Author: ailynn@leaf.music

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Keiran Campbell and Sezi Seskir Recreate the Sound of Beethoven’s Time

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music, together with cellist Keiran Campbell and Sezi Seskir (fortepiano) announce the distribution of a new digital recording, Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 (SSKC2025) on period instruments. Performing on a fortepiano with its leather hammers, and on a gut-strung cello with a supple classical bow allows the players to recapture these beloved sonatas’ intended original sound. The two cello sonatas (No. 1 and 2) were composed in 1796, and saw Beethoven attempting to make the two instruments more equal while celebrating the capabilities of the five-octave piano.

Keiran Campbell is co-principal cello of Tafelmusik, and on faculty at the Chamber Music Collective, which focuses on post-1750 performance practice. He studied extensively with Leonid Zilper (former solo cellist of the Bolshoi Ballet) and then received his Bachelors and Masters at the Juilliard School, where he worked with Darrett Adkins, Timothy Eddy and Phoebe Carrai. Keiran has performed with ensembles including The English Concert, Le Concert Des Nations, NYBI, Philharmonia Baroque, The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, Four Nations Ensemble, Utopia Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony, and Les Violons du Roy. During the summers, Keiran has performed with Teatro Nuovo, Lakes Area Music Festival, Staunton Music Festival, and The Carmel Bach Festival. 

Sezi Seskir received her first degree in piano in Ankara, Turkey. She completed her studies in Lübeck Musikhochschule, completing her academic journey with a D.M.A. degree with Malcolm Bilson in Cornell University. She concertized widely in Europe and in the US. Sezi edited the piano works of Robert Schumann for the Schott and Bärenreiter publishing houses in Germany, and is also the co-editor of an essay collection Topics in Musical Interpretation, published by Routledge. Her CD of three Beethoven violin sonatas with Lucy Russell recorded on period instruments appeared in 2020 on the Acis label, which was received enthusiastically by reviewers. She is a co-founder of the Chamber Music Collective, an intensive chamber music program on period instruments. She is currently an Associate Professor of Music at Bucknell University.  

Listen to Beethoven Cello Sonatas, Op. 5 on your favourite streaming platforms beginning October 31. The new album was recorded at the Rooke Recital Hall, Bucknell University in January of 2024. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America.  

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt, peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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About Keiran

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Erin James Weaves 400 Years of Violin Fantasies

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and violinist Erin James announce the distribution of a new digital recording, Fantasy Vignettes (EJ2025), a project tracing the evolution of the violin fantasy form through a period spanning over 400 years in a series of four vignettes. Each vignette is paired with a vibrant costume of the multidisciplinary artist’s own design, embodying the music’s character and symbolism. Rooted in the improvisatory spirit of the “fantasia”—where whimsy and free-flowing form take precedence over structure—she uses “patchwork” as a guiding metaphor, reflecting both the shifting nature of the fantasy and her composite identity as a textile artist, composer, and baroque and modern violinist. Joining her on the album is pianist Todd Yaniw, and the album includes a newly commissioned work by Alberta-based composer Mari Alice Conrad. 

About the new album Erin James says: “The journey in Fantasy Vignettes begins with the earliest notated violin fantasia by Étienne Nau, a rare transcription of a performance that would have been freely improvised by the violinist-composer. I also play fantasias in the same vein by Nicola Matteis Jr. and Georg Philipp Telemann on the baroque violin, wearing a reconfiguration of baroque garments to create a current look and mirror the patching together of preconfigured schema in improvisation. Next, I frame Robert Schumann’s Fantasy in the context of his literary characters Florestan and Eusebius (representing the feminine and masculine aspects of identity). I portray this split personality in an outfit that’s half tailcoat and trousers and half gown, recalling something worn by Robert’s wife and accomplished pianist and composer, Clara Schumann. It also reflects my identity as both a modern and baroque violinist. Fantasies by Florence Price and Arnold Schoenberg comprise the next scene, where I explore freedom both in a compositional and social sense, combining twelve colour tones of sheer fabric into 144 different patchwork hexagon colours representing the twelve-tone hexachordal structure of the Schoenberg. Mari Alice Conrad’s commission, Fabricating Fantasies incorporates sewing machines and accessories as instruments reflecting my process and identity as both musician and textile designer. Finally, the title track, Fantasy Vignettes is my own attempt at a violinist-composer improvisation that mines and amalgamates material from the rest of the album to create something original. For these new works, I created a simple needle costume to represent the thread that stitches the programme together and my dual identity as violinist and textile designer.” 

