Category: Leaf Music Distribution

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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). 

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents Anders Muskens and Beethoven’s “Waldstein & Appassionata” Sonatas Performed on an Original Pianoforte

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of two distribution from early music specialist Anders Muskens. The two recordings are all being released on December 1.

Prolific early music specialist Anders Muskens has two new recordings released by Leaf Music Distribution. The first, Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas is performed on an original pianoforte (historical piano) by John Broadwood & Sons, made in London in 1806 and restored by Paul Kobald in Amsterdam in 2022. The recording was made at the Nikomedeskirche, Weilheim (Tübingen), Germany, with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts. Muskens says: “These wonderful historical instruments, when working, can produce that rawness and vitality that Beethoven must have strove for.” Transporting his listeners to another time and place, Anders strives to provide a “completely new perspective of well-known repertoire.”

Listen to Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/am003.

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 Anders Muskens and Eclectic New Early Music, Army of Generals Volume II

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of two distribution from early music specialist Anders Muskens. The two recordings are all being released on December 1.

Anders Muskens is a Canadian early keyboard specialist and ensemble director, who performs throughout North America and Europe. One of his two new releases, Army of Generals Volume II: Carl Theodor’s Court Orchestra in Mannheim 1742-1778, revives the eighteenth-century’s Mannheim Court Orchestra. Revered across Europe as one of the finest musical institutions of its day, the revolutionary style of the orchestra’s composers coupled with its awe-inducing performances inspired an entire musical generation, including Mozart. The Mannheim court sought to create a harmonious society built on knowledge, reason, and artistic expression. Composers Anton Fils, Johann Stamitz, Christian Cannabich, Nicolo Jommelli, Gian Francesco de Majo and Anton Schweitzer are featured with the Neue Mannheimer Orchester, Muskens on harpsichord, concertmaster Mojca Gal and Elisabeth Hetherington (Canadian soprano). The CD was recorded at the German Evangelical Church in The Hague, Netherlands, with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Listen to Army of Generals Volume II: Carl Theodor’s Court Orchestra in Mannheim 1742-1778 wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/dnmo003.

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 VB8 Ensemble and Winter Magic

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution from Montreal’s acclaimed VB8 vocal ensemble. This recording are all being released on December 1.

VB8 (vocesboreales.org) has recorded its first CD, Winter Magic: A 21st Century Christmas (Magie d’hiver). Founded in 2006 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Andrew Gray, Voces Boreales chamber choir has carved out an enviable position in the classical music world. In 2019, they created a new vocal octet, VB8, who’ve collaborated with artists like Quatuor Bozzini, BradyWorks and Karen Young. Their first album of songs for the festive season features almost all works written in the last 35 years, apart from two traditional French carols. The disc starts and ends with a favourite composer of the group, Arvo Part, and includes three Canadian composers: Elizabeth Ekholm, Louis Desjarlais and Benjamin Sigerson. The deliberate omission (for the most part) of traditional Christmas carols allows for year-round listening, yet is perfect for holiday traditions, a perfect backdrop to tree trimming or basking in the quietude of a Christmas morning. 

Listen to Winter Magic wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/vb2023.

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 and Christine Vanderkooy Present: “Schubert Late Piano Works”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Pianist Christine Vanderkooy presents a new album, Schubert: Late Piano Works, distributed by Leaf Music Distribution. Recorded at the Glenn Gould Studio during Toronto’s lockdown in December of 2020 on “Bertha” the nine-foot New York Steinway, the recording comprises two works composed by Schubert in the twilight of his life: Sonata in C-minor, D. 958 – the first from his late sonata trilogy – and Drei Klavierstücke, D. 946. While these works were long passed over following their creation in 1828, these deeply human compositions have been establishing their place as inimitable masterworks amongst pianists and audiences alike.

Written just a year following the death of his admired Beethoven, Schubert completed “some of his most sophisticated, poetic, and deeply felt works for the piano…permeating the deepest layers of the soul…moving us, sometimes with the masterful shift of just one note or rest, from the desolate to the sublime,” Christine writes in the liner notes.

Praised for her “sensitive and passionate artistic interpretation,” Christine Vanderkooy has performed as a soloist across Canada, the US and Europe. Her previous recording, Schubert and Schumann, enjoyed critical acclaim including a cover story for Tempo magazine. As well as radio play on CBC Radio and stations across the continent. Christine has been frequently invited to adjudicate festivals and competitions and has twice been invited to judge the Canadian JUNO Awards. Her national reputation as a piano pedagogue has led to workshops and masterclasses across the country.

Christine studied and taught at McGill University where she earned a Doctor of Music in Piano Performance. Her major teachers included David McIntyre, Boyd McDonald, Tom Plaunt, Sara Laimon and Marc Durand. She joined the University of Windsor in 2017 as Associate Professor of Music and Education. 

The recording was made possible by funding from the University of Windsor, including a research start-up grant and the Research Stimulus Fund Grant from the Faculty of Education, as well as an SSHRC Exchange Grant.

Listen to Schubert Late Piano Works wherever you stream your music: http://leaf-music.lnk.to/cv2023

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 Proudly Presents: “SHANTIES! LIVE” from La Nef and Chor Leoni

Halifax, NS – Leaf Music Distribution announces the release of the cross Canada collaborative album, Shanties! LIVE, on May 6, 2022. Featuring the acclaimed La Nef (Montreal, QC), shanty master Seán Dagher, and the voices of Juno-nominated Chor Leoni (Vancouver, BC) under the direction of Erick Lichte, the high-energy album contains rollicking sea shanties, haunting laments, and exhilarating sea songs. 

