Tag: Violin

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Leaf Music and Choeur Louisbourg Choir Present: Tapisserie canadienne aux couleurs d’Acadie

LM291 Cover

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and Moncton choir Choeur Louisbourg announce the release of Tapisserie Canadienne aux couleurs d’Acadie on November 17, 2023. The new recording, in a digital only version, reflects the choir’s commitment to promote contemporary music, particularly the music of the Acadian and Francophone communities from across New Brunswick.

The recording features fourteen tracks which mostly draw from authors or composers that have a strong tie to Acadie, featuring three new works by composers Rachel C. Léger, Carl Philippe Gionet and Richard Gibson. Many of the pieces have never been recorded and use literary works by writers like Herménégilde Chiasson, the late Raymond Guy LeBlanc and Emma Hache, set to music by Frédéric Chiasson, Richard Gibson, Jean-Francois Mallet, Mathieu Lussier and Aaron Jensen. Compositions by Jeff Enns and Timothy Corlis, as well as arrangements of traditional pieces by Sean Dagher and Donald Patriquin complete the program. Tapisserie Canadienne aux couleurs d’Acadie was recorded in Memramcook, New Brunswick, in March of 2023.

This recording pays tribute to singing and oral traditions, as Acadian poet Herménégilde Chiasson notes: “Following the deportation of the Acadians in 1755, music was becoming an impossible luxury, if only to obtain instruments, let alone find a suitable venue to perform. What remained was the voice, this instrument that everyone carries with them, and which can be amplified to give that presence and magnitude of which this recording is a magnificent example.”

The album features guest musicians Carl Philippe Gionet (piano); Lucia Rodriguez (violin); Marie-Andrée Gaudet (violin); Robin Streb (viola) and Emily Kennedy (cello).

Choeur Louisbourg (choeurlouisbourgchoir.ca) began in 2006, serving at the choir-in-residence of the Sackville Festival of early Music until 2014. The twenty-voice SATB ensemble released their first CD in 2018, Chansons d’amour d’Acadie et de France, on the ATMA Classique label. In 2020, the choir was invited to take part in Against the Grain Theatre’s Messiah Complex project, in collaboration with the Toronto Symphony and over a dozen choirs and Indigenous soloists from across Canada, receiving critical acclaim from the BBC, France Musique and the New York Times, among others. While performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque periods since its founding, the ensemble attaches great importance to new music, having commissioned works from both emerging and established composers.

Artistic Director Monique Richard is a full professor in the Music Department of the Université de Moncton. She’s also Music Director of the Beauséjour Choir and the Faubourg du Mascaret Intergenerational Choir. An adjudicator and clinician at many music festivals in the Atlantic region, Quebec, and France, she holds choral singing and Acadie very close to her heart. She has conducted for the Indian River Festival and the Lameque International Baroque Music Festival.

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.

The choir acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of New Brunswick.

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(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music et le chœur Choeur Louisbourg de Moncton annoncent la sortie de Tapisserie Canadienne aux couleurs d’Acadie le 17 novembre 2023. Le nouvel enregistrement, disponible uniquement en version numérique, reflète l’engagement du chœur à vouloir promouvoir la musique contemporaine, particulièrement celle des communautés acadiennes et francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick. 

Les quatorze pistes de l’album mettent principalement en valeur des oeuvres d’auteurs ou de compositeurs qui entretiennent un lien fort avec l’Acadie, dont trois nouvelles compositions de Rachel C. Léger, Carl Philippe Gionet et Richard Gibson.

De nombreuses pièces n’ont jamais été enregistrées et sont inspirées des œuvres littéraires d’Herménégilde Chiasson, feu Raymond Guy LeBlanc et Emma Hache, mises en musique par Frédéric Chiasson, Richard Gibson, Jean-Francois Mallet, Mathieu Lussier et Aaron Jensen. Des compositions de Jeff Enns et Timothy Corlis, ainsi que des arrangements de pièces traditionnelles par Sean Dagher et Donald Patriquin, complètent le programme. Tapisserie Canadienne aux couleurs d’Acadie a été enregistré à Memramcook, au Nouveau-Brunswick, en mars 2023.