Erin James seeks to dance the intersection between music, visual art and text through her work, which combines textiles and the violin; she has qualifications in both fashion design and violin performance. Her musical interests range from baroque to contemporary styles, and she thoroughly enjoys any piece that’s singable or danceable. Erin is equally at home as a chamber musician, soloist, theatre artist and orchestral player, and her career has taken her across Asia, Europe and North America. She is as passionate about transforming garbage into art as she is about transfiguring works from the classical music repertoire to make them more vibrant and accessible.  Erin recently completed her doctorate, has performed on CBC Radio, at the Music by the Sea festival, with the Vancouver and Edmonton Symphonies, and with the Vancouver Opera, Hamilton Philharmonic and Allegra Chamber Orchestras.  

Since his debut with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra at age 13, Todd Yaniw has performed across Canada as a soloist and chamber players, appearing with ensembles such as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Rolston String Quartet, Trio Arkel, and ARC Ensemble. Todd was featured in the CBC’s “30 under 30” top young musicians list.  Internationally, he has performed in Bulgaria, China, Italy, Jamaica, Monaco, the United Kingdom and the United States.  

Mari Alice Conrad is an award-winning composer based in Alberta, Canada, completing her doctorate in composition at the University of Alberta. Her work investigates the intersections of sound, memory, and materiality through the blending of acoustic instruments with found objects, staging, and spatial design. Her music has been performed by contemporary ensembles and soloists across Canada and abroad, including the BBC Singers, Standing Wave, SHHH!! Ensemble, and UltraViolet.  

Listen to Fantasy Vignettes on your favourite streaming platforms beginning October 17.  

The new album was recorded in Edmonton and Montreal in 2024 and 2025 with support from the University of Alberta’s Wirth Institute for Austrian and Central European Studies and a Bombardier Social Sciences Humanities Research Council fellowship.  

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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Joel Miller’s What If? – Where Genres Connect

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and composer/saxophonist Joel Miller announce the distribution of a new digital recording, What If?, a classical crossover album showcasing original compositions and reimagined works by Debussy, Chopin and Pachelbel, featuring Cuban Canadian pianist Silvio Pupo and the Resonance New Music Ensemble.  

Inspired by his partner Mel’s idea of “the & space” – What If? imagines a musical world where jazz and classical traditions coexist rather than compete. The album traces Miller’s personal journey through jazz, Afro-Latin influences and classical; for example, he reimagines the famous Pachelbel Canon in D, sharing the familiar ostinato amongst the entire ensemble. Jazz sax, vibraphone, piano and violin mingle in a unique accompaniment to Joel’s life story and explorations about family and musical traditions. 

Joel Miller is an award-winning saxophonist and composer based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Raised in a musical family, he studied Jazz Performance at McGill University and has performed with notable artists including Geoffrey Keezer, Brian Blade, and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Miller’s career highlights include winning a JUNO Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album with Swim (2012), ECMA awards for Swim, Dream Cassette (2016), and UNSTOPPABLE (2019). He has received multiple grants for composition, recording, and residencies, and leads workshops internationally, continually exploring the intersection of jazz and contemporary music.  

Led by bassist Andrew Reed Miller (Joel’s brother), Resonance New Music Ensemble is a New Brunswick–based group dedicated to performing experimental, improvised, and contemporary classical music. Supported by the not-for-profit Motion Ensemble, Inc., (founded by Andrew in 1998), the ensemble has premiered nearly 100 works by Canadian and international composers including Joel Miller, André Cormier, and Kaija Saariaho.  

Cuban-born pianist Silvio Pupo studied classical piano in Holguín before relocating to Atlantic Canada in 2009. Known for his dynamic blend of classical and Latin jazz styles, Pupo has become a sought-after collaborator, recording and touring with artists like Ben Caplan and Alfie Zappacosta. Based in Moncton, he is celebrated for his versatile musicianship, charismatic stage presence, and regular performances at Halifax’s iconic venue The Local.  

Listen to What If? on your favourite streaming platforms beginning October 17. Additionally, the ensemble will celebrate the new recording with live performances in the Maritimes in November:  

November 14 BMO Theatre Saint John, NB 

November 15 Steel Recital Hall UPI, Charlottetown, PEI 
November 16 Brunton Auditorium, Sackville, NB 
November 26th Le Laundromat, Moncton, NB  
November 28th Charlotte Street Arts Centre, Fredericton 

The new album was recorded in New Brunswick in 2025 at the Centre des Arts et de la Culture de Dieppe Inc. with support from the Fredericton Playhouse Intermission Artist Residency, Arts NB, MusiqueMusicNB, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Dieppe Cultural Centre, Catapult and ArtsLinkNB.  

