The JUNO Award nominated composer Alice Ping Yee Ho has created a work that improbably blends Chinese, Baroque, and Western art formats in this Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning opera that conjoins legend and dance into a world of music and drama. The Lesson of Da Ji brings together the European masque tradition and classical Peking opera in a vibrant and beautiful story written by librettist Marjorie Chan. The unique instrumentation of the accompanying ensemble has been chosen to showcase the expressive quality of Chinese instruments (pipa, zhongruan, guzheng, and erhu), the lush Western strings as well as the dramatic use of percussion instruments. This project was commissioned by Toronto Masque Theatre in 2012, with the help o the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. This recording was made possible through the assistance of the Toronto Arts Council.

Healey Willan immigrated to Canada in 1913 and by then had already composed seventy-six songs for voice and piano. Among these are some of his most well-known and often performed songs including The Tourney, The Cashel of Munster and The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Yet, until very recently, dozens of mostly original song manuscripts from his most prolific period of vocal solo song composition, had remained unpublished. This first ever recording devoted entirely to songs by Healey Willan presents a program of beloved favourites as well as several lesser known pieces, now published by Canadian Art Song Project and distributed through the Canadian Music Centre. Featuring baritone Peter Barrett, soprano Martha Guth, mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy and pianist Helen Becque, these artists pay homage to the legacy of performers who included Willan’s songs and arrangements as part of their frequent recital offerings. At present Willan’s art songs have waned almost to the point of obscurity even while many of his other works for choir, orchestra and organ remain in the repertoire. However, Willan always held his songs in high regard and believed they deserved more attention. Now firmly into the 21st century, we can look back at Willan’s songs and recognize them for their significance and admire their beauty as part of the Canadian legacy of art song.

Somers, H.: The Glorious Sounds of Somers

Evocations is the result of composer Felipe Téllez’s intense work with the Canadian Studio Symphony. On this new album, you can hear forgotten instruments like the oboe d’amore, tackling bespoke repertoire to show off the instrument’s full capacities and exotic tone, as well as works for string orchestra, a romanza for solo violin and orchestra, and more. The music is brought to life by the Canadian Studio Symphony, which was founded in 2022 with the mission of performing - and especially recording - new and engaging repertoire. The ensemble is led by conductor Lorenzo Guggenheim and is made up of the brightest players in Toronto, including Lynn Kuo as concertmaster and solo violinist, and Ron Cohen Mann on oboe d’amore.

For the past decade, award-winning Canadian composer Bekah Simms has been carefully crafting an auditory universe that is hers alone. Simms' rich, brilliant music offers the perfect paradox for the present moment: it's at once totally accessible and yet completely uncompromising. It's music that takes a strange enough route through what has now become familiar topography, that it leaves the listener utterly bewildered. BESTIAIRES displays her bold imagination on a far wider canvas than either of her previous outings. Featuring chamber orchestral forces, and, on two pieces, amplified solo parts plus vivid real-time electronic environments, the recording is full of movement, detail, and wildly contrasting hues, all of which churn together into something at once lyrical and violent, atmospheric, and foreboding.

BEKAH SIMMS hails from St. John's, Newfoundland and is currently based in Glasgow, Scotland after nine years living and working in Toronto. Her music has been widely performed across North America and Europe. She has been commissioned by some of the top interpreters of contemporary music in both Canada and internationally, such as Crash Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, l’Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Esprit Orchestra, Continuum Contemporary Music, Ensemble Télémaque, Ensemble Paramirabo, and But What About?

Inspired by a well-known Persian children’s book, “The Little Black Fish,” the Black Fish retells the story of its protagonist, a little black fish who leaves his pond to explore the world beyond, through the lens of the Iranian-Canadian composer, Keyan Emami. The music of The Black Fish Project reflects the diverse influences that have shaped Emami’s compositional language, and the diverse musical traditions of the performers. The musicians each bring something different to the project, including jazz bassist Andrew Downing, Syrian clarinetist Majd Sekkar, the Ton Beau String Quartet, and percussionists Louis Pino and Naoko Tsujita. Improvisation is used throughout the work to put these diverse performance styles into dialogue with one another, and further enrich Emami’s eclectic score.