Cet enregistrement rend hommage aux traditions de chants et orales, comme le souligne le poète acadien Herménégilde Chiasson : « Après la Déportation des Acadiens en 1755, la musique devenait un luxe impossible, ne serait-ce que pour obtenir des instruments, sans parler de trouver un lieu approprié pour se produire. Ce qui restait, c’était la voix, cet instrument que chacun porte en lui et qui peut être amplifié pour donner cette présence et cette grandeur dont cet enregistrement est un magnifique exemple. »

L’album met en vedette les musiciens invités Carl Philippe Gionet (piano), Lucia Rodriguez (violon), Marie-Andrée Gaudet (violon), Robin Streb (alto) et Emily Kennedy (violoncelle).

Le Chœur Louisbourg (choeurlouisbourgchoir.ca) a été créé en 2006, servant de chœur en résidence au Festival de musique ancienne de Sackville jusqu’en 2014. L’ensemble vocal SATB de vingt voix a sorti son premier CD en 2018, Chansons d’amour d’Acadie et de Franc, sous le label ATMA Classique. En 2020, le chœur a été invité à participer au projet Messiah Complex d’Against the Grain Theatre, en collaboration avec le Toronto Symphony et plus d’une douzaine de chœurs et de solistes autochtones du Canada, recevant des éloges de la BBC, de France Musique et du New York Times, entre autres. Tout en interprétant un répertoire de la Renaissance et du Baroque depuis sa création, l’ensemble accorde une grande importance à la musique nouvelle, ayant commandé des œuvres à des compositeurs émergents et établis.

La directrice artistique, Monique Richard, est professeure titulaire au Département de musique de l’Université de Moncton. Elle est également directrice musicale du chœur Beauséjour et du chœur intergénérationnel Faubourg du Mascaret. Juge et clinicienne dans de nombreux festivals de musique de la région atlantique, du Québec et de la France, elle porte le chant choral et l’Acadie très près de son cœur. Elle a dirigé pour le Indian River Festival et le Festival international de musique baroque de Lamèque.

Leaf Music est un label d’enregistrement indépendant basé à Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse, produisant et distribuant des enregistrements de musique classique de haute qualité par des artistes et compositeurs du Canada. Notre catalogue croissant de musique solo, orchestrale et de chambre est distribué par Naxos of America aux principaux détaillants de musique du monde, aux fournisseurs de téléchargement et aux services de streaming les plus importants. Leaf propose également des services professionnels de production audio et vidéo, des services de post-production et une distribution et une promotion intégrées de la musique au Canada.

Le chœur remercie le Conseil des arts du Canada et du gouvernement du Nouveau-Brunswick pour leur soutien.

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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 Gillian Smith Present: En Route

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Canadian violinist, Gillian Smith is releasing her latest recording, En Route. The album features five new works for solo violin by Canadian composers Carmen Braden, Amy Brandon, Derek Charke, Corie Rose Soumah and Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu. It will be released in a digital version on November 3 on the Leaf Music label. A free release concert will be held on Thursday, November 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the new Joseph Strug Concert Hall, Dalhousie Arts Centre.  

The concept for these pieces was the idea of voices: voices being heard for the first time; voices being heard in new ways and voices interacting in new ways. Each of the composers approached this concept in a unique way and featured the violin in a particular light. Two pieces ask the performer to vocalize in addition to playing the violin. For example, in Tree Talk, Carmen Braden asks the performer to converse with their violin, in fact with the tree whose wood became the violin. Corie Rose Soumah asks the performer to vocalize to add sound colours to the music. 

The title track, EN ROUTE, was composed by Hsiu-Ping Patrick Wu, who says the piece is about his Taiwanese heritage and his journey to Canada: “It’s a piece about my nostalgia, homecoming, resilience and determination.” The piece quotes Nova Scotian folk songs and a variation of the traditional Taiwanese hit song, Bang-Chun Feng. Patrick also created the artwork used on the cover of the digital booklet; an acrylic painting titled EN ROUTE.

Amy Brandon’s Dualisms shows the contrasting voices of the violin – one timbral and one more traditional, intended to give a feeling of unease or disorientation. Nebula Variations by Derek Charke is a large-scale improvisation in four movements, a work that plays on space and time, fantasia, counterpoint and virtuosity.