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).

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Brigitte Poulin Interprets György Kurtág’s Játékok

“Thank you György, you made us listen to music differently.” (Simon Rattle to Kurtág, in 2017, on the occasion of the composer’s 90th birthday) 

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and pianist Brigitte Poulin announce the upcoming release of their new recording, György Kurtág – Játékok (Games) in digital format (LM 302).  

These miniature works, composed by one of Hungary’s greatest (and still living, age 99) composers, were written over decades, paying homage to composers, friends and influences who shaped him. These range from Bach, Schumann, Bartók and others, comprising gestures drawn from folklore, Gregorian chants, improvisation and spoken rhythms. In her album, pianist Brigitte Poulin has curated five “Acts” of Játékoks, which features several world premiere recordings together with pieces dedicated to Kurtag’s wife Márta Kinsker, his muse and partner for over 60 years. 

 “I received the 10th volume of the Játékok, which had just been published, during the Covid-19 pandemic,” says Poulin. “In it I discovered several pieces dedicated to Márta. Over the course of their 60 years together, Kurtág offered her a dozen such birthday presents, most of which, as far as I know, had not yet been recorded.” 

Born in Romania to Jewish parents, György Kurtág moved to Hungary and survived the communist regime, gaining international recognition following its dissolution. He taught piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from 1967 and also chamber music until 1993. Kurtág placed his music (and himself) in the continuum of European art music. His work reflects an interaction between the desire to break new ground and the weight of past traditions. It engages in a dialogue with history, reconciling the urgent need to create something new with the legacy of the past.  

Montreal-based pianist Brigitte Poulin is an accomplished soloist, chamber musician, accompanist, and teacher whose repertoire spans from the invention to the deconstruction of the piano. In addition to this recording of György Kurtág: Játékok, she is also set to release Sayeh-Roshan, an album of new Persian works with contrabassist Ali Yazdanfar, featuring Behnoosh Behnamnia and Bamdad Fotouhi. Her notable collaborations include Les Noces with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Kent Nagano, Pierrot lunaire with Patricia Kopatchinskaja, and chamber performances with Annalee Patipatanakoon, Lynn Harrell, and Silvia Mandolini. She often teaches at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music and is a longtime faculty member at Orford Musique. Brigitte appears on recordings for Leaf Music, Naxos, ATMA Classique, and Dame.  

The album was recorded at Domaine Forget in January 2025 with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Québec. 

 Listen to György Kurtág: Játékok on your favourite streaming platform.  

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America.  

György Kurtág: Játékok Documentary:

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt, peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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Inspiring the Next Generation – Album pour la jeunesse XXI

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording, Album pour la jeunesse XXI, featuring clarinetist Jean-Guy Boisvert and pianist Philippe Prud’homme. This new album presents three sets of miniatures for clarinet and piano by Canadian composers Mathieu Lussier, Bruce Pennycook and Samy Moussa. The music provides much-needed repertoire for young performers and a meaningful introduction to 21-century Canadian music for emerging players. These new works will inspire the next generation of performers, with the rhythmic energy of Mathieu Lussier, the lyrical depth of Bruce Pennycock and the bold intensity of Samy Moussa. The pieces are the third volume of La belle aventure, a collection of 135 short pieces for young clarinetists written by twenty Canadian composers.  

Jean-Guy Boisvert is dedicated to 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, having premiered over 300 Canadian works and commissioned a wide range of solo and ensemble pieces. He has also performed extensively in traditional repertoire, including collaborations with the Arthur-Leblanc Quartet and pianist Marc Durand. A graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec and the Guildhall School of Music, he holds a doctorate in contemporary music performance from the Université de Montréal. Boisvert teaches clarinet, saxophone, chamber music, and music analysis at the Université de Moncton. He has recorded six previous albums to critical review. 

Pianist and composer Philippe Prud’homme is a versatile artist from Saint-Jérôme, Québec. A graduate of the Université de Montréal and the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, he studied with Gilles Manny, Dang Thai Son, and Louise Bessette, earning a doctorate in performance (his talent was recognized by acceptance to university at age 16 after only four years of piano studies). He is a seven-time First Prize winner at the Concours de musique du Canada, including the Grand Prize in 2016, and was named one of CBC Music’s “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30” that same year. He frequently performs contemporary repertoire and has presented the complete solo piano works of Québec composer François Morel. Since 2021, he has been a collaborative pianist on faculty at the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau.  

