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Leaf Music and Luminos Ensemble Present: In the Crystalline Vault of Heaven

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) PEI’s professional choral ensemble, Luminos Ensemble has released its latest recording, In the Crystalline Vault of Heaven. The 16-member group, under the artistic direction of Dr. Margot Rejskind recorded the album of music by Atlantic Canadian composers at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church, Sturgeon, PEI, in May of 2022. It will be released in physical and digital versions on October 27 on the Leaf Music label.  

The album features a stellar lineup of all-Atlantic Canadian composers: Atlantic String Machine’s Adam Hill, EKR (Evan) Hammell, Emily Doolittle, Terry Pratt, Derek Charke, Peter Togni, Kathleen Allan and David Buley

The evocative title track, In the Crystalline Vault of Heaven, was composed by Nova Scotian Derek Charke. “We wanted an album that reflected the diversity and breadth of choral music being written on the east coast,” said director Margot Rejskind. “We’re showcasing composers like Adam, Emily and Evan, who all wrote these new works for us.” 

Luminos Ensemble is a Charlottetown-based professional choir of trained vocal soloists that formed in 2017. The group received a nomination from the East Coast Music Awards in the inaugural Best Choral Recording of the Year category in 2023 for their single, I am an Island That Dreams by David Buley. They thank the Canada Council for the Arts for their support of this project. To learn more, please visit LuminosEnsemble.com. 

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. We are 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 and Luminous Voices Present: “Ispiciwin”

(Halifax/K’jipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and Luminous Voices are releasing a new album, Ispiciwin (“journey” in Cree), a collection of pieces by mostly Canadian composers from Turtle Island. The fifth album from the esteemed ensemble and their third on Leaf Music combines choral music sung in Cree and represents a promising stepping stone on the path to reconciliation. Ispiciwin represents personal and collective reflection by the composers, singers, instrumentalists and directors, culminating in an album that represents many unique compositional voices and styles.  

Luminous Voices commissioned and premiered the works by Arthur Bachmann, Carmen Braden, and Zachary Wadsworth. Edmonton composer Stuart Beatch’s Girl Hours found its way onto this recording through conversations and serendipity with the choir’s director, Timothy Shantz. Sherryl Sewepagaham’s Okâwîmâw askiy was premiered by Luminous Voices as part of Samantha Whelan’s Wandering with Wonder performance project in September 2021 and became a soundtrack to Luminous Voices’ 2021–22 season. I am the Rose of Sharon by Swiss/Italian composer Ivo Antognini, with text taken from the Song of Solomon, rounds out the repertoire and Edmonton composer Laura Hawley’s moving setting of Rise Up, My Love

Ispiciwin is a unique project that brings together many strands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous identity, a sentiment that attracted Winnipeg and Cree composer Andrew Balfour, who said, “Working with Luminous Voices and Timothy Shantz, along with artists Jessica McMann and Walter MacDonald White Bear, is a dream collaboration that results in a closer understanding of truth-telling and storytelling from an Indigenous perspective.” 

Ispiciwin deals with themes surrounding truth, storytelling, and the difficult path toward reconciling the past. Luminous Voices Artistic Director Timothy Shantz says, “We’re all very proud to share the music on this album and hope that all the composers’ unique voices are heard through our performances. More than anything, we want these incredible artists to be heard throughout the world.” 

Luminous Voices continues to thrill audiences in Calgary and beyond through performances, recordings, and workshops. The choir illuminates choral music of the past and present and supports contemporary composers by regularly commissioning new works. Founded in 2012, Luminous Voices unites local, national, and international artists and organizations through exceptional sonic experiences encompassing live and virtual performances, recordings, workshops, and community educational activities. Other releases through Leaf Music are Artem Vedel: Twelve Sacred Choral Concerti & Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2021) and their 2020 release, Sea Dreams by Peter-Anthony Togni, which was nominated for a 2021 JUNO Award.  

The choir also released The Far West on Bridge Records in 2016, which Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle described as “beautifully sung, as everything here is, by the aptly named Luminous Voices under Timothy Shantz.” The Far West was awarded the 2018 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Recording and the 2016 National Choral Award for Outstanding Choral Composition from Choral Canada. Luminous Voices’ first release in 2015, Mendelssohn’s Te Deum, was the 2016 winner of Outstanding Choral Recording from Choral Canada. 

Ispiciwin will be available on all major platforms October 6.  

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. Naxos of America distributes our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. We are also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.  