Gillian Smith is an enthusiastic advocate for new music, releasing her debut solo album, Into the Stone on Leaf Music in 2019. The album was nominated for the 2020 Classical Recording of the Year by the ECMA and was described by The WholeNote’s David Olds as “a stunning debut album by a rising star.” She’s also recorded with members of the Acadia New Music Society on the Centrediscs label and performed on Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars, chamber music by Carmen Braden (Centrediscs, 2019). That album was nominated for the 2020 ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year.

Gillian’s solo and chamber music recordings have been broadcast on radio on stations across Canada and in the U.S. and the U.K., and she performs in recital and as a chamber musician in series and festivals such as Open Waters, Shattering the Silence, Musique Royale, Music Room Chamber Players, and others. To learn more, please visit www.gilliansmithviolin.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.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts in the presentation of this project.

 

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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, Dorian Bandy Present: “Lovers and Mourners: Variations and Sonatas from Seventeenth-Century Germany”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Dorian Komanoff Bandy is thrilled to present Lovers and mourners: Variations and Sonatas from Seventeenth-Century Germany, his first record on Leaf Music, set to be released on August 18, 2023. Recorded at Église St-Augustin in Quebec, the album is an exploration of one of the most fertile periods for the development of violin writing and performing. Bandy draws on some of the periods’ most sombre, meditative works to deliver an album of refined elegance and measured delivery, featuring himself (baroque violin), Hank Knox (harpsichord) and Elinor Frey (viola da gamba). 

Lovers and Mourners focuses on three seventeenth century composer-performers: Johann Jakob Walther, Heinrich Biber, and Johann Georg Pisendel. Bandy guides the listener through a series of variation sets and themes, simultaneously offering faithful interpretations of the music while injecting his own unique touch. Speaking about the creation of the album, Bandy says, “These composers created a body of work that is by turns quirky, beguiling, heartfelt, and brazenly virtuosic.  It deserves far wider appreciation than it has so far received.”

Dorian Bandy is a musicologist and performer specializing in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries. He is the author of Mozart the Performer, as well as numerous academic articles.  He leads a vibrant career as a conductor, baroque violinist, and historical keyboardist, with a repertoire spanning four centuries and performances – acclaimed for their vitality, drama, and warmth — that have taken him to venues across Europe and North America, including London’s Wigmore and Cadogan Halls, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and New York’s Symphony Space. This recording was made possible thanks to an SSHRC Development Grant. 

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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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 

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Mark Fewer, violin Hank Knox, harpsichord Present: Vivaldi’s “Manchester Sonatas”

Exceptional Duo Becomes First Canadian Artists to Record Exquisite Sonatas Unearthed from a Manchester, UK Library in 1973.

“I’d be glad to hear these gentlemen play anything … they make me want to hear whatever else they want to do. The
ensemble and intonation are perfect …” – American Record Guide


