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Thank you for visiting this site. For the picnickers who don’t already know, my name is Njo Kong Kie. I made up the name Music Picnic from two of my favourite things. You will often find me (admittedly more so when the weather is fair) enjoying a stroll or picnic at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, one of the loveliest spots in Toronto. Music Picnic serves as an umbrella to cover my various creative pursuits, which at the moment, consist mainly of three projects, Shattered Glass, knotty together and Day OFF. I also like what the name suggests: creations that are informal, inclusive, eclectic, whimsical, intimate; and one would hope, delicious - key ingredients to a great picnicking experience. I hope you agree. Come picnic with us!

Here is a little background info about myself. I have been, since 1996, the pianist/musical director of Montreal-based modern dance company, La La La Human Steps. I have given about 300 performances with the company in major cities in Canada and abroad, including Paris, Lyon, London, Edinburgh, Berlin, Cologne, Munich, Weimar, Dresden, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent, Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Copenhagen, Vilnius, Moscow, Rome, Vienna, Salzburg, Ljubljana, Prague, Tokyo, Seoul, Thessalonica, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Rio de Janeiro, St. Paulo, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago , Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver amongst others. Presently, I am a pianist at the National Ballet School.

When I am not accompanying dancers and singers, I spend my time creating projects to keep myself busy and focused, and lately, this has been in the form of music composition.

In 2002, I produced a music/dance concert featuring my own compositions in one of the outdoor stages of Pride Toronto Festival.

In 2004, I attended the composer-librettist as well as the Music Director-Stage Director Laboratories hosted by Tapestry New Opera Works in Toronto during which I wrote several opera shorts including Shattered Glass (with libretto by Doug Rodgers) and knotty together (with libretto by Anna Chatterton). knotty together was performed at the Word on the Street Festival 2004 and was part of Opera Briefs 4, hosted by Tapestry.

A 30 minute version of knotty together, directed by award winning director Alisa Palmer, played at the Rhubarb! Festival at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in 2005. It is currently being developed into a longer work. Likewise, Shattered Glass has been expanded to a 30 minute piece and will be performed as part of the 28th Rhubarb! Festival from Feb 8 to 12, 2006 at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Another project is my piano trio Day OFF, founded with musicians of La La La Human Steps. This classical band plays original music which seeks to combine disciplines, techniques, esthetics and performance practice of classical traditions with that of contemporary popular culture. We are putting finishing touches on our debut album. Follow the link above to hear selection of our repertoire.

Excerpts of my compositions have been used on the web site of Margaret Atwood's novel, Oryx and Crake. Click on "send E-card" and hear excerpt of a work of mine used in conjunction with the card. You can also hear my work on the promotional web video of the London International Festival of Theatre and the soundtrack of Edouard Lock's film, Amelia, which premiered at the Montreal International Festival New Cinema New Media (FCMM) in 2003, and has been winning critics and audience over wherever it screens.

During my tenure as an apprentice of composer Donald Quan in 2005 (sponsored by The Guild of Canadian Film Composers), I contributed additional music to the CBC documentary series China Rises, being broadcast on Jan 22 and 29 of 2006.

Click here to hear samples of my work. One note of caution : until I upgrade my webhosting package which I hope to do soon, you may have to visit a couple of times to hear the various audio samples. There is a quota of activities per hour.