Category: Album Release

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David Rogosin and Leaf Music Present: “Theme: Variation”

Theme : Variation 

David Rogosin is thrilled to present Theme : Variation, his third record on Leaf Music set to be released on March 3, 2023. Theme : Variation is an exploration of the many ways in which a musical theme or idea can be varied and transformed. The idea for this album was born out of Rogosin’s fascination with variation and his desire to chronicle specific keyboard works in variation form.  

Theme : Variation traces an arc spanning 400 years of composition, beginning with Orlando Gibbons’ The Italian Ground ca. 1605 and culminating in Variations on a Fantasia of J.S. Bach (2017), an original work from Rogosin’s colleague and friend Kevin Morse. The result is an album whose explorative zeal is matched by its sweeping scope.  

Theme : Variation sees Rogosin navigate through hundreds of years of compositional variation with aplomb. The liner notes, found in the accompanying booklet and written by Rogosin, are an indispensable companion as you listen through the record. Rogosin meticulously explains the variations and technical underpinnings of each track while highlighting important or noteworthy morsels for the discerning listener to catch. Interspersed with technical explanations are personal asides, offering insights and anecdotes surrounding his relationships with the compositions. 

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Pianist David Rogosin has performed across Canada, the American Midwest, the Caribbean, and France. Praised for the brilliance, clarity, and passion of his playing, he is highly regarded for his solo recitals and his chamber music collaborations. He has a particular passion for the two-piano repertoire. Rogosin has two previous solo recordings: Incandescence, featuring the music of Messiaen, Dallapicolla, Bartók, and Brahms, and Evocation, featuring the music of Scarlatti, Haydn, Albéniz, Mompou, Ravel, and the Canadian composers François Morel and Ann Southam. David Rogosin is Professor of Music at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB, where he has taught since 2001. Aside from teaching piano and related classical topics, he also teaches World Music and Jazz Improvisation. 

David Rogosin  

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Theme : Variation  

Release Date: March 3, 2023  

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca 

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VC2 Releases new album: “I and Thou”

VC2 cello duo are thrilled to announce the release of their new album, I and Thou, set for release on February 10, 2023. I and Thou is the duo’s second full-length album, and the first to feature a host of special guests, both in performance and composition, with each delivering a special contribution to the record. I and Thou’s central themes are our relationships with each other and the world around us. Derived from a central tenant of Martin Buber’s philosophy, the expression “I and Thou” refers to the idea that human being’s primary source of meaning is found in relationships. The composers and performers on I and Thou are those with whom VC2 share a special relationship.

I and Thou feature a number of guest composers, including Jocelyn Morlock (The Violet Hour), Vincent Ho (Heist 2), Laura Sgroi (Discord), Chris Paul Harman (Suite for Two Cellos), Youell Domenico (Duet for Two Cellos), Kelly-Marie Murphy (Final Glimpse), and Kati Agócs (violoncello Duet  “I and Thou” 1. With dignified elegance 2. With great tenderness).  

Speaking on the themes of the album, cellist Bryan Holt says, “Since the album deals with relationships, we decided to feature several composers who have played a pivotal role in our development as VC2.” Cellist Amahl Arulanandam adds, “There are so many different sound worlds you’re going to hear, all of these composers have a very unique voice. But, the one thing you can expect to hear is a lot of cello!” 

VC2 cello duo is an innovative cello duo ensemble that captivates audiences through their performances of classical masterworks, unknown gems and boundary pushing music. Comprised of cellists Amahl Arulanandam and Bryan Holt, CBC Radio says VC2 is “a tight unit, with excellent intonation and expression.” They present artistically challenging, yet accessible programs in venues ranging from intimate cabarets to Roy Thomson Hall. 

