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Leaf Music Distributes LAUREATE with Measha Brueggergosman-Lee

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new recording, LAUREATE (PM2024), with acclaimed singer, Measha Brueggergosman-Lee. This double-album celebration commemorates Measha becoming a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award in Classical Music with the release of Live at Westben, an electrifyingly eclectic live concert with her signature hilariously off-beat banter, and Planet Measha, a multi-lingual remix album of singles taken from The Measha Series. Featuring a cross-section of Canada’s most gifted musicians, Live at Westben puts you in a front row seat at a Measha concert while Planet Measha showcases her collaboration with an incredible cast of DJs, singers, and MCs.  With LAUREATE, Measha shows us her vision of “classical” music as being borderless inclusivity built on versatility, friendship, and fearless collaboration. 

For the 2024 Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala performance on June 8th, Measha will perform a newly commissioned orchestration by Canadian composer Aaron Davis of one of Planet Measha’s tracks by famed Canadian hip hop sensation Jay Vernon with the National Arts Symphony Orchestra (NACO) of Henri Duparc’s Au pays où se fait la guerre, featuring Montreal rap sensation, Timal Garnier, in his orchestral debut. 

LAUREATE will be available digitally on all platforms, and in limited edition vinyl, featuring the graphic designs of Pierre Tabbiner and the artwork of Paula Arciniega. Measha will receive her award on June 8, the day after her album release. Listen to the new album here: Stream Now! and pre-order the vinyl edition here: Measha Merch Store.

Measha Brueggergosman-Lee holds several honorary doctorates and ambassadorial titles with international charities and is permanent Artist-in-Residence with the Canadian opera company, Opera Atelier. The JUNO award winner has presented innovative programs at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Washington’s Kennedy Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna’s Konzerthaus and Musikverein, Madrid’s Teatro Real as well as at the Schwarzenberg, Edinburgh, Verbier and Bergen Festivals.  She is completing her second year of a master’s degree in theology and released her best-selling memoir Something is Always on Fire in 2018. 

Other milestone recordings in 2023-24 include a song cycle by Robert Fleming for the Canadian Art Song Project and a new work composed for her by Canadian-Dutch composer Jaap Nico Hamburger. She also was the executive producer and director of Forgotten Coast, a 30-minute television episode broadcast on CBC Gem telling the story of her Black Loyalist heritage through the lens of hip-hop artist Jay Vernon, with orchestrations by Aaron Davis and Edwin Huizinga performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Alexander Shelley. Leaf Music released her Zombie Blizzard album, featuring poems by Margaret Atwood and music by Aaron Davis, earlier in 2024. Her new podcast, COMMON GROUND: Conversations About God, a multi-faceted series of in-depth conversations featuring Margaret Atwood, Bruce Cockburn, Tomson Highway, and others, will be available also through the Acadia Divinity College website (https://acadiadiv.ca) and on all major streaming platforms starting on June 6. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.  

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distributes Nerve with Ian Foster

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording, Nerve (IF10) with genre-defying composer/performer Ian Foster.  

Nerve takes us into the evocative world of contemporary classical crossover, featuring an intricate blend of piano, strings, and electronic textures. Ian Foster is a seasoned songwriter, film composer and music producer, and the album combines prepared pianos and strings with synthesizers, drum loops and a range of electronic instruments evocative of contemporary film scores and even contemporary ambient music. Intimate piano pieces and lush electronic atmospherics are presented in Nerve by this Music NL and ECMA winner, who continues to evolve and defy genres (visit ianfoster.ca to learn more). Thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts and Music NL for their support of this project, which was recorded in various venues in St. John’s.  

Listen to Nerve wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/if10

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distributes Light & Dark with Catherine Little & Greg Myra

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording, Light & Dark (CG2024) with cellist Catherine Little and pianist Greg Myra.

Light & Dark is an impassioned and energetic interpretation of historic music for modern listeners. Cellist Catherine Little and pianist Gregory Myra’s performance of Mendelssohn’s joyful D major and Shostakovich’s angsty D minor cello sonatas is a storytelling of the wonder and adversities of life. The album is a follow-up to the duo’s 2021 release, Taking Five, which won the 2022 Nova Scotia Music Award for Classical Album of the Year, and was praised by La Scena magazine for “…eloquently balancing graceful repetition and magical moments.” Visit catherlinelittle.com to learn more. 

Listen to Light & Dark wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/cg2024

Listen to Taking Five on your favourite streaming platform: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/CL2021b

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distributes Defiant Dances with Symphony Nova Scotia

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording, Defiant Dances (SNS2024) with Atlantic Canada’s only professional orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia under the direction of Holly Mathieson. The orchestra presents a recording of exceptional live performances featuring internationally beloved pianist Sara Davis Buechner and works by four extraordinary women composers.  Defiant Dances celebrates the momentous contribution women have made throughout orchestral history and is available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms on May 3.