The new album was recorded in 2023 at the Conservatoire de musique in Montreal, with support from the Canadian Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec and the Université de Moncton.  

Listen to Album pour la jeunesse XXI on your favourite streaming platform, beginning October 3, 2025. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).

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About Jean-Guy

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Vernon Regehr and Jane Leibel Premiere Andrew Staniland’s Calamus, Based on Poems by Walt Whitman

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a bold world premiere digital recording of new Walt Whitman songs for soprano and cello by acclaimed Newfoundland composer Andrew Staniland.  

Calamus Cycle’s virtuoso performances by cellist Vernon Regehr and soprano Jane Leibel bring poems from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass alive, with each poem also read by actor and playwright Robert Chafe. 

The cycle consists of five pieces based on Calamus 6, Lacrimosa, Aliment Roots, No Labour Saving Machine and Calamus Variations from the famous Leaves of Grass manuscript, which Whitman began publishing in 1855. The cycle grew organically when Staniland was first commissioned to write a piece for American Opera Projects in 2010 in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the 1860 edition (the first edition in which the Calamus poems appeared). Other pieces were commissioned from 2012-2019. 

Robert Chafe is a writer, educator, actor and arts administrator based in St. John’s who has been shortlisted three times for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, winning the award for Afterimage in 2010. He is the playwright and Artistic Director of Newfoundland’s Artistic Fraud, and his stage plays have been produced in Canada, the UK, Australia and the US. 

Andrew Staniland has been described as a “new music visionary” (National Arts Centre) and is a composer and faculty member at Memorial University in St. John’s, where he founded MEARL (Memorial AlectroAcoustic Research Lab). His music is performed and broadcast internationally, receiving three JUNO nominations, an ECMA Award and the Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music. Andrew has been an Affiliate Composer with the Toronto Symphony and National Arts Centre Orchestra, and has had commissions from the Brooklyn Art Song Society, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, cellist Frances-Marie Uitti and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, among others. andrewstaniland.com 

Soprano Jane Leibel has earned praise for her “crystalline, strong soprano” (Opera Canada) and is Professor of Voice at Memorial University’s School of Music. She has performed operatic, concert roles and recital programs in Canada, the US and Europe, and has released two previous recordings. She won the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition for the performance of twentieth century music and received an Alumni of Distinction Award from the University of Regina in 2017. 

An avid performer and teacher, cellist Vernon Regehr serves on the faculty at the Memorial University School of Music and the Tuckamore Chamber Music Festival. His first solo album featuring Canadian works for unaccompanied cello won an ECMA for Composition of the Year. He is also the conductor of the Kittiwake Dance Theatre Orchestra and the Memorial University Chamber Orchestra. 

The new album was produced by Andrew Staniland, with support from Memorial University and Arts NL, and was recorded at the Memorial School of Music between 2017 and 2024.  

Listen to Calamus Cycle on your favourite streaming platform, beginning September 26, 2025. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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CBC Music’s 30 under 30, Olivier Bergeron releases his debut album, “Nuits blanches”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) – Leaf Music announces the release of Nuits blanches, a new digital recording featuring French-Canadian artists Olivier Bergeron (baritone) and Olivier Godin (piano).  

Named one of CBC’s 30 Under 30, baritone Olivier Bergeron makes his recording debut with Nuits blanches. Featuring five song cycles by Ravel, Debussy, Fauré, and Jolivet. The album explores the many shades of love through the intimate lens of mélodie française.

At its heart is Debussy’s elusive Nuits blanches—a haunting, long-lost song cycle with texts by the composer himself. Une nuit blanche can be translated as “a sleepless night;” (the full expression is “passer une nuit blanche.)” In the case of the new recording, it is love causing the sleepless nights, best exemplified in the text of Claude Debussy’s sensual, intense Endless night: “Nuits sans fin. Tristesse morne des heures où l’on attend!” From the shimmering innocence of young love to the fragile vulnerabilities of jealousy and regret, the eclectic repertoire unveils a different emotional hue in popular melodies like Gabriel Fauré’s Mélodies « de Venise » (a setting of poems by Paul Verlaine), paired with rarities such as André Jolivet’s cycle, Poèmes intimes, dedicated to his wife, Hilda. Like Fauré’s, Jolivet’s cycle comprises five poems; the work was premiered in 1944 in Paris. Curiously, the first three cycles were premiered at the same venue in Paris, as part of the Société Nationale de Musique concerts, where “serious” French music was presented from 1871 (during the Franco-Prussian War) until 1939. 

