Leslie Ting Apr 2025 BF smalls--38.jpg

The Concert

In April 2024, I showed two works at the Durham Art Gallery in Durham, Ontario.

In the main space we showed a prototype of What Brings You In - The Violins, and in the back space, I did The Concert. This performance art piece involved a periodic ‘concert’ of J.S. Bach’s Chaconne for solo violin, “a Monumental Classic Of The Western Canon”, paused half way through, when I invited the audience to join the performance to contemplate and respond to questions on the weight of expectation, tradition and identity.

April 10-13, 2025 

Durham Art Gallery

Dear Participants in ‘The Concert’, 

I read every single one of your responses. Some of them made me laugh, some of them made me close my eyes for a second, some of them made me take a big breath. 

I’ve burned the papers nearby and returned the ashes to the earth. 

Thank you so much for our exchange. I hope you feel lighter. 

Sincerely,

Leslie Ting