The album includes Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement and Louise Farrenc’s Overture No. 1 in E Minor. Two Canadian composers – Alice Ping Yee Ho and Karen Sunabacka – round out the featured works. Sunabacka’s Born by the River (for string orchestra) was originally commissioned by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, inspired by her Métis grandmother, Lenore Clouston (nee Birston).

Alice Ping Yee Ho’s The Phantom Bird of Han won the 2022 Maria Anna Mozart Award and was premiered by Symphony Nova Scotia in March of 2023. Launched in 2016, the Award supports the work of Canadian women composers, providing $10,000 for Symphony Nova Scotia to commission and perform a new symphonic work. The Phantom Bird of Han was featured on the CBC music program In Concert with Paolo Pietropaolo as part of an International Women’s Day broadcast and was heard in the Atlantic provinces on both CBC Music and CBC Radio on The East Coast Music Hour with Bill Roach.

Noted for her musical command, cosmopolitan artistry, and visionary independence, Sara Davis Buechner is one of the most original concert pianists of our time. She has performed in every state and province of North America and commissioned and premiered important contemporary scores by composers such as Michael Brown, John Corigliano, Ray Green, Dick Hyman, Jared Miller, and others. Ms. Buechner has released numerous acclaimed recordings of rare piano music by composers such as Rudolf Friml, Dana Suesse, and Ferruccio Busoni. A dedicated Yamaha Artist, Ms. Buechner also appears as a speaker and performer as a proud transgender woman.

Listen to Defiant Dances wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/sns2024

Symphony Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia’s orchestra, championing symphonic music in the province for 40 years. With a home base in Halifax/K’jipuktuk and performances across the province, Symphony Nova Scotia is proud to be a vibrant, vital part of Nova Scotia’s rich cultural community. From sold-out orchestral concerts to free family events, youth and seniors’ activities, and educational partnerships, Symphony Nova Scotia creates unforgettable experiences with truly great music. Visit symphonynovascotia.ca to learn more.

For more information: please visit:

www.hollymathieson.com

saradavisbuechner.com

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distributes Black Sea, Orange Tree with Leah Plave and Tong Wang

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording, Black Sea, Orange Tree (LPTW2023) from cellist Leah Plave and pianist Tong Wang. In two major works, this music tells the story of train rides through the Himalayas, ancient folk dances, rowdy bar fights, glittering golden temples and the smell of tea leaves. The culmination of many years of collaboration, research and travel, the album is available for purchase and streaming on all major platforms on April 26.

Turkish pianist/composer Fazıl Say’s Four Cities and acclaimed Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho’s Four Impressions of China weave special techniques into lush melodies, at times beautifully transforming the cello and piano into traditional Turkish and Chinese instruments. Specially commissioned for the duo and a parallel to Say’s sonata, Ho’s suite is inspired by four distinct regions of China: Hunan, Tibet, Heilongjiang, and Hong Kong.

The album was recorded at Studio Piccolo, Montreal in September of 2023 and produced by sound engineer Veronica Galicia Lopez.

Tong and Leah met in Montreal in 2017, where they embarked on a musical journey as part of Z4Piano Quartet. The pair gave countless recitals throughout Canada, the US, China, and Northern Europe, often specializing in lesser-known repertoire by women and contemporary composers. They have also had artist residencies in Beijing and Nova Scotia.

Tong Wang (tong-wang.com), a Canadian pianist, is recognized for her innovative contributions to performance, research, and community engagement. Her work investigates the intersection of art with identity, culture, and contemporary socio-political themes. Tong’s performance history includes collaborations with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Red Deer Symphony Orchestra, and ensembles throughout North America and Europe. A versatile artist, she has spearheaded the creation of a new horror anime opera, Labyrinth of Tears, alongside research into the aesthetics of “cuteness” in music, supported by the Canada Council, FRQSC, and SSHRC. Wang’s recent tours have spotlighted multiculturalism and interactive experiences, such as “我们Us” and “We’re Not Really Strangers” in Lunenburg, Montreal, Basel, Budapest, and Verbier. In 2022, she founded the Windwood Music Festival in Airdrie, Alberta, to bring classical chamber music to rural communities. Wang continues to embark on solo and chamber tours across the US, Canada, and Europe, showcasing her dedication to fostering global connections through art.

Leah Plave (leahplave.com) reaches beyond the traditional role of a cellist, performing not only classical repertoire but also electronic, experimental, non-western, and historical music. An outspoken advocate for inclusive programming and undiscovered voices, she frequently works with living composers and values interdisciplinary, cross-cultural projects. Leah has lived and toured extensively across North America, China, and Europe – by the age of 24, a four-time immigrant.

