A Night in November with Sultans of String
November 7, 2026
6:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Join us for our Gala Fundraising Event and Top 80 Over 80 Awards, and support the programming at Avenue Road Music and Performance Academy!
Live music performances by multi-award-winning, and 3 times JUNO nominated, Sultans of String!
Amazing silent auction. Refreshments to be served. Limited space.
About The Top 80 Over 80:
This year's award recipient: Roberte McKhool
About Sultans of String:
3x JUNO nominees and SiriusXM winners Sultans of String create “Energetic and exciting music
from a band with talent to burn!” (Maverick Magazine UK). Thrilling their audiences with their
genre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, Django-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian
rhythms, Sultans of String celebrate musical fusion and human creativity with warmth and
virtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass and percussion lay down
unstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depth
of sound, while world rhythms excite audiences to their feet with the irresistible need to dance.
Since releasing their debut album Luna in 2007, Sultans of String have continually strived to
make each chart-topping album more original and meaningful than the last. That includes
working with an orchestra (2013's Symphony), teaming with Pakistani sitarist Anwar Khurshid
(2015's Subcontinental Drift) and even crafting a world-music holiday album (2017's Christmas
Caravan), which landed them on the Billboard charts and the New York Times. Their ambition
and work ethic have garnered them multiple awards and accolades, including three JUNO
nominations, first place in the International Songwriting Competition (out of 15,000 entries), six
Canadian Folk Music Awards and countless other honours.
Their 2020 release Refuge garnered awards including 2 Independent Music Awards for
Instrumental Song of the Year and World Music Producer of the Year, as well as 2021 CFMA for
Producer of the Year for bandleader Chris McKhool. The lead track from their followup
Sanctuary was part of John Bailey's 2022 Engineering JUNO nomination, and the album won
Global Music and Producer awards at the 2023 CFMAs.
They recently released and still tour their ninth album, “Walking Through the Fire”, a powerful
collection of collaborations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists across Turtle Island. This
album was made this album in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls
to action, and Final Report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work
together as an opportunity to show a path forward.
Bandleader McKhool has an Egyptian-born mother who happened to play piano, teach classical
theory, and feed her young son as much Middle Eastern cuisine as she did music lessons. From
there, the powerful violinist developed a taste for multi-genre string sounds and found a like-
minded crew of all-world enthusiasts. When McKhool first heard founding guitarist Kevin
Laliberté’s rumba rhythm, their musical synergy created Sultans of String’s signature sound –
the intimate and playful relationship between violin and guitar. From this rich foundation, the
dynamic duo grew with groove-master bassist Drew Birston and nyckelharpa player Saskia
Tomkins.
Their live resume is similarly stellar. Equally at home in a concert hall, folk and jazz club or
festival setting, Sultans of String have gigged at JUNOfest, the legendary club Birdland in New
York, Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow) and London’s Trafalgar Square. They have sold out
Koerner Hall three times, and performed with the Annapolis, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton
Symphony Orchestras. They have played live on CBC’s Canada Live, BBC Radio, BBC TV, Irish
National Radio, and the syndicated World Café, Woodsongs, and SiriusXM in Washington.
Sultans of String’s musicianship and versatility are also showcased in collaborations with such
diverse luminaries as Paddy Moloney & The Chieftains, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Richard Bona
(Paul Simon), Alex Cuba, Ruben Blades, Yasmin Levy, Benoit Bourque, Béla Fleck, Crystal
Shawanda & Ken Whiteley.