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luminousvoices.com 

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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“MESSIAH” – Ensemble Caprice, Karina Gauvin, Ensemble Vocal Arts Quebec, Matthias Maute, Jaap Nico Hamburger

Excerpts from the Handel’s Masterpiece Featuring Acclaimed Soprano Karina Gauvin

Plus New Works by Composers Jaap Nico Hamburger and Matthias Maute

Leaf Music is proud to present a new recording of highlights from Handel’s Messiah, featuring soprano Karina Gauvin and bookended by two new choral works by Montreal-based composers, Jaap Nico Hamburger and Matthias Maute. Maute also conducts Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and Ensemble Caprice in these vibrant new choral recordings, which will be available for purchase, download, and on all streaming platforms as of November 5, 2021.

Matthias Maute conducts Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec and Ensemble Caprice in performances of Handel’s Messiah throughout the month of December, including Maison symphonique in Montreal (Dec 12) and Palais Montcalm in Quebec (Dec 17). See the complete schedule here

While Handel’s masterpiece has been heard and recorded often, the musicians experienced a feeling of renewal this year: “During the live recording, in an empty hall, it felt like we all were hearing this famous oratorio for the very first time,” says Maute, “After the long drought brought on by the pandemic, this first reunion of choir and orchestra in a wonderful concert hall felt like the rebirth of the spirit of music!”

While sanitary restrictions necessitated a small number of singers – the ensemble has just 12 voices – this is not out of character for the work, though many are used to hearing massive musical forces for the bombastic Hallelujah chorus. Handel himself had a choir of only 16 singers at his disposal when he travelled from London to lead the first performance of his oratorio in 1742 in Dublin. “The flexibility and lightness of a12-voice choir reveals fascinating layers of the work,” comments Maute.

The new recording also includes a short dialogue between Handel and two living composers, with new choral works from the two Mécénat Musica composers in residence, Jaap Nico Hamburger’s Hope and Belief, on a Yiddish text by Isaac Leib Peretz,and Matthias Maute’s O magnum mysterium, which aims to grasp something of the elusive mystery of music. These two works set the theme for the Mécénat Musica Mini-Concerts Santé in the summer of 2020, which delivered music to thousands during lockdown, spreading the magical force of music to help get through the crisis.

Two-time JUNO Award-winning conductor, composer, recorder and flute soloist Matthias Maute has achieved an international reputation. In 2016 he was named artistic director of the Bach Society of Minnesota and in 2019 of Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec. Maute is co-artistic director of the Montreal Baroque Festival and artistic director of the Mécénat Musica Concerts Noncerto concert series and has released 20 recordings on various labels.

Maute founded Ensemble Caprice, praised by The New York Times as “imaginative, even powerful; and the playing is topflight.” Known for an innovative and adventuresome approach to an expanding musical repertoire, Ensemble Caprice has performed in 11 festivals, embarked upon its first Latin American tour, and made its third trip to China in addition to an inaugural tour in South Africa. Instigator of the Mini-Concerts Santé, Ensemble Caprice received the Opus Award for Musical Event of the Year 2020 for this project. Through 1,700 musician hires of professional singers and instrumentalists who perform with 184 classical music organizations, $464,000 were paid directly to the artists who were out of work due to COVID-19.

In 2019, Maute was named Artistic Director of Ensemble vocal Arts-Québec, a professional choir steeped in the grand tradition of choral music in Quebec. The choir’s director, Maute, received one of his two JUNO awards for his album with choir, entitled Vivaldi and His Angels, From 2021 to 2023, Ensemble Vocal Arts-Québec is embarking upon a unique project: Art Choral, the history of choral singing through six centuries.

Renowned for her performances of Baroque repertoire, Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin sings the music of the 20th and 21st-centuries with equal success. She has received many prestigious distinctions, including “Soloist of the Year,” awarded by the Communauté internationale des radios publiques de langue française, the Virginia Parker Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Maggie Teyte Memorial Prize in London. Performing in opera and with symphony orchestras throughout the world, Gauvin boasts a discography of over 50 titles, garnering three Grammy nominations, and multiple JUNOs and Opus Prizes.

Messiah
Release Date: Nov 5, 2021
Physical/Digital Release
Stream/Download HERE

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Luminous Voices Celebrates First JUNO Nomination

Halifax, NS; March 9, 2021 – Calgary based professional choir, Luminous Voices are thrilled to be nominated for a JUNO award. Announced earlier today during the official press conference, the ensemble received their first JUNO nomination for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral for their album, Sea Dreams. This celebration is just in time for the announcement of their upcoming album, Artem Vedel, set to be released May 7, 2021 through Halifax-based label Leaf Music. 

