A Left Coast is a heartfelt song collection for the place baritone Tyler Duncan and pianist Erika Switzer call home- British Columbia. The distinguished artists write: "Our particular connections to Vancouver’s communities, geography, and spirit, continue to nourish us as artists. Its lands and waters, the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory cared for since time immemorial by the Musqueam, Squamish, and Selilwitulh and Tsleil-Waututh Nations, provided us with an extraordinary upbringing. With these songs, (by composers Iman Habibi, Jean Coulthard, Jocelyn Morlock, Stephen Chatman, Leslie Uyeda, Melissa Hui, and Jeffrey Ryan) we wish to say thank you." Duncan and Switzer have been inspired by the vibrant Canadian new music scene, and offer an adventurous, deeply felt homage to Canada's beautiful 'left coast.'

REVIEW:

The centerpiece of the recital is Jeffrey Ryan’s song cycle Everything Already Lost, which explores the themes of loneliness and aloneness, distance and home. “Bill Evans: Alone,” “Autumn Again,” and “Night Music,” incorporate elements of jazz, sounds of nature, and evocations of moonlight. It’s a lyrical, expressive work, one that is sensitive to both Zwicky’s poetry and the lovely sonorities of the participating musicians. The remainder of the songs on A Left Coast all inhabit a similar world of expression. Full texts are included, as well as commentary on all the compositions. This is a lovely and fulfilling recital.

— Fanfare