Canadian composer Clifford Crawley (1929-2016) is known for his command of a wide range of styles and the way he used them for both serious and playful purposes. He often said that he wrote for performers and audiences, hoping to move them, to reach them not just intellectually but as feelingful and imaginative people. To this end, he often draws on familiar elements, such as well-known dance idioms, that he inflects in highly original ways. Most of the works on this recording demonstrate Cliff’s genius in writing miniature forms, making impactful statements in short movements.

The Canadian Art Song Project is proud to release FOUND FROZEN: SONGS OF JEFFREY RYAN. The new recording features premiere commercial recordings of composer Jeffrey Ryan’s Of Passion’s Tide (1991), Found Frozen (1997), and Miss Carr in Seven Scenes (2017), commissioned by CASP. These premiere recordings celebrate vivid story-telling in words and music, through themes of maturation, perseverance, and love.

Pianist Steven Philcox, baritone Dion Mazerolle, soprano Danika Lorèn and mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó offer powerful and intimate readings of the cycles Of Passion’s Tide (1991), Found Frozen (1997), and Miss Carr in Seven Scenes (2017), ending with the beautiful stand-alone piece So Crumble Into Sand (2014). Presented in one recording, these works move from some of the composer’s earliest and most often performed works, to a composition, commissioned for the specific talents of Szabó and Philcox and written at a time when Ryan is recognized as one of the most skilled Canadian composers for the voice.

Found Frozen is the sixth commercial release Canadian Art Song Project has produced in their series of recordings highlighting the wealth of song by Canadian composers.

For over 50 years, French-Canadian composer Lionel Daunais (1901-1982) had an undeniable influence on the Quebec vocal scene through his many activities as a singer, composer, lyricist, stage director, radio personality, and artistic director. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of his passing, this new album is the only one where his lovely and appealing songs are performed by 5 seasoned classical musicians from Canada and Switzerland. The album features 27 songs -- sung in solo, duo, and trio -- that reflect the diversity of styles of Lionel Daunais’ award-winning writing: French art songs, pop tunes, humorous folk-inspired songs, and songs for young people. Moreover, the album includes 18 world premieres on CD, and the 28-page booklet contains biographical information, program notes, and photos. Lyrics, by French and French-Canadian poets, can be found on the album’s website, along with behind-the-scenes content.

Please visit https://lioneldaunais.com.

In celebration of his 60th birthday year, JUNO-nominated Land’s End Ensemble (John Lowry, violin; Beth Root Sandvoss, cello; Susanne Ruberg-Gordon, piano; Vincent Ho, artistic director) is proud to present this collection of acclaimed chamber works by one of Canada’s most important composers: Omar Daniel. These compositions span 23 years of Dr. Daniel’s musical output and highlights the cultural impact he has made on the Canadian new music scene. Featured on this album is the premiere recording of his Jules Leger Prize-winning masterpiece Zwei Lieder nach Rilke (featuring soprano Laura Hynes), as well as his Piano Trios No. 1 and No. 2, and his Duo for Violoncello and Piano.

Chasing Light and Sound: The Tuba Music of Elizabeth Raum presents the works written for the tuba in a solo role between 1991 and 2002 by Canadian composer Elizabeth Raum. The works on this recording were all written for and commissioned by the late Canadian tuba virtuoso John Griffiths. These works include pieces originally written solo for tuba and large ensemble: Legend of Heimdall, T for Tuba, Pershing’s Concerto, and Concerto Del Garda, as well as one work for unaccompanied tuba, Sweet Dances. These works are all presented here with the accompaniment as piano reductions. These pieces have become standards in the solo tuba repertoire, are frequently required as solo competition pieces world-wide, and are included in the standard recital repertoire.

Elizabeth Raum is arguably the most prolific composer for the tuba in a solo role. Tubist Tom McCaslin is currently the Principal Tuba in the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and is the instructor of tuba and euphonium at the University of Calgary. Described by Fanfare Magazine as "one of the contemporary tuba virtuosos", he has performed as a soloist in Canada, the United States, Switzerland, Portugal, Finland, New Zealand and Australia. He has released solo recordings on Crystal Records: “Inside Out” (2009) and on Potenza Records “One More Dance” (2011). He was a student of the famed Canadian tubist John Griffiths during the period that all the pieces presented here were composed. He is joined on this recording by pianist Akiko Tominaga.