VC2 ~ I and Thou 

Release Date: February 10, 2023 

Physical/Digital Release 

 vc2celloduo.com 

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca 

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“Durme, Durme: Four Ladino Folk Songs” Released by Leaf Music

(Halifax, NS) Halifax’s Leaf Music is releasing Durme, Durme: Four Ladino Folk Songs, with award-winning soprano Maureen Batt and collaborative pianist, Tara Scott. This new work is an exploration of Judeo-Spanish poetry and song. Composer Elisha Denberg (elishadenburg.com) notes that Sephardic traditions were shared in his family through the teachings and performances of his uncle, Moshe Denburg and grandmother, Miriam Ben-Ezra Denburg, and he’s used “the poems’ traditional melodies as springboards to a newly rendered work, in the Jewish tradition of ‘renewing days as of old.’” The work was supported by a commission from the Ontario Arts Council. Texts and translations are edited by Daisy Sadaka Braverman.

The four songs range from a simple lullaby (Durme, durme, or Sleep, sleep), to the intense solo vocal, liturgical/cantorial chant of Ir me kero, madre, a Yerushalayim (I want to go, mother, to Jerusalem). Inspired by the Hineni (Here I am), a synagogue prayer chanted on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year), this prayer is sung by the cantor asking God to accept both personal and communal prayers on behalf of the entire congregation. The traditional melody is used in the refrain, En El me arimo Yo (In Him I place my trust).
 
Elisha Denburg has composed vocal music and chamber works for ensembles such as Access Contemporary Music, TorQ Percussion Quartet, Halifax Camerata Singers, The Array Ensemble and Essential Opera, who commissioned his one-act opera about the first female rabbi, Regina. His music can be heard on CBC Radio 2’s The Signal with Laurie Brown, About Time with Tom Allen, and Tempo with Julie Nesrallah. His three-movement work Sonatina for Vibraphone & Harp is featured on Angela Schwarzkopf’s JUNO-winning album detach.

Soprano Maureen Batt (maureenbatt.com) focuses on celebrating Canadian classical contemporary music and is an ECMA and JUNO nominee and winner for her discography. She’s the co-artistic director of Essential Opera, and founded Crossing Borders, a contemporary Western classical music recital series that has toured programs in the United States, Canada and Colombia and produced digital broadcasts. Maureen is a frequent festival adjudicator and has been regularly on the faculty of the Halifax Summer Opera Festival. Having premiered many new opera roles by Canadian composers, she most recently won the Classical Recording of the Year at the 2022 ECMAs for her Lighthouse project with Grej.

Tara Scott (piano) is one of Atlantic Canada’s most renowned collaborative pianists. She’s worked across Canada with singers, instrumentalists and choirs, and co-founded Halifax Summer Opera Festival, now in its sixteenth season. She’s been Music Director for shows with Neptune Theatre, Eastern Front and Essential Opera, and has performed with Opera Nova Scotia, Opera New Brunswick and Halifax Theatre for Young People. Tara maintains a busy private piano study and teaches at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. This EP is Tara’s second commercial release, her first being the JUNO-nominated Breathing in the Shadows with song cycles by Saman Shahi.
 
The album was recorded at St. Andrew’s United Church in Halifax in October of 2022.  
 
This project is funded in part by FACTOR, the Government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters, with support from Music Nova Scotia and Arts Nova Scotia. Ce projet est financé en partie par FACTOR, le gouvernement du Canada et les radiodiffuseurs privés du Canada.
 
Release Date:  February 3, 2023
UPC 3191684102160
Catalog Number LM2032 

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Note to editors:  For more information/photos or to arrange interviews please contact Peggy Walt,peggy@culturalaffairs.ca, (902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).

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The Rosebud String Quartet and Leaf Music Proudly Present: “Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614”

Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614

The Rosebud String Quartet is thrilled to present Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614, their first record on Leaf Music, set to be released on January 13, 2023. The album is comprised of three works, one from Mozart and two from Haydn. Both works are characterized by their late appearance in their composer’s creative life. Recorded at the Domaine Forget International Music Festival in Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, Quebec, Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614 sees the Rosebud String Quartet imparting its nuanced and careful dynamism to these two special works.

