Tag: Cello

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VC2 Cello Duo Added to Leaf Music Roster

Leaf Music is pleased to announce that Canadian cello duo VC2 is joining the label’s roster.  

Comprised of cellists Amahl Arulanandam and Bryan Holt, CBC Radio describes VC2 as “a tight unit, with excellent intonation and expression.” They present artistically challenging, yet accessible programs in venues ranging from intimate cabarets to Roy Thomson Hall. 

As respected cellists, they have performed as part of leading music organizations including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, Soundstreams, Art of Time Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music, New Music Concerts, Music in the Barns, Thin Edge New Music Collective, and others.  

“We are delighted to welcome VC2 Cello Duo to our roster.  Bryan and Amahl are known for their virtuosic energy and playfulness on stage. Moreover, their growing reputation as new music champions makes them an excellent fit for Leaf Music and our shared goal of sharing top-tier Canadian artists and composers with the world. It’s a privilege for Leaf Music to work with this talented duo to present brand new music from composers Laura Sgroi, Kati Agócs, Chris Paul Harman, Vincent Ho, Youell Domenico, Jocelyn Morlock and Kelly-Marie Murphy.” – Jeremy VanSlyke, owner – Leaf Music  

Leaf Music is looking forward to VC2 Cello Duo’s first project with the label set to be released in the fall of 2022.

vc2celloduo.com 

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Cellist Christine Walevska releases Bloch’s “Nigun”

Leaf Music is proud to present Bael Shem “Nigun” from celebrated cellist Christine Walevska and pianist Akimi Fukuhara. Released April 17, 2020, this is presented on the 50th anniversary of Walevska’s debut recording on the Philips Classics label of Bloch’s Schelomo, Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, with Schumann’s Cello Concerto. Upon release in 1970, the San Francisco Chronicle called it “the greatest recording in the cello catalog“. After 50 years of concertizing across the globe many times over, in 2019 Walevska went to Montreal, Canada with pianist Akimi Fukuhara to record Bloch’s Nigun with former Philips Classics producer, Martha de Francisco.  

Bloch’s Nigun is a nod to the composer’s Jewish heritage and in memoriam of his mother. “Nigun” is literally “improvisation” or “melody” carrying recognizable melodies and gestures of Jewish folk music. Nigun is the second movement from Bael Shem: Three Pictures of Hassidic Life for Violin and Piano. 

2020 is the 100th anniversary of the independence of Poland and in celebration of this Christine played with pianist Jerzy Stryjniack in Carnegie Hall. During the month of March 2019, Walevska and Fukuhara played concerts in Japan, China and Taiwan. Following the concert in the magnificent National Theatre of Taiwan, Walevska returned to her home in New York City and flew to Argentina only two days later where she played two gala concerts opening the newly renovated Mendoza Theatre with pianist Daniel Goldstein. Together in Buenos Aires with Goldstein, she recorded a CD of Argentine compositions titled “Christine Walevska and Friends”.

To purchase any of Christine Walevska’s previous recordings including the 17 cello concertos Walevska recorded on the Philips Classics label put into a five CD Decca boxed set titled, “The Legendary Recordings of Christine Walevska” and “Goddess of the Cello”  or to find out more information, please visit www.christinewalevska.com 

CHRISTINE WALEVSKA, cello AKIMI FUKUHARA, piano

Bloch – BAEL SHEM, B.47: II.Nigun

Release date: April 17, 2020
Download or Stream here


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Leaf Music and Music Nova Scotia Proudly Presents “Orchestrated Neighbours”


Orchestrated Neighbours brings together 16 African Nova Scotian and Indigenous youth artists, aged 16-28 from across Nova Scotia, to compose original music with each other in a team setting. Four songwriting teams collaborated with professional arrangers, performance artists and session musicians to perform and record their songs.

This is the second project from Orchestrated Neighbours, being released through Music Nova Scotia and Leaf Music. This project is a “mash-up” of various Urban contemporary (hip-hop, R&B, soul, etc) and Classical genres, that combines artistic and community goals through outreach, creation, and collaboration.

Download or Stream Orchestrated Neighbours HERE

The Orchestrated Neighbours project endeavours to braid artistic and community goals through outreach, collaboration and partnerships to improve Music Nova Scotia’s representation and service in African Nova Scotian and Indigenous music communities.

