About

Musique Royale welcomes contemporary klezmer band Queen Kong to perform at the Old Confidence Lodge in Riverport on Tuesday July 28 at 7 pm. Queen Kong is a Toronto-based ensemble known for its explosive blend of contemporary klezmer, jazz, and modern folk traditions.

Queen Kong has earned national recognition in Canada, winning the Canadian Folk Music Award for Instrumental Group of the Year. The band features Lorie Wolf (drums, bandleader, composer), Max Forster (trumpet), Josseé MacInnes (clarinet), Nathan Dell-Vandenberg (trombone), Graham Campbell (guitar) and Tom Richards (sousaphone).

About Queen Kong

Queen Kong specializes in the performance of both traditional and original klezmer music. In April 2024, the band was awarded the “Instrumental Band of the Year” by the Canadian Folk Music Awards, while also scoring nominations for “Instrumental Composer of the Year” (CFMA) and Performing Artist of the Year (Folk Canada). The Vancouver Sun lauded Fray as among “five new albums from women musicians you need to hear.”

Queen Kong has been featured in many world, folk, and jazz festivals and venues across Canada. In November 2023, Queen Kong embarked on their first tour of western Canada, and in 2025 made their international debut in Ireland.

Queen Kong’s will be touring in support of their 2nd studio recording “Mitsve Tants”, which will feature modern arrangements of Hasidic Jewish melodies from a collection of songs that are sung to a Jewish bride and accompanied by guests’ ecstatic dancing. Different melodies can be found all over towns (or shtetls) in Eastern Europe. The dance is usually a highly charged emotional moment, wherein the dancer prays silently for the couple’s success in life. These melodies have been arranged using a variety of styles such as jazz, funk, rock and improv, and draw inspiration from John Zorn’s Masada and Bar Kokhba projects.

For more please visit:
https://www.queenkongtoronto.com/