(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music is thrilled to announce that two of its best-performing albums, Beethoven: Complete Music for Cello & Piano by Robert deMaine & Peter Takacs and Rock Echoes by Kristan Toczko (HarpistKT), are now available in Dolby Atmos, exclusively on Apple Music and Apple Music Classical. This innovative project has been made possible thanks to the generous support from Apple Music, enabling Leaf Music to elevate these remarkable albums with Spatial Audio technology. Expertly mixed by John D.S. Adams from Stonehouse Sound for Beethoven: Complete Music for Cello & Piano and Jeremy VanSlyke and Ally Cribb from Leaf Music for Rock Echoes, these albums offer an immersive listening experience.
Since its release on July 8, 2022, Beethoven: Complete Music for Cello & Piano has garnered an impressive 1.8 million streams. Rock Echoes, released on February 16, 2024, has already achieved an astounding 2.5 million streams. Listen to both albums now on Apple Music or Apple Music Classical, bringing every note and subtlety to life like never before. Learn how to enable Spatial Audio on your device here.
Robert deMaine is the Principal Cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and sought-after solo artist and chamber musician. His solo repertoire includes concertos by Haydn, Dvorak, Elgar and Penderecki. And as a recitalist, he is known for magnificent interpretations of J.S. Bach’s cello suites. A first-prize winner in many national and international competitions, deMaine was the first cellist ever to win the grand prize at San Francisco’s prestigious Irving M. Klein International Competition for Strings. He is an exclusive Thomastik-Infeld artist, and performs on a cello made in 1684 by Antonio Stradivari.
Romanian-born Peter Takács has performed widely, receiving critical and audience acclaim for his penetrating interpretations. Takács has performed as a guest soloist with major orchestras in the U.S. and abroad, as well as at important summer festivals such as Tanglewood, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, and Sweden’s Helsingborg Festival. Since 2008 he has been a member of the faculty at the Montecito Summer Music Festival in Santa Barbara, California. He performed and recorded the cycle of 32 Beethoven piano sonatas to critical acclaim in 2011.
Kristan Toczko’s innovative videos have been enjoyed by hundreds of millions since she joined TikTok in 2020. Born in Moncton, she received her BMus from McGill University and her master’s at Yale, winning major competitions at both universities. Kristan also won the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competition and the CBC’s Young Artist award. Kristan discovered the virtual world of performance from her home studio in St. John’s during Covid, when her busy freelance career – playing concerts, travelling, and appearing with major Canadian orchestras and ensembles – came crashing down. She now records a harp-related video a day, including teaching videos and song covers; her arrangement of Nothing Else Matters caught the attention of Metallica, who included her performance in the band’s 40th-anniversary concert in San Francisco. Join Kristan’s fans at @harpistkt on TikTok (where she has 2.6 million followers), Facebook (318K), YouTube (399K), and Instagram (572K).