Orchestrated Neighbours is presented by ANSMA, the L’nuta’ql: Find Your Talk Music Showcase, The Province of Nova Scotia, Leaf Music, Music Nova Scotia, and the National Arts Centre.

1. Together We Can – Zamani Millar (vocal), Jhamelila Smith (vocal), Todd Googoo (vocal); Bela String Quartet (ensemble) arr: Andrew Jackson
2. Can’t Get Up – Edwin Hull (vocal); Mitchell Paquette (vocal); Chudi Harris (vocal); Bela String Quartet (ensemble) arr: Karlene Francis
3. Two Ways – Shay Pitts (vocal); Wolfcastle (vocal); Paollo13 (vocal); Bela String Quartet (ensemble) arr: Karlene Francis
4. Ghost – Jody Upshaw (vocal); Jericoe States (vocal); Jade Bennett (vocal, guitar); Bela String Quartet (ensemble) arr: Andrew Jackson


This project is funded in part by FACTOR, the government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters.
Ce projet est financé en partie par FACTOR, le gouvernement du Canada et les radiodiffuseurs privés du Canada.

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Stick&Bow Release “Resonance”

Marimba and cello form a vibrant and compelling – if unconventional – duo in the hands of Stick&Bow, comprised of Canadian marimba player Krystina Marcoux and Argentinian cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado. Resonance, the debut recording from the Montreal-based award-winning musicians, explores a wide palette of repertoire and styles, transcending tradition with new arrangements of music from Bach to Boccherini, and from Nina Simone to Radiohead. Performing Baroque or tango, rock or gypsy-jazz, Stick&Bow brings unique passion, wit, and technical mastery to eclectic and powerful arrangements of some of the most celebrated music in history, presenting the infinite potential of their combined instruments in refreshing and unexpected ways. Resonance is released on the Canadian label Leaf Music on November 1st, 2019.

The new album – with its bilingual liner notes, in true montréalais style – opens with a captivating mélange of works by J.S. Bach, with a transcription of the Adagio from the Sonata for viola da gamba in D Major swinging into the Prelude in D Major from the Well-Tempered Clavier. Also taking inspiration from Bach is American singer-songwriter Nina Simone, who adopts the composer’s contrapuntal style for the 1928 tune Love Me or Leave Me, here in an irresistible new arrangement. The album features not one but two fandangos, with Boccherini’s take on the traditional Spanish folk dance from his Quintet No. 4, and Paco de Lucia’s Entre Arrayanes, in one of Stick&Bow’s most technically challenging and creative arrangements, capturing the colour and essence of flamenco guitars.

A range of characters and moods emerge in three settings for marimba and cello of Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, while the gypsy-jazz style of Stéphane Grappelli explodes in Tzigane, with idiomatic embellishments and virtuosic cadence-like runs. The revolutionary Argentine composer and virtuoso bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla is represented with his lyrical and nostalgic Invierno porteño, winter in Buenos Aires.

More illuminating performances from the classical repertoire include two movements from Schumann’s Fünf Stücke im Volkston and the second movement of Shostakovitch’s cello sonata. The complex harmonies and instrumental textures of Radiohead’s Paranoid Android is a surprisingly convincing element of the album, with marimba and cello exploring a range of timbres, including electric guitar sounds.

Also dedicated to working closely with contemporary composers on daring yet accessible works, Stick&Bow includes two new works on Resonance: Jason Noble’s (b. 1980) Folk Suite, a set of miniatures inspired by the rich folk traditions of his home province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and Parisian composer and bandoneon player Louise Jallu’s (b. 1994) À Gennevilliers, injected with fresh, jazzy harmonies and a freely improvised rhythmic section.

First-prize winner at the Latin-American cello competition (2008), Juan Sebastian Delgado holds a Doctoral degree in cello performance from McGill University and Krystina Marcoux, first-prize winner of the OSM competition (2012), holds her PhD from the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Lyon. Their music has brought them to share magical moments from Banff to Colombia, passing by Armenia, Italy, the USA, Ecuador, France and two extensive Canadian tours in 2019 & 2020 as “Emerging Artists” of Jeunesses Musicales du Canada.

leaf-music.ca stickandbow.com


This project is funded in part by FACTOR, the government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters.
Ce projet est financé en partie par FACTOR, le gouvernement du Canada et les radiodiffuseurs privés du Canada.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Nous remercions le Conseil des Arts du Canada de son soutien.