The quartets of Haydn have played, and continue to hold a seminal role in the creative expression of Rosebud String Quartet. Violist Keith Hamm says, “The Quartet Music of Joseph Haydn has always been extremely important to us. It provides an infinite set of expressive possibilities. I always feel like the music possesses the full range of human emotion strung together by playfulness and humour.” 

The Rosebud String Quartet was formed in 2013 at the inaugural Rosebud Chamber Music Festival, an annual summer chamber music showcase in rural Alberta. Comprised of principal players from the Edmonton Symphony and the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada, the RSQ is one of Canada’s most dynamic ensembles with a unique voice and a deep love for the music of Haydn.  

The RSQ performs regularly across Canada at festivals such as Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Stratford Summer Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Music By The Sea, and in concert series that include Chatter ABQ, Stereo Live, Echo Chamber, Xenia Concerts, Off Centre Music Salon, and Music Mondays where they were featured on CBC Radio’s In Concert. 

Rosebud String Quartet will host an album launch show for Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614 on January 13, 2023 at the Campbell House Museum.  

Rosebud String Quartet ~ Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614 

Release Date: January 13, 2023 

Physical/Digital Release 

 rosebudquartet.com 

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca 

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Leaf Music and Kate Read Proudly Present “After”

Kate Read is thrilled to present After, her first record on Leaf Music set to be released on November 18, 2022. After is the culmination of a pandemic’s worth of time and experimentation directed towards melding the organic with the electronic. After features famous works from Bach, Muhly, and Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, as well as two newly commissioned works from Canadian composer and professor Andrew Staniland and composer Benton Roark.

Inspiration for After began to form during the pandemic, when, like many artists, Kate Read found herself alone and in need of some solace. She found this solace in two forms. One, perhaps expected, was through the works of Bach and Muhly. The other, however, was through experimenting with electronics. This eventually led to the masterful combination and integration of baroque and electronics heard on After.  

Speaking on the power of music to provide solace in times of difficulty and stress, Read comments, “I continued on to spend a lot of time with Nico Muhly’s “Keep in Touch”. Interestingly, in playing this piece I found that my sense of isolation was alleviated, despite Muhly’s words: “Every dimension of the piece accentuates the “in-betweenness” of these two strange voices: …Antony’s (Hegarty) voice, so stately on his own records, is here reduced to abrupt, extemporaneous gestures, mirroring, not alleviating, the viola’s isolation.” 

Based in St John’s, Kate’s diverse talents can be heard at festivals such as Sound Symposium and Tuckamore, performing with the Atlantic String Quartet (winners of MusicNL Classical Musicians of the year, 2021) and as principal violist in the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. In demand as a session musician Kate is also the violist of Dark by Five, resident ensemble at Gros Morne Summer Music and the Harbourlight Piano Quartet. Kate is also principal viola with Opera on the Avalon and collaborates with many musicians around town including Duo Concertante, Vernon Regher, Duane Andrews, Benton Roark and Tiber Reardon. Favourite memories of Sound Symposium include playing the ice breaker on the coast guard ship for the Harbour Symphony and an improv session with John Wyre, Bill Brennan and Paul Bendzsa. 

Kate Read ~ After  

Release Date: November 18, 2022 

Physical/Digital Release 

 kateread.ca 

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca

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Leaf Music and The Andara Quartet Proudly Present: “De mille feux”

Leaf Music and Andara Quartet present the group’s second album De mille feux, available November 4, 2022. Recorded during two sessions almost two years apart at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, De mille feux is the result of the collaboration between the Andara Quartet and four remarkable composers. The four pieces, from composers Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Kelly Marie-Murphy, and James Wright, each allow the quartet to display their full dynamic and tonal range.

De mille feux translates to of a thousand lights, which in turn gestures toward the choice between embracing light or darkness when faced with the “innumerable traumas and nihilisms of the twentieth century, and the recently discovered perpetual expansion of interstellar voids, myriad forms of terrestrial energy continue to burst forth with light, passion, and life!” De mille feux is a celebration of turning toward and contemplating the good, particularly when circumstances make doing so difficult.  

