Tag: String Quartet

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Leaf Music Distribution Presents Emily Carr String Quartet and Portraits

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording Portraits from the Emily Carr String Quartet. This new recording is being released on January 26.

Portraits (CD02), by the Emily Carr String Quartet (ECSQ), features works by Tobin Stokes, Jocelyn Morlock, Jared Miller, and Iman Habibi. The album was produced by Karen Wilson and co-produced and engineered by Paul Luchkow. The compositions are inspired by the writing and paintings of Emily Carr, who was herself inspired by the landscape and Indigenous people of the West Coast of Canada. Marion Newman, mezzo-soprano of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations, joins the Quartet in singing Canoe from Stokes’ Stories from Klee Wyck.  Another movement of this work, Friends, references a version of the 1951 publication of Klee Wyck in which sections of the original story (where Carr described a Parson’s attempt to persuade her to help remove children from their home and send them to residential school) were edited out.

Formed in 2006 by members of the Victoria Symphony, the Emily Carr String Quartet (emilycarrstringquartet.com) has established itself as one of British Columbia’s finest chamber music ensembles, renowned for its passionate and inspiring performances. They’ve participated in residencies at Stanford University and the Banff Centre and collaborated and recorded with artists such as the Lafayette String Quartet, Lorraine Min, Marion Newman, Jamie Parker, and Arthur Rowe. The quartet has been presented by concert events such as the International Society for Contemporary Music’s 2017 World Music Days, Music in the Morning and Music on Main concert series in Vancouver, the Ankara Music Festival in Turkey, Hornby Festival, and the Victoria Summer Music Festival. The ECSQ was featured on CBC radio’s “North by Northwest” and their debut CD Hidden Treasure was nominated for the 2012 Classical Recording of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Quartet members are Müge Büyükçelen (Violin 1), Cory Balzer (Violin 2), Mieka Michaux (Viola) and Alasdair Money (Cello).

Listen to Portraits wherever you stream your music: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/cd02.

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). 

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Leaf Music and ICOT Present: “Recurrence”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and ICOT (formerly known as The Iranian Canadian Composers of Toronto) are delighted to announce their forthcoming album Recurrence, recorded in May at Humbercrest United Church in Toronto.

Recurrence had its genesis at the beginning of the pandemic, when the notion of repetition assumed a novel and unsettling meaning for many people. The album explores the idea of repetition through different iterations in the natural and artificial worlds. In five new, far-reaching compositions, the concept of repetition and its consequences are teased apart in myriad ways through the unique lens of each composer; some took to ecology, some to politics, and one was inspired by the late fashion designer, Alexander McQueen. The result is five exceptional artistic works, each unique in its aesthetic and sonic exploration into the vortex of repetition. Shahi’s Eroded imagines musically the cycle of coastal erosion, while Kayan Emami has created a musical reflection of a young Iranian boy and his boat in Kian in Rainbows, (also paying homage to recently deceased composer, Jocelyn Morlock). Maziar Heidari’s piece, Arrays, alludes to the beauty and potential in mathematics and music of recurrence. 

Speaking about the album, ICOT executive director and composer Saman Shahi says, “Recurrence is one of ICOT’s most ambitious projects in scale and concept. Some of Canada’s best and brightest composers and performers are paired with a powerful core concept: how much of our human experience is shaped by patterns, cycles, and routines. Humans find meaning, comfort, dread, fear, and expression in repetition be it in our memories, our daily lives, the politics we witness, the traumas we face, or the nature we behold; this is what this album is trying to investigate and probe.” 

Recurrence features the compositions of renowned composers Maziar Heidari (also a conductor), Saman Shahi (also a pianist), Keyan Emami, Jordan Nobles, and Nicole Lizée and will be available everywhere on October 13. The project was funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council and FACTOR. 

The recording features a stellar group of Canada’s finest musicians, including the New Orford String Quartet (Jonathan Crow (violin), Andrew Wan (violin), Sharon Wei (viola) and Brian Charles Manker (cello); Scott Peterson (double/electric bass); Leslie Allt (flute); Peter Stoll (clarinet); Beverly Johnson and Ryan Scott (percussion). 

ICOT (icot.ca) is a non-profit arts organization founded in 2011 by five Toronto-based composers and musicians with the mission of creating new works that bridge Canadian and Iranian culture through music and art. ICOT’s current members are Saman Shahi (executive director), Keyan Emami (artistic director), and Maziar Heidari (music director). ICOT has produced two operas, two ballets, twelve orchestral works, dozens of chambers and vocal works, and three calls for scores that allowed ICOT to collaborate with over twenty composers from eight different countries. ICOT’s music has been performed by Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, Symphony on the Bay, Soundstreams, and Ton Beau String Quartet and they’ve taken part in Toronto Symphony’s 2022 Open House, Tirgan Festival, 2017 Ottawa Chamberfest, and Hamilton Philharmonic’s 2014 “What Next” Festival. ICOT’s first commercial recording, Persian Piano Night, was released in 2018 by Pardis Records.  

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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For media only: 

Icot.ca 

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 Proudly Presents: “Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 77, No. 1”

For Immediate Release, November 11, 2022… Leaf Music is proud to present the first and only single from The Rosebud String Quartet’s forthcoming album, Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614. Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 77, No. 1 is the first of two works on the album. Recorded at the Domaine Forget International Music Festival in Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, Quebec, Haydn Op. 77 & Mozart K. 614 sees the Rosebud String Quartet imparting its nuanced and careful dynamism to these two special works.

