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Silverthorn Symphonic Winds (SSW)

Our History

Silverthorn Symphonic Winds (SSW) was founded in September 2006 with the following mandate:

To provide musicians with advanced skills from within the community the opportunity to rehearse and perform in a challenging and supportive ensemble environment that is dedicated to enhancing and developing the musical skills of its members.
To educate and increase the public's understanding and appreciation of music by providing public performances in a variety of locations within the community.
To present inventive and entertaining programming of wide appeal rooted in a balance of traditional symphonic wind band and other repertoire.
To participate in, and collaborate with, the local arts community to provide accessible musical performances that reach a broad community audience.

Since its founding, SSW has grown from a very small group of musicans led by volunteer conductors and performing one concert per year, to a full wind ensemble led by a professional conductor and performing up to ten engagements per year in various venues throughout the GTA and York Region. In addition to our self-presented concerts, we have been engaged as guest performers by the Chinese Canadian Choir of Toronto, First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, York Region Elementary Enrichment Band in Jackson's Point, St. John's Music, and Black Creek Pioneer Village in Toronto.

History of Silverthorn

Thomas Silverthorn (1715-1788) of New Jersey, was a United Empire Loyalist. Many of his compatriots suffered torture and punishment as a result of their British support, and he, too, was heavily fined, imprisoned and put in irons. Arriving in Upper Canada as a war refugee in 1786, he was recognized as a first generation Loyalist. John Graves Simcoe acknowledged his sacrifice by granting his family lands in the Niagara and York regions.

In 1807, Thomas's son, John, and grandson, Joseph, arrived in York (Toronto) to establish family roots. In 1811, John Silverthorn and son, Aaron, began construction of a saw and grist mill on the banks of the Etobicoke Creek just north of Dundas. A small community grew around the mill and in the early days, the area was known as the District of Silverthorn.

Aaron Silverthorn had an active military career. When the war of 1812 broke out, he was 22 years old and fought in battles at Queenston Heights and Lundy's Lane. He remained a military man until 1823 and, in 1850, began serving his government again as a Justice of the Peace. The mill shut down in the late 1800s and over the next hundred years, the Silverthorn properties were sold or consolidated as Toronto expanded.

The Silverthorn Symphonic Winds began in 2006 and had the privilege of using the Silverthorn Legion Hall as its home base for the first three years of operations. The SSW believes strongly in the ideals and core values promoted by the Silverthorn family; integrity, independence and community service drive our organization's decisions both artistically and socially.

September 2016 marks the beginning of our 10th Anniversary and we are looking to celebrate in several ways: We will continue with our outreach focus of up to 12 performance events at community centers, schools, hospitals, and senior's residences; We will restart our highly successful Artist-In-Residence program; We hope to commission a work by a Canadian composer to commemorate the event; We will expand our community support efforts and reach out to more local schools and organizations to share our music, our message and our experience.

Silverthorn Symphonic Winds - proudly Canadian.