In September 2014, the members of the Andara Quartet—Marie-Claire Vaillancourt (violin), Jeanne Côté (violin), Vincent Delorme (viola), and Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy (cello)—met for the first time at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, while preparing the Ravel String Quartet in F major under the tutelage of Denis Brott. Since then, their passion, dynamism, quality of execution, and unique repertoire have brought them critical acclaim across Canada and internationally. 

Andara Quartet ~ De mille feux 

Release Date: November 4, 2022 

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca 

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Christina Raphaëlle Haldane Releases Debut Album: “Tu me voyais”

Christina Raphaëlle Haldane is thrilled to present Tu me voyais, her first record on Leaf Music set to be released on October 21, 2022. Tu Me Voyais is the result of the collaboration between Haldane and Carl Philippe Gionet, along with several other artists, writers, and composers who have contributed their own offerings.

The album is anchored around Gionet’s new arrangements of Twelve Acadian Folk Songs, tailored for Haldane’s voice. These re-imaginings are set in the 19th century lieder aesthetic or art song where voice and piano play equal solo parts within the musical architecture.  

Carl’s approach to the Acadian folk song arrangements is rooted in the oral tradition, where music and texts are passed orally from generation to generation, without the use of musical notation. He selected folk songs that were already committed to his memory, passed on to him orally from family members and childhood musical activities. In the arrangements, Carl has remained as faithful as possible to his musical memory. He has also taken liberties with the traditional texts, often re-working the order of the storytelling, making omissions, and creating repetitions to enhance the dramatic arc of the pieces. 

Christina Haldane’s career spans the UK, Europe, Asia and North America, and she is currently based in Canada’s Atlantic provinces. She has interpreted many lead opera roles, having performed for opera houses such as The Finnish National Opera, The Royal Opera Covent Garden, Scottish Opera and Musica Viva Hong Kong. Her specialty is performing Handel’s Heroines, Comedic Bel Canto roles and Contemporary opera. Christina enjoys performing and curating recital and chamber music concerts, and she is often invited to perform with leading orchestras. Her exploration of contemporary music has led to many collaborations with composers, and she continues to bring their vocal works to life. Christina is a bilingual English and French speaker with Acadian heritage, and she is proud to be a citizen of Canada and Great Britain.  

Christina Haldane – Tu me voyais 

Release Date: October 21, 2022

https://christinahaldane.com/ 

Tu me voyais is available to stream on all major streaming platforms.

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Alice Ho Releases New Album: “A Woman’s Voice”

“A Woman’s Voice” is an album written for female voices and piano. The repertoire is inspired by literature that celebrates the female spirit and their challenging, and changing, roles throughout history. The multi-lingual lyrics (English, French, and Mandarin) reflect the multicultural Canadian ethos and presents a wide spectrum of text, including ancient Chinese poems from the Tang Dynasty, a war poem by English poetess Charlotte Mew, as well as Alice Ho’s collaborations with seven Canadian writers across the provinces: Marjorie Chan, Madeleine Thien, Carole Languille, Phoebe Tsang, Tong Wang, Thomass Muir, Anna Camara, and Michael O’brien. These writers span a wide range, both in their racial and geographic diversity, as well as where they are in their careers. 

 “A Women’s Voice” features an “all Canadian” lineup. Many astounding young performers have contributed passionately to this album, including pianist/vocalist Jialiang Zhu, coloratura lyric soprano Vania Chan, soprano Katy Clark, soprano Maeve Palmer, soprano Ariadne Lih, mezzo-soprano Alex Hetherington, pianist/writer Tong Wang, and cellist Andrew Ascenzo. 

This recording intends to aim the spotlight at women’s empowerment and strength by leading the audience through a cross-cultural musicscape, and ultimately serves as a reflection on how women of the past and present navigate love, desire, grief, and hardship.