Based in The Netherlands since 2020, Leah is an Artist in Residence at Studio LOOS (Den Haag) where her performances focus on music for acoustic cello and live electronics. Her recent solo tours have been appreciated in spaces ranging from posh concert halls like Rotterdam’s De Doelen, historic Italian theatres, and eclectic clubs such as Amsterdam’s Sexyland World.

Listen to Black Sea, Orange Tree wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/lptw2023

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distributes Six Degrees: Music for Violin and Strings – Mayumi Seiler and friends

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording: Six Degrees: Music for Violin and Strings (MS001) by acclaimed Canadian violinist Mayumi Seiler, being released on March 29. Drawing on inspiration from life’s connections and relationships, the violinist is joined by colleagues from her illustrious career’s past and present to produce five works written for violin and strings. Top Canadian string players along with formerly mentored students form the ensemble, while the repertoire is composed by longtime collaborators and composers who inspired them. Six Degrees is a celebration of the relationships that keep us interconnected.  

Joining Mayumi Seiler on this recording are cellist Rachel Mercer, bassist Joe Phillips, violist Ryan Davis, violinists Hee-Soo Yoon and Isabel Lago, as well as harpist Ben Albertson. The recording was produced by Denise Ball with Pouya Hamidi as recording engineer.

Featured composers include Franz Schubert, Montreal-based composer Michael Oesterle, Massenet (Meditation, transcribed for violin, strings and harp), and Métis composer Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk, whose A Search for Resonance beautifully melds with the virtuosic elegance of classical elements. Saskatchewan composer Ryan Davis created a duet for violin and viola for the album, Lavender Jump, inspired by the fields of purple flowers in his native province.

Mayumi Seiler (mayumi-seiler.com) is renowned for her exciting performances of concerto, recital, and collaborative works both live and on disc. She has appeared as soloist with major symphonies in international venues such as Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw, Musikverein, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, and collaborated with such noted conductors as Kent Nagano, Sir Neville Marriner, Sandor Vegh, Maxim Vengerov, Christopher Hogwood, Hugh Wolff, Peter Oundjian, and Richard Hickox. Among her extensive list of recordings are the Beethoven and Mendelssohn Concertos, the three Haydn Concertos with the City of London Sinfonia and Richard Hickox conducting on the Virgin Classics label, and Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la Fée with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under David Atherton (Virgin Classics). Her many recordings of chamber music, include works of Schumann, Dohnanyi, Boccherini and Mozart (Hyperion and Capriccio labels.)

While nurturing a busy schedule as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, Japan and the Americas, Ms. Seiler founded Toronto’s Via Salzburg – acclaimed as “One of the best roads to our musical hearts” (Toronto Star). In Via Salzburg she led a string orchestra in regular performances at the Glenn Gould Studio for sold out audiences. Through fourteen seasons she curated programs with internationally renowned artists, combining varied art forms such as dance, pantomime, and painting with music.

An active and passionate teacher, Mayumi Seiler serves on the faculty at The Glenn Gould School in Toronto. She’s held a professorship at the University Mozarteum in Salzburg, given masterclasses worldwide and adjudicated at numerous international violin competitions.

She began her musical upbringing in Osaka, Japan, where she was born of Japanese/German parentage. Wedded to the violin from the age of three, Mayumi received her musical education at the renowned Mozarteum during her formative years in Salzburg. She performs on a JB Guadagnini of 1740.

Listen to Six Degrees wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/ms001 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

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

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents Space Time Continuo and terra e cielo

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new recording, terra e cielo (STC2024) from Montreal’s Space Time Continuo baroque bass ensemble. This captivating album, to be released on March 8, re-imagines Italian vocal and instrumental music spanning the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. It features works by Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi, Diego Ortiz, Giulio and Francesca Caccini and Girolamo Frescobaldi.  

Created in 2019 and directed by cellist Amanda Keesmaat, the fluid personnel of Space Time Continuo perform on plucked strings, keyboards, and low-pitched bowed and wind instruments. Terra e cielo features musicians Amanda Keesmaat (cello and lirone); Antoine Malette-Chénier (triple harp); Karim Nasr (dulcian); Jessica Korotkin (cello and viola da gamba); Christophe Gauthier (harpsichord and organ); Sylvain Bergeron (archlute); and a cameo from Vincent Lauzer (bass recorder). A new addition to the ensemble, a lirone made by Francis Beaulieu in 2023, provides an auditory window into the divine, depicting heavenly scenes that were commonly presented in early Italian works. This lirone (or lira da gamba) is a string instrument used to realize figured bass with fifteen gut strings and fretted neck. When played, it’s held between the legs like a cello or viola da gamba. 

The album was recorded at Oscar Peterson Hall, Concordia University, Montreal and was produced by and supported by CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) and the Canada Council for the Arts. This is the third album from this ensemble; learn more at spacetimecontinuo.com.

