventurous compositions, and inventive arrangements of traditional material make them one of Canada’s most innovative acoustic ensembles. Though individual virtuosity abounds within the group, the collective sound always takes precedence, conveying the deep and generous bonds of creativity that unite these longtime collaborators.

Balkan Jewish klezmer ontario

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Dobranotch

Dobranotch

For over twenty years, Dobranotch has been bringing the world the boundless energy of roots music: Jewish, Russian, Balkan, and Roma. At the philharmonic, they sound like refined artists; in a club or at a festival, they send the audience into a dancing trance; and when they descend from the stage, they’re the orchestra for a magic carnival!

Balkan Germany Jewish Roma

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Eliana Cuevas and Jeremy Ledbetter

Eliana Cuevas with Jeremy Ledbetter

Eliana Cuevas A major international talent thats on its way.” The Toronto Star, Canada “Canada’s emerging Latin music queen” 680 NEWS “Musical class on an international Jazz level meets driving Caribbean rhythms and first- class Latin.” Hamburg Morning Daily, Germany “I am very impressed! Eliana Cuevas is a knockout on every level.” Gapplegate Music Review, New York, USA Eliana […]

Latin ontario Venezuela

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Eliana Cuevas with Orchestra

Eliana Cuevas with Orchestra

A major international talent thats on its way.” The Toronto Star, Canada “Canada’s emerging Latin music queen” 680 NEWS “Musical class on an international Jazz level meets driving Caribbean rhythms and first- class Latin.” Hamburg Morning Daily, Germany “I am very impressed! Eliana Cuevas is a knockout on every level.” Gapplegate Music Review, New York, USA Originally from Venezuela […]

Latin ontario Venezuela

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Gefilte, Montreal 2022

Gephilte

Gephilte, a jam-band experiment in Yiddish funk, is the latest boundary-busting project from renowned Canadian Yiddish hip hop provocateur Josh “Socalled” Dolgin. Branching off from his internationally famous hip hop project and taking cues from his funk/klezmer supergroup Abraham Inc, Dolgin has brought together an ensemble of virtuosos to explore Yiddish repertoire.

Jewish klezmer Quebec Yiddish

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JER

JER

Fusing psychedelic rock, dub and afrobeat grooves with northeast Brazilian rhythms and Tropicalia influences from the classic 70s era, Brazilian Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jerusa LeĂŁo, aka JER, creates an eclectic sound that challenges preconceived notions of what constitutes traditional Brazilian music.

brazilian Latin ontario

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Joaquin Diaz

Joaquin Diaz

Master of dominican merengue Joaquin Diaz’s repertoire is a mixture of traditional and original tunes characterized by exhilarating, syncopated rhythms. His audiences are introduced to completely different aspect of the diatonic accordion, accompanied by infectious vocals. A charming and electrifying performer. Joaquin Diaz is one of the best of a new breed of traditional merengue artist.

accordion dominican Latin merengue Quebec

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John Orpheus

John Orpheus

Born and raised in South-Central Trinidad, John Orpheus is a multi-cultural artist and published author. In 2021, he had his memoir SAGA BOY published by Penguin Random House in Canada and Milkweed Editions in the US. With the book launched, John decided to return to music and release a companion album entitled SAGA KING. Both the book and the album are based on the same themes: searching for home, family, love and a fly coat to wear when you get there!

Afrobeat caribbean hip-hop ontario trinidad

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LengaĂŻa Salsa Brava

LengaĂŻa Salsa Brava is an award-winning Montreal-based eleven-piece orchestra created in 2012 by Latin and Guyanese trombone player Giany-Frantz Huyghues-Despointes. Its format of three trombones and a baritone saxophone gives it a uniquely and powerful sonic colour.

Latin orchestra Quebec salsa

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Medusa

A unique all women chamber folk quartet that brings you traditional music from around the world, with instruments to match! Medusa intertwine the sounds of Middle Eastern, Scandinavian, Eastern European, and Celtic music to create something entirely new.

celtic chamber folk Middle Eastern ontario quartet scandinavian

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MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies

MOJO & The Bayou Gypsies

“My hands hurt from clapping, my feet hurt from dancing, my sides ache from laughing, my face hurts from smiling, and I can’t wait to do it again!” – Alan Rose “This Bayou Man, Mister MOJO, and his troupe of near-mad musical provocateurs, have poured Louisiana Fire on audiences across the planet since 1985… Few performers can lift an audience like Mojo, star of the […]

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Nastasia Y (Photo: Daria Perevez)

Nastasia Y

“Slavic soul rooted in ancestral sounds of Ukraine and guided by the boundary-busting Toronto scene” Jonathan Campbell, Small World Music “World fusion at its best” WholeNote Magazine “Nastasia Y really is the face and voice of musicians defending Ukraine here in Toronto” Paul Corby (Corby’s Orbit) Nastasia Y [nas-TA-s’yah] is a Ukrainian-born global fusion artist based […]

ontario Ukraine

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OKAN

OKAN

Blending tradition Cuban music, jazz, and contemporary Afro-Cuban sounds, OKAN embraces every culture and welcomes it as its own. In the religion of santería, “okan” means “soul.” This is embodied in the great sophistication of their music – a look to the history of Cuban music with a modern and fresh touch; the evolution of Cuban music outside of Cuba.