One of the most acclaimed composers writing in Canada today, Hong Kong born Alice Ping Yee Ho has written in many musical genres and received numerous national and international awards, including the 2022 Nova Scotia Symphony’s Maria Anna Mozart Award, 2022 Barlow General Commissioning Award, 2019 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize, 2016 Louis Applebaum Composers Award, 2014 Prince Edward Island Symphony Composers Competition, 2014 Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Friendship Orchestral Composition Competition, 2013 Dora Mayor Moore Award for “Outstanding Original Opera” for her opera The Lesson of Da Ji, and the 2013 Boston Metro Opera International Composition Competition, K.M. Hunter Artist Award, du Maurier Arts Ltd. Her upcoming project is a new opera called CHINATOWN commissioned by City Opera Vancouver with renowned Canadian writer/librettist Madeleine Thien and Hoisanese co-writer Paul Yee, premiering September 13-17 at the Vancouver Playhouse.

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The Charke-Cormier Duo Release: “The Equation of Time”

 

Leaf Music and award-winning ensemble the Charke-Cormier Duo are proud to present The Equation of Time, the duo’s third full-length album and their second to feature a medley of different genres and styles. Recorded on opposite sides of the country, the Charke-Cormier duo recorded all tracks in Wolfville, NS, with Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Celso Machado recording percussion in Gibsons, B.C. 

The Equation of Time begins with Brazilian-Canadian guitarist and percussionist Celso Machado’s second book of music for flute and guitar; six dance and groove-based pieces on which the Charke-Cormier duo float effortlessly over the top. The versatility of bass flute and guitar is showcased again in Derek and Eugene’s more conventional performance of Wilhelmine von Bayreuth’s Sonata in A minor. Although the bass flute would be unknown to the work’s original performers in the mid-18th century, the bass flute’s warm and airy tone is reminiscent of the wooden transverse instruments that would have been in use at that time.  

The group follows this opening piece with renditions of pieces from 17th century Italian composers Girolamo Frescobaldi and 18th century German composer Wilhelmine Von Bayreuth before closing the album with Derek Charka’s “The Equation of Time”, a piece exploring the relationship between the passage of time and the listener’s experience of music. The piece sees Charke and Cormier oscillate between changing tempos and shifting perspectives. “The Equation of Time” is the second work that Derek has written for bass flute and guitar. With many improvisatory figures woven throughout the score, it was composed with the Charke-Cormier Duo’s skills as improvisers in mind. 

Derek Charke (flutes) and Eugene Cormier (guitar) formed the Charke~Cormier Duo several years ago culminating in a debut recital at the KC Irving Centre in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. This sonorous union of flute and guitar continues to charm audiences across the Maritimes. Their repertoire includes many of the most important works for this pairing of instruments, and creates a sonic journey for audiences from the street corners of Argentina to the halls of Europe, as well as introducing fresh new works created today. Both performers are highly accomplished musicians who are on the teaching faculty at Acadia University’s School of Music. 

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Leaf Music Proudly Presents: “Beethoven: Complete Music for Piano and Cello”

Halifax-based record label Leaf Music is pleased to announce the release of cellist Robert deMaine and pianist Peter Takács’s 2-disc album of Beethoven’s complete works for piano and cello. Set to be released July 8, 2022, this stunning collection showcases Beethoven’s unprecedented textures and formal innovations found in his sonatas for cello and piano. 

DeMaine is a master of Beethoven’s conversational tone and technical flourishes, playing with “lapidary technical precision, and a persuasive identification with the idiom of the music at hand.” Takács showcases the composer’s experiments in harmony and form with his noted ability to communicate musical interpretations. As the inventor of the modern cello sonata, Beethoven’s Op. 5 joins the cello and keyboard into a dialogue of near equals. 

While Beethoven’s compositions demonstrate his lifelong interest in counterpoint and move toward instrumental parity, his arrival was not immediate. deMaine and Takács take listeners on a journey through this progression, concluding with Op. 102 as Beethoven’s ideal balance, weaving their two instruments into a single unified texture of equal forces.

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.