Début album from soprano Maureen Batt: “Lady of the Lake”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Canadian soprano Maureen Batt will be releasing her debut album LADY OF THE LAKE in collaboration with independent label Leaf Music. Batt has joined forces with pianist Simon Docking, bass-baritone Jon Paul Décosse as well as the Halifax Camerata Singers to record two exciting song cycles based on the epic poem ‘Lady of the Lake’ by Sir Walter Scott.

Noted by Opera Canada as a “young, lovely and captivating soprano,” Batt is passionate about sharing Canadian contemporary music with the world. She is co-artistic director of Essential Opera, now in its seventh season, and has performed throughout the world in opera roles and as a recitalist.

The recording features a rare recording of Franz Schubert’s Op. 52 song cycle Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts “Fräulein am See” (Seven songs from Walter Scott’s “Lady of the Lake”) combined with a newly composed cycle by Nova Scotia composer Fiona Ryan. While the Schubert cycle includes the famous melody ‘Ave Maria,’ the work is rarely heard in its full context among six lesser-known Schubert songs.

Ryan’s work includes a ‘Prayer’ inspired partly by Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as a strong influence of folk traditions. She writes: “I draw upon Scottish (and Nova Scotian) folk music traditions in my songs. Some movements are very obviously influenced by Scottish folksongs, such as ‘Soldier’s Farewell’ (which could be as much at home at a folk music session in a pub as in a concert hall) and others draw inspiration from rhythmic patterns, ornamentation, and droning sounds found in Scottish bagpipe music.”

In 2017-18, Lady of the Lake will embark on a tour of Eastern Canada, and in 2018, dates will be added throughout Canada, and abroad. For all concert dates please see: maureenbatt.com and facebook.com/maureenbattsoprano.

The album will become available for purchase on CD and for download on major digital music providers including Naxos, Amazon, and iTunes June 23, 2017.

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