Tag: Early Music

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Duo Oriana and Leaf Music Present: “How Like a Golden Dream”

Duo Oriana is thrilled to present How Like a Golden Dream, their first record on Leaf Music set to be released on March 17, 2023. Recorded at Humbercrest United Church in Toronto of October of 2022, How Like a Golden Dream is a reflection on the ways people have communed with the night-time throughout history. Soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery lead the listener through old Irish meditations and English Renaissance melodies, lingering on the nature of night, darkness, and the stories and rituals that have emerged out of the human’s relationship with night-time.

Our modern world makes it easy to forget the importance night-time once held, both as a practical, sensory depriving event, as well as the symbolism and connotations that attached themselves to it for millennia. On this record, White and Stuchbery endeavour to rest in the perspectives of these early people and to inhabit the daily descent into fear, hope, and prayer as the light fades away.  

Part of the inspiration for this record comes from the duo’s desire to inject previously unearthed or largely disregarded material into the modern spotlight. Speaking on the ways in which this music is still relevant today, Stuchbery says, “Part of the wonder of approaching these old folk songs is that the composer, arranger, and performer at any point in the song’s existence could be any and all of the people who have ever sung it—including ourselves”.  

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Soprano Sinéad White and lutenist Jonathan Stuchbery are a Toronto based duo breathing life into song traditions that span centuries and evolve in the present day. Both are specialists in the performance of renaissance and baroque music and first started working together in the early music scene in Toronto. The desire to keep making music during the most restricted days of the COVID-19 pandemic brought them together as a duo for the first time to collaborate virtually for a recording and video of an old Irish lullaby. This led them to assemble a program of music from Ireland, Scotland, and England, which reflected their own respective heritages. A film version of this concert is available online presented by Humbercrest United Church as part of their 2021 summer concert series. They are 2022-23 Artists in Residence at St. James Cathedral in downtown Toronto, where they will be presenting concerts, workshops, and integrating their music into cathedral worship.  

White and Stuchbery both have extensive experience in the discipline of historical performance. White is currently a DMA student at the University of Toronto and Stuchbery a recent graduate of the Masters in Interpretation of Early Music at ESMUC in Barcelona. Their formation in this field grounds them in performance practice, yet also inspires them to creativity with new arrangements and compositions. The duo are also actively working to expand the repertoire for lute and voice, through research of little known historical sources and in the composition of new music. They can also be heard together in larger ensemble contexts, such as with the indie early music company Aureas Voces, Tafelmusik, or Theatre of Early Music. 

Duo Oriana ~ How Like a Golden Dream 

Release Date: March 17, 2023 

Physical/Digital Release 

leaf-music.ca 

MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca 

How Like a Golden Dream

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Infusion Baroque releases New Single: “Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17”

Halifax, NS – Leaf Music announces the release of Infusion Baroque’s new single
Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17 on May 13, 2022. Infusion Baroque’s new single release from
the album “Virtuosa” arrives today. Infusion Baroque offers their interpretation of one of
Clara Schumann’s masterpieces, Piano Trio in G Minor, Op. 17. Schumann’s
compositional skill is accentuated by Infusion Baroque’s deft treatment of the intricacies
and nuances of the composition.


The four-movement piece Piano Trio in G minor marks the sixth and final single of a
series of releases for Infusion Baroque’s album Virtuosa, to be released June 24, 2022. The
2-disc recording encompasses 15 works that were either composed or performed by women,
with all of the pieces recorded on historical instruments.


About Infusion Baroque
Infusion Baroque draws new audiences to early music through a truly captivating concert
experience, deftly combining seasoned musicianship with theatrical elements. Playing music
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on historical instruments, the four women of
Infusion Baroque enthrall audiences across North America with their creative and interactive
programming.



Infusion Baroque: Piano Trio In G Minor, Op 17
Release date: May 27, 2022

Infusionbaroque.com


MEDIA CONTACT: Andrew Brown | andrew@leaf-music.ca |

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New Release by Infusion Baroque | Anna Bon di Venezia

For immediate release (Halifax)…March 18, 2022. Leaf Music is thrilled to announce Infusion Baroque’s newest single: “Divertimento No. 3 in D minor, Op. 3” composed by Anna Bon. 

Anna Bon di Venezia was an accomplished 18th-century singer, harpsichordist and composer, who spent a lifetime in good musical company. She studied music at the famed Ospedale della pietá, was supported by Wilhelmine von Bayreuth in becoming chamber music virtuoso at the Prussian court, and worked with Haydn at the Esterházy court. The style of her compositions reflect a time of transition from the Baroque to Classical, and include Six Divertimenti for two flutes & basso continuo, Six Harpsichord Sonatas, and Six Chamber sonatas for flute & harpsichord.

(Illustration – Parissa Mohit)

“Divertimento No. 3 in D minor, Op. 3” marks the fourth single of a series of releases for Infusion Baroque’s album Virtuosa, to be released June 10, 2021. The 2-disc recording encompasses 15 works that were either composed or performed by women, and recorded on historical instruments. 

Since 2017, one of Infusion Baroque’s primary initiatives has been The Virtuosa Project, a series of concerts, lectures, and web videos dedicated to women musicians of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. This project, which highlights over a dozen relatively unknown women who made substantial contributions to Western classical music, has generated a great amount of interest at a local and international level, resulting in requests from international presenters for the ensemble to tour the Virtuosa program in the United States, France and the U.K.  

The CD will include a comprehensive booklet and companion website which will include stories, images, and archival material pertaining to the women featured on the recording. The objective is to provide cultural and socio-economic context for the women’s lives as well as for their music, and to highlight their accomplishments in the face of adversity. Many of the featured women were pioneers in their field.

Infusion Baroque draws new audiences to early music through a truly captivating concert experience, deftly combining seasoned musicianship with theatrical elements. Playing music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries on historical instruments, the four women of Infusion Baroque enthrall audiences across North America with their creative and interactive programming.

Infusion Baroque’s 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). Winners of the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at the 2014 Early Music America Baroque Performance Competition, the ensemble charms audiences with its dynamic programs such as “Who Killed Leclair?” (an interactive murder mystery soirée based on the unsolved murder of the famous musician); “Rebels and Rivalries” (featuring scandalous stories from the lives of great composers); and “Son of a Bach!” (narrating the multigenerational saga of the famous musical family).

Infusion Baroque has released two recordings with the Canadian label Leaf Music to critical acclaim. The ensemble’s latest album, a world-premiere recording of quintets by Georg Anton Kreüsser, was nominated for an Opus Prize by the Conseil Québecois de la musique.  According to Fanfare, “the playing of these musicians … is superb. They play with a liveliness and unforced energy that seems to grow naturally out of the music… combining spontaneity and abandon with technical perfection.” The ensemble’s debut recording of trio sonatas by C.P.E. Bach was described as “real baroque … gripping and full of character” (Radio-Canada).Since 2017, Infusion Baroque has been exploring the lives of historical women performers through The Virtuosa Project. Fascinated by the great number of women who made their mark as musical performers despite considerable barriers and stigma, Infusion Baroque devoted an entire concert season in 2018-19 to exploring their lives and music. The ensemble also produced a web series which tells the story of four female musicians of the past, and is looking forward to producing a CD recording and documentary on this exciting topic to be released in 2021. (photo – Danylo Bobyk)

Infusion Baroque: “Divertimento No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 3”
Release date: March 18, 2022
Digital Release
Stream/Download HERE
For MEDIA ONLY – Download
pwd: agricola2526

infusionbaroque.com

MEDIA CONTACT: Catherine Little | catherine@leaf-music.ca | leaf-music.ca