All but Debussy’s Nuits blanches were published during the authors’ lifetimes. The manuscripts of his unfinished Nuits blanches project were found in composer Arthur Honegger’s library in 1991 by his daughter and just published in Paris in the year 2000. 

The two acclaimed musicians bring a refined lyricism to this repertoire, drawing listeners in to the hushed elegance of the fin-de-siècle salon, where poetry and music once breathed side by side. 

A graduate of the Verbier Festival Academy, French-Canadian baritone Olivier Bergeron studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the École normale de musique de Paris. He has appeared with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset, with Fabio Biondi, and at major venues including the Philharmonie de Paris, Wigmore Hall, Opéra Grand Avignon, and the Festival de Lanaudière. In 2025–2026, he joins Les Arts Florissants and William Christie on tour as part of Le Jardin des Voix and Hervé Niquet with Le Concert Spirituel at the Chapelle Royale de Versailles.   

Pianist Olivier Godin has been Artistic Director of Montreal’s Bourgie Hall since 2022 and was appointed professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal at age 25. He has recorded over 30 critically acclaimed albums and performed at Wigmore Hall, La Monnaie, and the Palazzetto Bru Zane. A specialist in mélodie française, his discography includes complete songs by Poulenc, Fauré, Duparc, and Massenet’s 333 mélodies..  

The new album was recorded in 2023 in Passavant, France. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America.

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, Nouvelle-Écosse) – Leaf Music annonce la parution de Nuits blanches, un nouvel album numérique réunissant deux artistes québécois : Olivier Bergeron (baryton) et Olivier Godin (piano).  

Nommé parmi la prestigieuse liste des « 30 under 30 » de la CBC, le baryton Olivier Bergeron signe avec Nuits blanches ses débuts discographiques. L’album propose cinq cycles de mélodies de Ravel, Debussy, Fauré et Jolivet, et explore les multiples nuances de l’amour à travers l’intimité de la mélodie française. 

Au cœur de ce programme se trouve les énigmatiques Nuits blanches de Debussy, écrites sur des poèmes du compositeur lui-même. Ce cycle, dont seulement deux des cinq mélodies ont été retrouvées à ce jour, expose les tourments amoureux qui gardent le narrateur éveillé, comme en témoigne le texte sensuel et ténébreux. De l’innocence éclatante des premiers émois aux fragiles vulnérabilités de la jalousie et du regret, ce programme éclectique dévoile toute une palette émotionnelle : des mélodies célèbres comme les Mélodies « de Venise » de Gabriel Fauré (sur des poèmes de Paul Verlaine) côtoient des raretés telles que le cycle Poèmes intimes d’André Jolivet, dédié à son épouse Hilda. Comme celui de Fauré, le cycle de Jolivet comprend cinq poèmes ; il fut créé à Paris en 1944. Fait étonnant : les trois premiers cycles de ce programme furent créés dans la même salle parisienne, dans le cadre des concerts de la Société Nationale de Musique, qui présentait la « musique sérieuse » française de 1871 (durant la guerre franco-prussienne) jusqu’en 1939.  

Hormis les Nuits blanches de Debussy, toutes les œuvres furent publiées du vivant de leurs auteurs. Les manuscrits inachevés du cycle Nuits blanches ont été retrouvés en 1991 dans la bibliothèque du compositeur Arthur Honegger par sa fille, puis publiés à Paris en 2000.  

Les deux musiciens québécois offrent un lyrisme raffiné à ce répertoire, plongeant l’auditeur dans l’élégance feutrée du salon fin-de-siècle, où poésie et musique se répondaient dans un même souffle.  

Diplômé de la Verbier Festival Academy, le baryton Olivier Bergeron a étudié au Conservatoire de musique de Montréal et à l’École normale de musique de Paris, où il a complété un Certificat Spécialisé en Mélodie Française sous la tutelle de François Le Roux. Il s’est produit avec Les Talens Lyriques sous la direction de Christophe Rousset, avec Fabio Biondi, ainsi que dans de prestigieuses salles telles que la Philharmonie de Paris, le Wigmore Hall, l’Opéra Grand Avignon, la Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier avec l’Opéra de Montréal, et l’Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay du Festival de Lanaudière. En 2025–2026, il rejoindra Les Arts Florissants et William Christie pour une tournée dans le cadre du Jardin des Voix, Hervé Niquet et Le Concert Spirituel pour un concert à la Chapelle Royale de Versailles et fera ses débuts à la Maison Symphonique de Montréal.