Listen to terra e cielo wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/stc2024.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT:  

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

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents Emily Carr String Quartet and Portraits

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording Portraits from the Emily Carr String Quartet. This new recording is being released on January 26.

Portraits (CD02), by the Emily Carr String Quartet (ECSQ), features works by Tobin Stokes, Jocelyn Morlock, Jared Miller, and Iman Habibi. The album was produced by Karen Wilson and co-produced and engineered by Paul Luchkow. The compositions are inspired by the writing and paintings of Emily Carr, who was herself inspired by the landscape and Indigenous people of the West Coast of Canada. Marion Newman, mezzo-soprano of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations, joins the Quartet in singing Canoe from Stokes’ Stories from Klee Wyck.  Another movement of this work, Friends, references a version of the 1951 publication of Klee Wyck in which sections of the original story (where Carr described a Parson’s attempt to persuade her to help remove children from their home and send them to residential school) were edited out.

Formed in 2006 by members of the Victoria Symphony, the Emily Carr String Quartet (emilycarrstringquartet.com) has established itself as one of British Columbia’s finest chamber music ensembles, renowned for its passionate and inspiring performances. They’ve participated in residencies at Stanford University and the Banff Centre and collaborated and recorded with artists such as the Lafayette String Quartet, Lorraine Min, Marion Newman, Jamie Parker, and Arthur Rowe. The quartet has been presented by concert events such as the International Society for Contemporary Music’s 2017 World Music Days, Music in the Morning and Music on Main concert series in Vancouver, the Ankara Music Festival in Turkey, Hornby Festival, and the Victoria Summer Music Festival. The ECSQ was featured on CBC radio’s “North by Northwest” and their debut CD Hidden Treasure was nominated for the 2012 Classical Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Quartet members are Müge Büyükçelen (Violin 1), Cory Balzer (Violin 2), Mieka Michaux (Viola) and Alasdair Money (Cello).

Listen to Portraits wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/cd02.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT:  

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

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents Michael Lee and American Spiritual

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution new digital recording American Spiritual by pianist Michael Lee. This new recording is being released on January 26.

Michael Lee’s American Spiritual (ML202301) stands at the intersection of European Art Music and the American Spiritual, highlighting stories told by Black Americans. It comprises piano works by Florence Price (the first African American woman to have a work premiered by a major American orchestra), Margaret Bonds (the first African American person to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and Robert Nathaniel Dett (a leading figure of the National Association of Negro Musicians). The album was produced by Stephen Lilly and funded by ArtsNL.

Michael Lee was born and raised in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and holds a Doctor of Music Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Toronto, where he studied with the eminent Romanian pianist, Marietta Orlov. His performance career has taken him throughout North America and Europe as a soloist, collaborative pianist and répétiteur. Learn more at https://www.michaelleepianist.com.

Listen to American Spiritual wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/ml2023.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT:  

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

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents The Robbie Songs Project: A Legacy Choral Tribute to Robbie Smith

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the long-anticipated distribution of a new album of the music of Nova Scotia songwriter Robbie Smith, (1954-2019) a prolific songwriter who performed in the folk duo Naming the Twins (www.namingthetwins.com) for the last eleven years of his life. To fulfill his wish to keep his music alive after his untimely passing, musical partner Kathleen Glauser embarked on an ongoing project with the Nova Scotia Choral Federation, including having 30 of Robbie Smith’s pieces arranged for choirs, set by sixteen of Canada’s best composers like Larry Nickel, Gary Ewer, Donna Rhodenizer, Mary Knickle, Tom Leighton, Frances Farrell, Mark Sirett, Stephen Smith, and others.

The new recording features many well-known Nova Scotian choirs: Cantabile Singers of Truro, Halifax Gay Men’s Chorus, Polaris (of Choirs for Change), Nova Voce, The Aeolian Singers, Middleton Choral Society and Dartmouth Choral Society, with additional participation in a massed choir piece by Halifax Newcomer Choir, EnChor East and Coastal Voices Men’s Choir.

Featured titles of Robbie Smith’s well-loved songs include A Peaceful Song (arranged by Terry Hurrell), Lay Down Your Weapons (arranged by Byron Hermann), and the popular Let’s Have Some Music (arranged by Laura Hawley). Working from a rough demo of the song, composer Hawley crafted a choral arrangement capturing its joyous spirit and uplifting lyrics that became an instant hit at concerts following the pandemic.

Some pieces on the new recording were previously recorded by Naming the Twins on their albums. Choirs can purchase the music for nineteen of the pieces in SATB, SSAA or TTBB parts through publisher Cypress Choral Music or borrow parts from the Nova Scotia Choral Federation. More information is available here: https://nscf.ca/the-robbie-songs-project/.

Listen to The Robbie Songs Project: A Legacy Choral Tribute to Robbie Smith wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/drr-005.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT:  

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