Afro cuban cuban Latin ontario

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Oktopus

Oktopus

“A beautifully performed program, strong group cohesion, verve, a deep understanding of gypsy, Balkan and Ashkenazi Jewish music, with classical flair and an almost jazz attitude to play.” Alain Brunet, La Presse 15 juillet 2015 “I’ve had a lot a really great acts this summer, but they definitely are among the top 5 (top 3?) shows.” J. […]

Balkan jazz Jewish klezmer Quebec

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Okavango African Orchestra Photo-credit Abdulmagid Alfrgany Alglid

Okavango African Orchestra

Okavango African Orchestra brings together the traditional music and instruments of several major African cultures that historically have had little or no interaction. The musicians of Okavango have created a common meeting place for these disparate cultures, and a new musical language that harmonizes their different tuning systems, rhythms, and timbres. The musicians and instruments of Okavango represent a continuum of traditions and cultures from time immemorial to the present day.

African ontario

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Queen Kong

“Seriously, how can you not pay attention to a futuristic klezmer band that has it’s grooves informed by Hasidic new wave? … Wildly world beat, it’s a sure fire gasser for anyone that likes grooves from elsewhere that march to their own beat.” Chris Spector, Midwest Record To be thrown “into the fray” is to enter […]

folk jazz Jewish klezmer ontario Yiddish

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Shura Lipovsky

Shura Lipovsky

Shura Lipovsky is one of the world’s most renowned singers of Yiddish and Jewish songs. Her work focuses on the artistic expression of Yiddish culture, using a blend of her various studies to foster intercultural dialogue.

klezmer Yiddish

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Socalled (Josh Dolgin)

Josh “Socalled” Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. With six solo albums to his name, he has performed all over the world for more than 10 years, and his list of collaborators knows no generational, social, cultural nor religious boundaries. Aside from countless festivals and venues around the world, Socalled has performed at Carnegie Hall (twice!), the Olympia in Paris, the Apollo theatre in Harlem and the Arsht centre in Miami.

Jewish klezmer Quebec Yiddish

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The Socalled Band

Josh “Socalled” Dolgin is a pianist, accordionist, producer, journalist, photographer, filmmaker, magician, cartoonist and puppet maker based in Montreal, Quebec. He has lectured and has led master classes in music festivals around the world, from Moscow to Paris, from London to LA, and from Krakow to San Francisco, and has performed on every continent. With […]

Jewish klezmer Quebec Yiddish

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Songs from Testimony, in concert Jan 2023

Songs from Testimonies

In 2018, the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, along with musician-in-residence D. Zisl Slepovitch and former Hartman fellow Sarah Garibova, began production of an album of songs recalled in some of the more than 4,400 testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust in the Archive, held at Yale University. The 12,000+ hours of recorded material — […]

Jewish

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Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin perform to The Ancient Law

Svigals & Sosin

Alicia Svigals and Donald Sosin have been bringing audiences to their feet throughout the US and Europe with their unique and stirring violin and piano scores for Jewish-themed silent films. Sosin is one of the world’s top silent film musicians, and Svigals is the world’s leading klezmer violinist and a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics. After meeting at a silent film festival in Italy in 2017, the two recorded their first original score for the 1923 German film The Ancient Law, soon followed by The City Without Jews, both released on DVD/Blu-ray by Flicker Alley. Their third opus, for the 1992 satire The Man Without a World by San Diego-based performance artist Eleanor Antin, will be released by Milestone Films.

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Tio Chorinho

Toronto’s Tio Chorinho is the first ensemble in Canada dedicated to performing Brazilian Choro music. Choro is the original Brazilian soul music, combining popular and classical European styles with Afro-Brazilian influences. It is the foundation of many modern Brazilian music styles, and is often described as “the New Orleans jazz of Brazil.” Exciting, energetic, soulful, intimate, nostalgic and virtuosic, choro is an infectious popular style whose universal appeal belies its musical complexity.

brazilian choro Latin ontario

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Tio Chiorinho with Flavia Nascimento

Tio Chorinho with Flavia Nascimento

FlĂĄvia Nascimento joins Tio Chorinho, Canada’s first ensemble dedicated to performing Brazilian choro music. FlĂĄvia is a favourite at street parties, popular events, major festivals and in concert halls. Whenever there is a need to make a show burst with excitement, it is time to call FlĂĄvia. Best known for her expertise in Northeastern Brazilian styles such as forrĂł and maracatĂč, this collaboration with Canada’s leading choro ensembles allows listeners to discover FlĂĄvia in a completely different repertoire.

brazilian choro Latin ontario

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Wesli

Wesli’s musical journey has gone from stringing up an oil can with nylon fishing string to winning a JUNO for World Music Album of the Year. Born Wesley Louissaint in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he has grown into his role as a prolific songwriter, guitarist, and producer. Uniting a large cross-section of Montreal talent, his music links Haitian voudou and rara with reggae, Afrobeat and hip-hop – guest spots on his albums include the likes of Tiken Jah Fakoly, Mes Aïeux and Radio Radio.

Afrobeat caribbean Haitian hip-hop Quebec

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Legacy artists

Legacy artists

Rivka Golani

Rivka Golani

Rivka Golani is recognized as one of the outstanding violists of modern times. Her contributions to the advancement of viola technique have given her a place in the history of the instrument and have been a source of inspiration not only to other players but also to the many composers who have been inspired by her mastery. More than 350 works have so far been composed for Rivka, including over 80 concertos: a record matched by no other violist in history.

viola

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Photo © James Wainscoat / Unsplash

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Tikun Olam

Make the world a better place

Marilyn Gilbert, Director

Marilyn Gilbert (she/her) has been representing classical, jazz and global artists for over forty years. Originally a violinist who performed at Carnegie Hall, Marilyn is now the director of MGAM with an artist roster that challenges boundaries. MGAM partners with artists who foster community beyond the stage, developing programs that transcend the concert hall. MGAM’s mandate represents Marilyn’s lifelong passion for sharing music and her commitment to progressive causes.