About this user
Hailed as a "Children's musical star" (National Post) and "Canada's greatest eco-troubadour for young people" (Mississauga Living Arts Centre), Chris McKhool is one of Canada's hottest children's musicians. Chris has been touring across Canada with his children's concerts for ten years, reaching almost 1 million children, and has appeared on Mr. Dressup, YTV's Treehouse, TVOntario's Crawlspace and the CBC.
A champion of environmental issues, Chris won a 2005 Green Toronto Award of Excellence and was a finalist for the Environment Canada Action Award for his work in schools and communities across Canada with his CD and concert "Earth, Seas & Air". He has also won a Parent's Choice Award in the U.S. for his CD of the same name, produced by Ken Whiteley (Raffi). He has been the recipient of Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, FACTOR and PromoFact Awards.
On October 30, 2005 Chris released his children's CD, "Celebrate! Holidays of the Global Village" at Hugh's Room in Toronto. Inspired by travels across Canada and around the world, "Celebrate!" is a groundbreaking collaboration with musicians from diverse cultures. It features songs about holidays from across the globe that are celebrated here in Canada, including Bodhi Day (Buddhist), Carnival (Quebec), Chanukah, Chinese New Year, Christmas, Diwali, Eid, Indigenous traditions, Kwanzaa (African-American), Ramadan and Winter Solstice.
In 1999 Chris received an Ontario Arts Council Grant to record "Turtle Island!", his environmental musical for children, on a CD. For three years Players by Nature, an environmental theatre company based in Toronto, produced Chris' play, touring it in schools across Ontario and bringing it to Solar Stage in Toronto and the National Gallery Auditorium in Ottawa.
Chris has toured through all of Canada including Baffin Island and has appeared at the Ottawa, Vancouver, Thunder Bay and London International Children's Festivals. He has also performed in the U.S, England, Cuba, Guatemala and Tibetan schools across the Indian Himalayas.
Chris brings his love of violin to young audiences and tours his FiddleFire! concert for kids in festivals and schools across Canada. Closer to home he has performed at Toronto Harbourfront's Cushion Concert series, the Distillery Jazz Festival, and has headlined Toronto's First Night at the Skydome/Rogers Centre. The "FiddleFire!" CD is recorded and will be released this fall.
Chris also plays violin for adult audiences, and tours with his original World-Jazz-Flamenco band Sultans of String in concert halls, jazz and folk festivals, and clubs across the country. They released their 'Luna' CD on June 8, 2007 at a sold out show at Hugh's Room in Toronto. Luna hit# 1 across Canada on Top Ten national radio charts in the "International" & " World/Folk" categories. Sultans won the 2007 Musique de la Monde Award, two 2007 Ontario Independent Music Awards (Best Instrumental and Best Song), and a 2007 Toronto Exclusive Magazine Award for Best Latin Jazz Group. They have showcased at Ontario Contact, Pacific Contact, Saskatchewan Showcase, CAPACOA and Arts Northwest in Washington State.
Chris continues to perform both with his children's concerts as well as with Sultans of String.
World-jazz-flamenco Sultans of String at http://www.sultansofstring.com
Young Audience concerts, CDs, live video at http://www.fiddlefire.com
Country
Canada
chrismckhool
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