“We are thrilled and deeply honoured to be nominated in this very special 50th anniversary year of the JUNOS!! To be recognized among other vocal/choral luminaries during this difficult COVID-19 year means the world to us.” – Dr. Timothy Shantz, Founder & Artistic Director

Sea Dreams features the work of the same title by Canadian composer Peter-Anthony Togni. “Sea Dreams” is written for double mixed choirs and two flutes and features two top Canadian flutists Sara Hahn-Scinocco and Sarah MacDonald. The piece was commissioned by Luminous Voices and Sara Hahn-Scinocco with the support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Paul and Elwyn Brown, and was premiered on February 25, 2018 at the Bella Concert Hall, Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts, Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta.

“Sea Dreams is a work that reflects my relationship to the ocean and my thoughts about a journey of faith, a journey full of questions, fears, longings, hopes, dreams, and the gifts of disappointment,” says Halifax-based composer Peter-Anthony Togni. “Each choir represents a ship on the water. Getting into a boat or on a ship is a kind of leap of faith: we can only pray and trust that the journey will be successful.”

Sea Dreams also includes other works by Togni, including Totus Tuus, Requiem et Lux, Earth Voices, Psaume 98, and more. Guest artists include bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly, soprano Katie Partridge, and tenor Oliver Munar.

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Luminous Voices releases their 3rd recording: “Sea Dreams”

Calgary’s professional chamber choir Luminous Voices announces with great excitement the release of their newest CD Sea Dreams.
Sea Dreams features the work of the same title by Canadian composer Peter-Anthony Togni. Sea Dreams is written for double mixed choirs and two flutes and will feature two top Canadian flutists Sara Hahn-Scinocco and Sarah MacDonald. The piece was commissioned by Luminous Voices and Sara Hahn-Scinocco with the support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Paul and Elwyn Brown, and was premiered on February 25, 2018 at the Bella Concert Hall, Taylor Centre for the Performing Arts, Mount Royal University in Calgary, Alberta.

“Sea Dreams is a work that reflects my relationship to the ocean and my thoughts about a journey of faith, a journey full of questions, fears, longings, hopes, dreams, and the gifts of disappointment,” says Halifax-based composer Peter-Anthony Togni. “Each choir represents a ship on the water. Getting into a boat or on a ship is a kind of leap of faith: we can only pray and trust that the journey will be successful.”

“We have forged a strong artistic bond with Peter-Anthony Togni over the past 5 years,” says Timothy Shantz, Luminous Voices’ Artistic Director. “There is something very luminous about his music, reflecting inwards and outwards. Togni exploits sonorities and colours that we really enjoy producing. The compilation of works on this recording represent a variety of styles and periods of his music and celebrates his 60th year.”

Sea Dreams also includes other works by Togni, including Totus Tuus, Requiem et Lux, Earth Voices, Psaume 98, and more. Guest artists include bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly, soprano Katie Partridge, and tenor Oliver Munar.

Luminous Voices, founded in 2012 by conductor and Artistic Director Timothy Shantz, continues to thrill audiences in Calgary and beyond through performances, recordings, and workshops. The choir has released two recordings, The Far West (2016) and Mendelssohn’s Te Deum (2015). Of The Far West, Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote “beautifully sung, as everything here is, by the aptly named Luminous Voices under Timothy Shantz.” The Far West was awarded the 2018 Choral Canada Award for Outstanding Choral Recording. The ensemble’s first recording, Mendelssohn’s Te Deum, was awarded the same recognition in 2016. Luminous Voices illuminates exceptional choral music of the past and present while supporting contemporary composers by commissioning new works. The ensemble’s vision is to encourage the advancement of choral art by providing a forum for collaboration among local and international artists in the development and presentation of choral music, as well as musical education programs.

For more information, visit www.luminousvoices.com, Facebook (LuminousVoices), Twitter (@LuminousVoices), or Instagram (@luminous_voices).

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Halifax Camerata Singers release video for “Abide with Me”

Today (May 12, 2020) marks twenty-two days since the devastating attack that took the lives of twenty-two of our fellow Nova Scotians. Halifax Camerata Singers remembers, and sends our deepest condolences and love to the family and friends of the victims.

We remember the victims of the Nova Scotia Shooting April 18/19, 2020.

“Abide with Me” is part of the forthcoming ‘Solace’ album set to be released July 10, 2020.

Abide with Me (traditional / arr. Gary Ewer)
Halifax Camerata Singers
Jeff Joudrey, Artistic Director

Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see;
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.

I need Thy presence every passing hour.
What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s power?
Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.
Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

Recording Producer: Mark Warren
Recording Engineer: Rod Sneddon
Video Edit: Cassie Mann, Leaf Music