Looking at the Stars is a Canadian Registered Federal Charity authorized to issue tax receipts for charitable donations.
Our first prison performance – with our founding artist Lukas Geniusas at Bath Institution, Ontario on December 29, 2015.
January 29, 2020, Pacific Institution Regional Treatment Centre – with Maestro Gidon Kremer
We would like to expand our classical music gift program across the globe — to everyone, who needs classical music most and expects it least — and continue to restore dignity and hope where it was lost.
We provide our classical music gifts to prisoners in federal correctional facilities, residents of long-term care institutions, refugees and war victims in Canada, USA, Lithuania and Ukraine.
More than 120 interactive classical music concerts have been presented to about 10,000 attendees and millions of people across the globe viewed our recitals in the war zone in Ukraine.
We create a unique environment of respect and reflection. We invite world-class musicians to present a repertoire of classical and contemporary compositions. Our concerts promote intimate interaction between performers and audience members, elevating passive consumption to interactive engagement.
Social Entrepreneur
Founder and CEO
Looking at the Stars Foundation
A former refugee, Dmitri Kanovich refers to the first 29 years of his life, spent behind the iron curtain in then Soviet Lithuania, as his incarceration period. As soon as he made the decision to exit, he was immediately fired from a prestigious job as a state traitor and was forced to smoke fish and bind books up until his expulsion from the Soviet jail in the fall of 1983.
After receiving his first bitter education as a new immigrant in Austria and Italy, in December 1983 he arrived in Canada as a refugee with his family, $300 in his pocket and a firm belief in the brighter future.
30 years later after a successful corporate career as a business and IT executive, he parted with most of his illusions and has recognized the necessity to commit himself to doing something meaningful to him personally and to his new home country. Dmitri chose to gift classical music to those, whose struggles and challenges were similar to his own – those, who needed the “therapy” of classical music most and who expected it least and Looking at the Stars Foundation was created for this very purpose in April 2016.
And the journey continues.
“I am Looking at the Stars” is the name of the first book written by my father, back in 1959. It is the story of an orphan in a little village whose only fortune is the sky full of stars. In the story, the boy looked at them every night. They were his inspiration. They helped him feel good about the world and every human being, because the stars had the magic power of inspiration through distraction. They were a diversion into an imaginary world of justice, peace and brotherhood; the world and the stars converged into a single universe of love and hope. This project was inspired by this story and my family.”
Honorary President
Considered one of the world’s foremost classical violinists, Gidon Kremer has performed with all of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, conductors, and concert halls. He has received many prestigious awards, including international awards for his recordings that now number 120 albums. He plays a violin made by Nicola Amati in 1641 and is the author of four books. In 2016, Kremer received the Praemium Imperiale prize that is widely considered the Nobel Prize of music.
Kremer accepted his appointment as the Honorary President of Looking at the Stars following his solo recital for the inmates of Pacific Institution in Abbotsford, BC and his performance (together with a string quartet from Kremerata Baltica) at Bath Institution, ON.
“I was thrilled to share my music with these inmates, they were receptive, enthusiastic and I found them to be more attentive than typical concertgoers I’ve performed for,” said Kremer. “I am pleased to receive this honor and endorse Looking at the Stars for the incredible work they do, because music feeds the soul, it heals, and the positive emotions one feels, opens a part of them that allows them to share their feelings.”
As a soloist, Canadian pianist Tony Yang has performed internationally in venues such as Koerner Hall in Toronto, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Carnegie Hall in New York, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, the National Philharmonic in Warsaw, Seoul Arts Center, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Osaka Symphony Hall, Rockport Music, Esplanade Singapore, and the Millennium Amphitheatre in Dubai.
Concerto highlights include appearances with the Cleveland Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre Métropolitain, Ontario Philharmonic, Fort Worth Symphony, Toronto Sinfonietta, Jakarta Sinfonietta, Edmonton Symphony, Saskatoon Symphony, Changsha Symphony, and the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra.
Born in Chongqing and raised in Toronto, Tony is a recent graduate of Harvard University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. He is Artist-in-Residence at the Ingesund Piano Center in Sweden and at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and in the past, was a fellow at the Oberlin-Lake Como International Piano Academy. Currently pursuing his Master of Music at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover under Prof. Arie Vardi, Tony is named as “One To Watch” by Scala Radio UK in 2024.
Pianist Lukas Geniušas has firmly established himself as one of the most exciting and distinctive artists of his generation.
Praised for his ‘brilliance and maturity’ (The Guardian) he is invited to give recitals in the most prestigious venues all over the world such as the Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Salle Gaveau, Louvre Auditorium, Frick Collection New York, Phillips Collection, Teatro Carlo Felice, Sala Verdi in Milan and the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He is also regularly invited to festivals including the Gilmore Keyboard Festival, La Roque d’Anthéron, Piano aux Jacobins, Rheingau, the Ruhr Piano Festival, Schloss-Elmau and the Lockenhaus Music Festivals.
Geniušas performs with numerous orchestras including Radio France Philharmonic Orchestra, National de Lyon Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony, Kremerata Baltica, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic and St Gallen Symphony Orchestra. He is the laureate of several prestigious international competitions, notably Silver Medalist at the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition and at the 2010 International Chopin competition.
Lukas Geniušas has volunteered his talent and time to launching Looking at the Stars. He has gifted 30+ recitals to Canadian and Lithuanian prison and long term care institution audiences. His contributions to our foundation are priceless.
Due to his exceptional musical sensitivity and talent as well as appealing forms of expression and unique interpretations, Darius Mažintas has gained broad recognition by Lithuanian audiences. As well-known Lithuanian conductor maestro Saulius Sondeckis said in 2010, “the pianist is worth international attention, too.” This graduate of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre is a winner of numerous national and international music competitions.
Several albums were recorded by the pianist among which a solo album (2011) including pieces by Bach, Beethoven and Scriabin present. The biography of the pianist encompasses over 150 successful concerts as well as numerous cultural and interdisciplinary initiatives aimed at spreading classical music for broader audiences.
Gordon supports Looking at the Stars as Artist in Residence, creating abstract works of art during the musical performances with the musicians in the correctional institutions in Ontario and Quebec. In describing his abstract work, “I consider myself a colourist; possessing a growing appreciation for the relationship between colour, brush stroke, and the emotive energy that can engage the viewer. He enjoys the collaborative effort of working alongside the musical performers associated with Looking at the Stars.
His work can be found at www.sgordonharwoodartist.com.
Mychol Scully supports Looking at the Stars as Technical Director, managing the Foundation’s website, and consults on marketing and social media initiatives. His past experience as Systems Analyst, Project Manager, Facility Designer, and owner of CORE Design Services provides a diverse skill set that enhances the work of the Foundation.
Executive Director, Candid Opinion Ltd.
Investment Advisor, Bank of Montreal
Principal, Gallery Papillon
Let us know if you’d like more information about what we’re doing. New interactive music series are constantly under development. We’re also working on pubic fund-raising events you will want to attend.