Shanties! LIVE was recorded live at the Chan Centre for Performing Arts in February 2020 at a performance presented by Early Music Vancouver. Originally conceived when members of La Nef were hired to sing sea shanties for Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, the program features songs of travel, adventure, and missing loved ones who are far away. The songs proved so addictive that La Nef presented them in concert in 2014, and its album, Sea Songs & Shanties, was released in 2017. La Nef has been touring this program ever since.

“Chor Leoni was the perfect instrument to bolster and complement our original crew,” says Seán Dagher, Musical and Artistic Co-Director of La Nef. “Our collaboration gave La Nef the opportunity to take the music even farther than we have on our voyage so far.” Seán is one of the most popular shanty experts and receives thousands of weekly views on his series Shanty of the Week. 

“These songs are buoyant, driving and devilishly catchy, and the collaboration between the two ensembles takes them to a really grand scale,” says Erick Lichte, Artistic Director of Chor Leoni. “The concert recording does an excellent job of conveying the excitement of the program and the enthusiasm of the audience. We hope this album leaves you humming the tunes and thinking of adventures on the high seas.”

The 14-song tracklist of Shanties! LIVE includes pieces specifically re-arranged for the collaboration between La Nef and the men’s choir, with new sections and new textures to fully exploit the possibilities offered by the combined ensemble. Soloists featured on the album include: Seán Dagher, voice/cittern; Nils Brown, tenor; Michiel Schrey, tenor; Clayton Kennedy, baritone; David Gossage, flutes/percussion/voice; Nelson Carter, violin/voice/percussion; and Bill Gossage, double bass/voice.

The album will be available for purchase and streaming online, and through Chor Leoni and La Nef beginning on May 6.

About Chor Leoni Men’s Choir (chorleoni.org)

Known internationally and loved locally, JUNO-nominated Chor Leoni is recognized as one of the vanguard male vocal ensembles in North America. Founded by the late choral luminary Diane Loomer and now led by Artistic Director Erick Lichte, Vancouver’s Singing Lions have enriched and transformed people’s lives through singing for 30 years. With stylistic grace and an adventurous spirit, Chor Leoni performs in many languages, styles and genres, always aiming to communicate, engage, and entertain.

About La Nef (la-nef.com)

La Nef is an ensemble that creates and produces music ranging from early music and ancient oral traditions to contemporary world music. Their creative approach to an array of distinctive styles has given them a unique musical signature. Their Musical Director and Artistic Co-director, Seán Dagher, is a composer and musical director also well-known for his “Shanty of the Week” video series.

SHANTIES! LIVE

Release date: May 06, 2022

leaf-music.caLa NefChor Leoni

MEDIA CONTACT: Catherine Little | catherine@leaf-music.ca | 902-579-9474

Halifax-based Leaf Music Distribution is excited to announce SHANTIES! LIVE from La Nef and Chor Leoni. This high-energy album features sea songs and shanties of all kinds from a one-night-only collaboration of these two choirs. Performed at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver, this program features arrangements and vocal orchestrations by Seán Dagher. These catchy sea songs speak of travel, adventure and missing loved ones who are far away.

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The Bombadils: “Losing Track of Time”

The Bombadils release their single “Losing Track of Time” from upcoming album Dear Friend.

For Immediate Release…January 21, 2022

Leaf Music Distribution is pleased to announce the single release, “Losing Track of Time” by The Bombadils.

“Losing Track of Time” transports us to the moment when stars align, guards come down, and we connect more deeply with someone than we ever knew we could. The moment is fleeting and we want to hang onto it before it slips away… we want to cherish the warmth, vulnerability, and gentle attentiveness between two strangers.

“Losing Track of Time” is the first single off The Bombadils’ forthcoming full-length album, Dear Friend, set for release in the spring of 2022. It will be The Bombadils’ first full-length album release since their move to Atlantic Canada and launch into new parenthood, a new city, and a global pandemic. Recorded in North End Halifax with engineer Graeme Campbell between lockdowns and daycare pick-ups, Dear Friend is a series of love letters to family and friends, to strangers and neighbours, to cities and landscapes, and to each other.

Watch “Losing Track of Time” lyric video HERE

Canadian Folk Music Award nominees The Bombadils bring together bluegrass, Celtic, and singer-songwriter traditions with front-porch style and classical grace. Canadian arts journalist Bob Mersereau describes their music as “folk tunes done with musical adventure and sophistication” and Elmore Magazine calls it “an enchanting folk romp.”

The Bombadils met in 2009 while studying music at McGill University in Montreal, Québec. In the years to follow, they began recording and touring throughout Canada, and internationally. Tour highlights include Koerner Hall in Toronto, ON, Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, and Wintergrass music festival outside Seattle, WA. In 2015 they released a full-length album, “Grassy Roads, Wandering Feet,” quickly followed by “New Shoes” in 2016 which was nominated for two Canadian Folk Music Awards and won Folk Music Ontario’s Album of the Year award.

The Bombadils: Losing Tracks of Time
Release date: January 21, 2022
Physical/Digital Release
Stream/Purchase HERE

thebombadils.com