A Night in November with The 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 the Sultans of String:

3x JUNO nominees and SiriusXM winners Sultans of String create “Energetic and exciting musicfrom a band with talent to burn!” (Maverick Magazine UK). Thrilling their audiences with theirgenre-hopping passport of Celtic reels, flamenco, Django-jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asianrhythms, Sultans of String celebrate musical fusion and human creativity with warmth andvirtuosity. Fiery violin dances with rumba-flamenco guitar, while bass and percussion lay downunstoppable grooves. Acoustic strings meet with electronic wizardry to create layers and depthof 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 tomake each chart-topping album more original and meaningful than the last. That includesworking 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 ChristmasCaravan), which landed them on the Billboard charts and the New York Times. Their ambitionand work ethic have garnered them multiple awards and accolades, including three JUNOnominations, first place in the International Songwriting Competition (out of 15,000 entries), sixCanadian Folk Music Awards and countless other honours.Their 2020 release Refuge garnered awards including 2 Independent Music Awards forInstrumental Song of the Year and World Music Producer of the Year, as well as 2021 CFMA forProducer of the Year for bandleader Chris McKhool. The lead track from their followupSanctuary was part of John Bailey's 2022 Engineering JUNO nomination, and the album wonGlobal Music and Producer awards at the 2023 CFMAs.They recently released and still tour their ninth album, “Walking Through the Fire”, a powerfulcollection of collaborations with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists across Turtle Island. Thisalbum was made this album in the spirit of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls toaction, and Final Report that asks for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to work togetheras an opportunity to show a path forward.Bandleader McKhool has an Egyptian-born mother who happened to play piano, teach classicaltheory, 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 KevinLaliberté’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, thedynamic duo grew with groove-master bassist Drew Birston and nyckelharpa player SaskiaTomkins.Their live resume is similarly stellar. Equally at home in a concert hall, folk and jazz club orfestival setting, Sultans of String have gigged at JUNOfest, the legendary club Birdland in NewYork, Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow) and London’s Trafalgar Square. They have sold outKoerner Hall three times, and performed with the Annapolis, Toronto, Van