Leaf Music is proud to present a new recording of Vivaldi’s Manchester Sonatas featuring violinist Mark Fewer and harpsichordist Hank Knox. This is the first Canadian recording of the “Manchester” sonatas of Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741), a masterful collection of 12 works brought to light only in 1973. A follow up to their acclaimed 2018 recording of the Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord by J.S. Bach, this new recording from Fewer and Knox is available as of January 17, 2020.
These remarkable sonatas changed a great many hands over the centuries. When Cardinal Ottoboni – a patron of Vivaldi’s – died in 1740, a large number of manuscripts from his private collection were purchased by English classical scholar Edward Holdsworth. These manuscripts were then passed on to Charles Jennens, librettist of Handel’s Messiah. The scores came into the possession of several more collectors before coming to auction at Sotheby’s in London in 1918 and were acquired by renowned musicologist Newman Flower. When Flower died in 1964, his musical holdings were purchased by the Manchester Public Library, attracting the international attention of scholars and the media alike; Flower’s reputation as an eminent Handel scholar implied that important revelations concerning the musical giant were forthcoming.
However, a nearly exclusive focus on Handel resulted in the neglect of some of the other manuscripts, including these sonatas by Vivaldi which, despite being housed in Manchester’s Henry Watson Music Library from 1965 onward, were only discovered by British musicologist Michael Talbot in 1973.
The 12 “Manchester” sonatas, heard on the new album as arranged and recorded by Fewer and Knox in January 2019 at Eglise St. Augustin in Mirabel, Quebec, represent a high point of Vivaldi’s chamber music. The violin part offers complex compound melodies while the bass focuses primarily on its harmonic role, with both instruments free to improvise on the written score. Gramophone calls the sonatas “music of great beauty and vitality which will delight most if not all lovers of the late baroque.”
Known for his exceptional versatility, violinist Mark Fewer has been described as “intrepid” (The Globe and Mail) and “profound” (The WholeNote). His musical diet includes performances from the early baroque to the avantgarde, performing worldwide in famous halls such as Wigmore, Carnegie, and Pleyel, to smaller venues such as Le Poisson Rouge (NY), Bartok House (Budapest), and The Forum (Taipei). As a soloist, he has performed with the symphonies of Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto, Quebec, San Francisco and Melbourne, as well as with groups such as the Fodens-Richardson Brass Band (UK), the Zapp Quartet (Amsterdam), and as a featured guest with Stevie Wonder and his band. He was a founding member of the Duke Piano Trio, has been a member of the Smithsonian Chamber Players for over 15 years, and was violinist with the St. Lawrence String Quartet at Stanford University. Artistic Director of the SweetWater Music Festival for 16 years, Fewer was appointed Artistic Director of Stratford Summer Music in 2019. A Juno and Prix Opus winner, he is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.
Hailed internationally for his “colorful, kinetic performances,” Hank Knox performs on harpsichord in concert halls, churches, museums, galleries and homes around the globe. A founding member of Montreal’s Arion Baroque Orchestra, with whom he has toured North and South America, Europe, and Japan, Knox also regularly performs and tours with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Les Violons du Roy and l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, among other groups, ensembles and orchestras. He has released a number of acclaimed recordings on rare antique instruments as well as copies of historical instruments. He teaches in the Early Music program at McGill University where he conducts the McGill Baroque Orchestra and has also directed a great number of baroque operas.

Download or stream Vivaldi Manchester Sonatas 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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Halifax Violinist Releases: “Into the Stone”


Halifax violinist Gillian Smith will launch her debut album, Into the Stone, featuring music for solo violin by five Canadian women composers on September 25. Featured composers include Ana Sokolović. Kati Agócs, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Veronika Krausas and Chantale Laplante. The album is supported by The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR), and is on the Leaf Music label. It will be available on digital music services as of September 27 including iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify and can be pre-ordered on Amazon and iTunes. The CD draws its title from Krausas’s composition Inside the Stone inspired by a line by Canadian poet Gwendolyn MacEwen, “What lives inside the stone? Miracles, strange light.”

A dynamic and intuitive performer, Gillian Smith enjoys a varied and exciting performance career as a violinist. Deeply committed to performing music by contemporary composers, she has recorded two CDs with members of the Acadia New Music Society on the Centrediscs label: Live Wired, which features the music of Derek Charke, Jérôme Blais, and Anthony Genge, and In Sonorous Falling Tones, which features the music of Derek Charke and which was nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year in 2018. She can also be heard on a recording of the chamber music of Carmen Braden that will be released in November 2019.

Gillian Smith has appeared at such series and festivals as the Acadia Performing Arts Series, the East Coast Music Awards, Inner Space Concerts, the Music Room Chamber Players, Open Waters Festival, Shattering the Silence Festival, and Sunday Music in the Garden Room. She has also performed and recorded as an orchestral musician with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, and Symphony Nova Scotia.

A dedicated teacher, Gillian Smith serves as instructor of violin and viola at the Acadia University School of Music and as head of the upper strings department at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. Her students have won top prizes and awards in regional and national competitions.

Gillian Smith holds degrees in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music (B.Mus.), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.Mus.), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A). Her teachers have included Jorja Fleezanis, Camilla Wicks, Peter Salaff, and Philippe Djokic. You can learn more about her at https://gilliansmithviolin.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.