American cellist has this to say about the piece: “Like most of his contemporaries, Joseph Haydn usually published his string quartets in groups of six. Several references to his work on a quartet opus, dating from early 1799, support the assumption that Haydn began Op. 77 with the intention of constructing a normal six-part set, but he discontinued the project. Conventional wisdom has held that Haydn was perhaps too preoccupied with large-scale works (The Seasons in 1799, his last Te Deum in 1800, and the Schöpfungsmesse in 1801) to complete the quartets, a hypothesis that gains credibility when one considers that he was then nearly 70 years old. However, the noted Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon has argued persuasively that Haydn bid farewell to the string quartet—a genre he is often credited as having created—for the same reason that he abandoned composition of piano concerti and operas: the appearance of similar works by a talented younger colleague.” 

The Rosebud String Quartet was formed in 2013 at the inaugural Rosebud Chamber Music Festival, an annual summer chamber music showcase in rural Alberta. Comprised of principal players from the Edmonton Symphony and the orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada, the RSQ is one of Canada’s most dynamic ensembles with a unique voice and a deep love for the music of Haydn.  

The RSQ performs regularly across Canada at festivals such as Ottawa Chamberfest, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Stratford Summer Music Festival, Le Domaine Forget, Music By The Sea, and in concert series that include Chatter ABQ, Stereo Live, Echo Chamber, Xenia Concerts, Off Centre Music Salon, and Music Mondays where they were featured on CBC Radio’s In Concert .  

The RSQ had their chamber music education at Domaine Forget, where they worked with members of the London Haydn Quartet, Chilingirian Quartet, Elias Quartet, ARC Ensemble, Florestan Trio, and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. 

Rosebud String Quartet – Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 77, No. 1 

Release Date: November 11, 2022 

Digital Release 

Rosebudquartet.com 

leaf-music.ca 

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

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Leaf Music and The Andara Quartet Proudly Present: “De mille feux”

Leaf Music and Andara Quartet present the group’s second album De mille feux, available November 4, 2022. Recorded during two sessions almost two years apart at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, De mille feux is the result of the collaboration between the Andara Quartet and four remarkable composers. The four pieces, from composers Benjamin Britten, Samuel Barber, Kelly Marie-Murphy, and James Wright, each allow the quartet to display their full dynamic and tonal range.

De mille feux translates to of a thousand lights, which in turn gestures toward the choice between embracing light or darkness when faced with the “innumerable traumas and nihilisms of the twentieth century, and the recently discovered perpetual expansion of interstellar voids, myriad forms of terrestrial energy continue to burst forth with light, passion, and life!” De mille feux is a celebration of turning toward and contemplating the good, particularly when circumstances make doing so difficult.  

In September 2014, the members of the Andara Quartet—Marie-Claire Vaillancourt (violin), Jeanne Côté (violin), Vincent Delorme (viola), and Dominique Beauséjour-Ostiguy (cello)—met for the first time at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, while preparing the Ravel String Quartet in F major under the tutelage of Denis Brott. Since then, their passion, dynamism, quality of execution, and unique repertoire have brought them critical acclaim across Canada and internationally. 

Andara Quartet ~ De mille feux 

Release Date: November 4, 2022 

leaf-music.ca 

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

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Rosebud String Quartet added to Leaf Music Roster

August 18, 2021 (Halifax, NS) – Halifax based classical record label Leaf Music is pleased to announce that Canadian quartet Rosebud String Quartet is joining the label’s roster. Comprised of principal players from the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Orchestras of the Canadian Opera Company and the National Ballet of Canada, the RSQ is one of Canada’s most exciting young string quartets with a unique voice and a special love for the music of Joseph Haydn.

The Rosebud String Quartet (violinists Aaron Schwebel and Sheila Jaffé, violist Keith Hamm, and cellist Leana Rutt) was formed in 2013 in Rosebud, Alberta at the inaugural Rosebud Chamber Music Festival, an annual summertime chamber music showcase in the Alberta Badlands. The RSQ performs regularly in series across Canada, including Stratford Summer Music Festival, Xenia Concerts, Stereo Live, Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre Chamber Music Series, Echo Chamber Toronto, Pocket Concerts, and Music Mondays. The quartet was recently featured in CBC Radio 2 ‘In Concert’.

The Rosebud String Quartet’s first release with Leaf Music will be in the spring of 2022. The album will feature the Franz Haydn String Quartets Op. 77, No. 1 & 2, and Mozart Viola Quintet, K. 614.The ensemble will be joined by world-renowned Canadian violist Steven Dann for the Mozart. 

In addition to recording their debut album, the ensemble has had a full slate of performances booked throughout Canada for the summer of 2021 including Toronto Summer Music Festival, Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Sweetwater Music Festival, and the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival.

“We are thrilled to welcome the Rosebud String Quartet to our roster. They are four of the top young chamber musicians in Canada and we are delighted to be part of their upcoming album.  Their musicianship and passion will continue to connect with music listeners in concert halls and streaming platforms alike in the years to come. It’s a privilege for Leaf Music to help bring their music to the world.” – Jeremy VanSlyke, owner – Leaf Music

Rosebud String Quartet

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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.