(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Two years into Covid-19, New Brunswick’s Tutta Musica Orchestra celebrated everyday heroes of the pandemic, presenting six concerts in various New Brunswick communities. Each concert included a newly commissioned musical piece by Vancouver composer Jaelem Bhate, using themes of courage, resilience, and community. Now the orchestra brings these works to a wider audience through their soon-to-be-released recording, Ovation, on the Leaf Music label.
Tutta Musica consists of sixty musicians who are the Teaching Artists of Sistema New Brunswick, a highly successful program of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. The musicians are graduates of some of the finest university and conservatory music programs in North and South America. They strive to make live music more accessible, more engaging, and more relevant to more people throughout the region. Working in many genres from rock and roll to Acadian music to opera, Tutta Musica collaborates with artist in creative writing, comedy, theatre, and dance, creating original content which features New Brunswick themes, culture, and people. The ensemble is conducted by Maestro Antonio Delgado, who is also Musical Director of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and of Sistema NB.
The two major works on this recording are Manuel de Falla’s Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2 and Jaelem Bhate’s contemporary work, Ovation. This new piece was composed in just seven weeks, consisting of three aptly named movements: i. Courage, ii. Resilience and iii. Community. The melodies and harmonies of these movements are generated by the same chord construction (a C minor 11 tetrachord) in which the intervals between notes are those of fourths). The effect is strongly allusive to the subject of Covid. To quote the composer: “It was difficult to find a balance between triumph and sorry…I wanted to write something that we could all relate to, despite the sometimes-intense feeling surrounding how Covid was handled by different entities. All three movement speak to some of the base human emotions I think we all felt through the past two and a half years, no matter our politics or beliefs.”
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).
