Tag: Baroque

Posted on by

Leaf Music Distributes “Retro Style” with Wendy Markosky

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new debut digital recording, Retro Style (WM2024), available August 23, featuring organist Wendy Markosky. Retro Style showcases the “retro style” sounds of the neo-baroque Ahrend organ at the University of Calgary. Dating from 2006, this instrument authentically evokes the tone colours of seventeenth-century North German organs, along with a unique temperament based on a restored instrument from 1692. 

Organist Wendy Markosky explores a diverse group of composers having personal, professional, or historical connections to one other, within a broader context of seventeenth-century North German organ traditions that includes one modern work. Mixing less to more familiar works, the album highlights a wealth of genres and compositional styles from the music of Tunder, Weckmann, Froberger, Böhm, Bruhns, Buxtehude, Scheidt, Distler, Scheidemann, and Lübeck. The repertoire reflects the community of connections between many of the composers, historically and personally. 

Get your CD copy of Retro Style by contacting Wendy Markosky at wmarkosk@burmanu.ca, or listen to it on your favourite streaming platform. Retro Style is available on all streaming platforms: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/wm2024. 

Retro Style was recorded at the Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary in 2021 and 2022 and engineered and mastered by Zana Warner. The artist thanks the Faculty Development and Research Committee, Burman University for major financial assistance of this project. 

For more information, please visit wendymarkosky.com.

Wendy Markosky is Professor of Music and Music Department Chair at Burman University in Lacombe, Alberta, and organist of the university church. She is an active recitalist, chamber musician and adjudicator. She’s been a panel judge of three national organ playing competitions of the Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO) and is an RCCO travelling clinician and examiner. Markosky has performed with Early Music Voices, Early Music Alberta, and Luminous Voices, and is a founding member of the early music ensemble Rosa Barocca. Their album with cellist Elinor Frey won Canada’s 2022 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year:  Small Ensemble. A native of Ottawa, Markosky holds a bachelor’s degree in organ form Union College, (Lincoln, Nebraska), and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in organ from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University-Bloomington, where she also studied harpsichord and carillon.

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.

-30-

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).

Posted on by

Leaf Music and Karl Stobbe Present “Ysaÿe, J. S. Bach & Paganini: Works for Solo Violin”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and Canadian violinist Karl Stobbe announce the launch ofYsaÿe, J. S. Bach & Paganini: Works for Solo Violin (LM294), available March 22 in digital format.

This is part of a six-album series of violin repertoire to be released individually over the next few years, based on the repertoire of J.S. Bach. Karl Stobbe traces the important relationship between luthiers, players, and composers through this album, through the compositions of three giants in solo violin playing and composition—Bach, Paganini, and Ysaÿe. Recorded on a violin made in 1806 by the French master Nicolas Lupot, Stobbe interprets Bach’s virtuosic B minor Partita, three of Paganini’s most technically treacherous but musically ingenious Caprices, and Ysaÿe’s fourth Solo Sonata—an homage that melds Paganini’s flair with Bach’s profound counterpoint and complexity.  

As a concertmaster, chamber musician, soloist, and performer, Karl Stobbe (www.karlstobbe.com) is recognized as one of Canada’s most accomplished violinists, known for his dedication to violin excellence. Stobbe completed a Master of Music at Indiana University with a minor in Violin Repair and Construction. His passion for the construction and mechanics of the violin is an integral part of his professional musical life and continues to influence his performances and teaching. Noted for his generous, rich sound and long, poignant phrasing, he is described by the San Francisco Classical Voice as “an artist with soulful musicianship,” and by London’s Sunday Times as “a master soloist, recalling the golden age of violin playing… producing a breathtaking range of tone colours.” Karl has performed in many of North America’s most famous concert halls, including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, the National Arts Centre, Roy Thompson Hall, Segerstrom Hall, and the Orpheum Theatre. He plays on a violin made in 1806 by French luthier Nicolas Lupot, and a bow made just a few blocks away in1790 by Francois Xavier Tourte.

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.

-30-

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).

Posted on by

Leaf Music and Infusion Baroque Present: East is East

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,

Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgement Seat;

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,

When two strong men stand face to face, through they come from the ends of the earth!

– Rudyard Kipling, The Ballad of East and West (1889)

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and Canadian Baroque ensemble Infusion Baroque announce the launch of East is East (LM276), available March 15 in both digital and physical copies. East is East is a transcultural collaboration drawing on both ancient and contemporary inspiration from the East and the West. Offering a fresh approach to music on Baroque instruments and historical performance practice, this new recording is sure to delight fans of early music and Hindustani, Turkish and Persian traditions. Joining the quartet ensemble are guest musicians Amir Amiri (santur and composer), Vidita Kanniks (vocals), Thibault Bertin-Maghit (double bass), Hamin Honari (tombak and daf), Hank Knox (harpsichord), and Shawn Mativetsky (tabla).

Infusion Baroque (infusionbaroque.com) draws new audiences to early music through a truly captivating concert experience, deftly combining seasoned musicianship with storytelling elements. Playing music of the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries on historical instruments, the four women of Infusion Baroque enthrall audiences across North America with their creative and interactive programming. Founded in 2013, Infusion Baroque won the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the Early Music America’s Baroque Performance Competition in 2014. Since then, they have performed extensively in North America with series such as the Montreal Baroque Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music, Early Music Now (Milwaukee), San Francisco Early Music Society, Indianapolis Early Music, Houston Early Music, and the Gotham Early Music Scene in New York City.  

Their performances have been described as “dynamic and alive” (Early Music America) with “polish, energy, and finely honed style … merrily breaking established traditions” (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Their research and creative programs focus not only on important figures of the past, but also relatively unknown composers and musicians. They have released three albums with the Leaf Music; their second album, Kreüsser, features world-premiere recordings of Georg Anton Kreüsser’s Op. 10 quintets and was nominated for a Prix Opus Album of the Year.  Since 2017, one of their main initiatives has been The Virtuosa Project, a series of concerts, lectures, videos, and recordings highlighting historical female musicians. Their third album, Virtuosa, consisted of works composed or performed by women from the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries, and reached over 500K streams within the first six months of release.  

The album was recorded in April of 2023 at Studios Piccolo in Montreal, produced by Jeremy Van Slyke with recording by Veronica Galicia Lopez and editing and mixing by Nathan Cann.

We acknowledge the support of FACTOR and the Canada Council for the Arts with this project.

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.

-30- 

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).

Posted on by

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.

-30- 

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).