Music in the Park – June 18, 2025

Exhibition Place, in collaboration with Parkdale Residents Association, is excited to present Music in the Park at ExPlace, a free summer concert series happening Wednesday evenings from June 11 – July 16 at Centennial Park.

Enjoy an evening of live performances by an incredible mix of emerging and established Toronto musicians. Plus, shop from community vendors and grab tasty bites from local food vendors!

Bring your friends, pack a picnic, and settle in for a night of great music under the gazebo.

Don’t forget to share your experience using #MyExPlace and #ParkdaleRA for a chance to be featured on @explaceto!

🕘 5 PM – 7:30 PM
📍 Centennial Park, 14 Saskatchewan Rd.

Artists

Hobo Soles

Conny Nowe and Rachel Melas are the Hobo Soles, and they love nothing more than to while away the hours playing Old Time fiddle tunes from Appalachia, rags and cakewalks from the turn of the last century and a wild selection of work songs, train songs, Gypsy jazz, Klezmer, and whatever else will suit the zeitgeist and get toes tapping.

Conny and Rachel began their musical voyage as a rock ‘n roll rhythm section in the now infamous Vancouver punk scene of the early 80s.  Moving East to Toronto, they turned their musical attention to World music, Jazz and Folk. Conny studied jazz drumming with renowned teacher Jim Blackley, and Rachel took up the upright bass. In the millennium, they discovered Old Time, Klezmer and Ragtime and have spent the last 25 years studying, jamming and performing acoustic traditional music.  They currently perform together in Cajun and Zydeco band Swamperella,  Klezmer band The Horables, vintage swing band  The Sonny Balcones, and with Jazz inflected singer songwriter Annabelle Chvostek.

Conny Nowe plays mandolin, guitar, drums and washboard. Rachel Melas plays upright bass, fiddle, guitar, accordion and sings.

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Jef Kearns

Jef Kearns has cultivated a sound on the flute that’s unmistakably his. One scroll through his YouTube comments says it all: “I didn’t know you could breathe fire through a flute,” and “You had my 8-year-old granddaughter dancing like a whirlwind around the kitchen!”

Jamal Ahmed of WCLK Atlanta called him one of “the dopest flautists in the game.” His cover of Warren G’s Regulate was featured in XXL Magazine’s “20 Covers of Hip-Hop Songs Using Instruments,” and his Slow Jamz cover landed on Mashable’s “14 Bizarrely Awesome Rap Cover Videos.”

His 2020 EP Jazzy AF hit #1 on Jazziz Magazine’s “Inside Track” and was praised for its genre-blending depth. His follow-up single Hazy reached the Top 100 R&B/Soul chart in Norway.

Jef’s 2024 album Deep Cover 1970s is his most cohesive work yet—modernizing 1970s classics while showcasing Toronto’s top female vocalists alongside his flute.

See the full artist lineup