Le pianiste Olivier Godin est directeur artistique de la salle Bourgie à Montréal depuis 2022 et a été nommé professeur au Conservatoire de musique de Montréal à l’âge de 25 ans. Il a enregistré plus de 30 albums salués par la critique et s’est produit au Wigmore Hall, à La Monnaie de Bruxelles et au Palazzetto Bru Zane. Spécialiste de la mélodie française, sa discographie comprend l’intégrale des mélodies de Poulenc, Fauré, Duparc, ainsi que les 333 mélodies de Massenet.

Cet album a été enregistré en 2023 à Passavant, en France.  

Leaf Music est une étiquette indépendante, basée à Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse, ainsi qu’à Nashville, au Tennessee. Leaf Music produit et distribue des enregistrements de musique classique de haute qualité où figurent des artistes et compositeurs provenant de toute l’Amérique du Nord. Notre catalogue croissant de musiques solo et orchestrale et de musique de chambre est distribué par Naxos of America auprès des plus grands détaillants internationaux de musique et de fournisseurs de téléchargements et services de streaming. Leaf offre également des services professionnels de production audio et vidéo, de postproduction, ainsi que des services intégrés de marketing et de distribution musicale au Canada. 

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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Another Installment of Carl Theodor Jubilee Year Collection by Anders Muskens – Army of Generals, Vol. 3: Shakespeare and Ovid in Mannheim

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording from early music specialist Anders Muskens, being released in digital format on September 5. This marks the third album in a series celebrating the Carl Theodor Jubilee Year: https://www.neuemannheimerorchester.de/carl-theodor-jubilee-releases

Shakespeare & Ovid in Mannheim features live recordings of works by two seldom heard Mannheim School composers: Georg Joseph Vogler’s Hamlet Symphony (1778) and Christian Cannabich’s Ceyx et Alcyone (1762–63)—two musical dramas rooted in the expressive ideals of the Enlightenment. Vogler’s Hamlet unfolds as a compact music-drama, tracing the arc of the Danish prince’s grief, ghostly visions, feigned madness, vengeance, and spiraling melancholy in the stormy idiom of Sturm und Drang. In the narrative ballet Ceyx et Alcyone, Cannabich evokes the mythic pathos of Ovid’s Metamorphoses with mystical dances, dreadful tempest scene, and richly textured orchestral colour in the early classical idiom.

Actor João Luís Veloso Paixão narrates the story of Ceyx, interweaving period French texts adapted from Raymond and Charles de Massac’s Alexandrine translations of Ovid (from 1603) and Antoine Houdar de La Motte’s Alcione (1706), into the original instrumental ballet music. This contextualizes the drama of the ballet with the spoken word in a novel historically inspired melodramatic format. The Portuguese baritone and researcher specializes in Early Music singing and acting, with an emphasis on eighteenth-century melodrama and historical acting techniques.

Co-directed by Anders Muskens from the harpsichord and concertmaster Rachael Beesley, the four albums being released in 2025 represent a bold revival of the theatrical and expressive ideals of the Mannheim court. With period instruments, rhetorical flair, and dramatic narration, Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester reclaims these neglected masterworks—offering a resonant tribute to Prince-Elector Carl Theodor’s cultural legacy as visionary patron behind the Mannheim Court Orchestra. The German prince’s court was one of the most exciting centres for music-making in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Prolific early music specialist Anders Muskens has had other recordings distributed by Leaf, including Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas and Army of Generals Volume 2: Carl Theodor’s Court Orchestra in Mannheim 1742-1778. Muskens is a Canadian fortepianist, harpsichordist, conductor, and musicologist whose work focuses on the revival of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century performance traditions, equally active in Europe and North America. He completed a Masters in Fortepiano at the Royal Conservatoire of the Hague under Dr. Bart van Oort and Petra Somlai, with Fabio Bonizzoni and Patrick Ayrton for harpsichord. He is represented as a performer by the Sonus Agency for Early Music and is the founder of the ensemble Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester, an international initiative to revive the music of the Mannheim School in the second half of the eighteenth century.

The new album was produced with support from the Canada Council for the Arts and Forschungszentrum HOF/MUSIK/STADT.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

Carl Theodor Jubilee Year Collection

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Jeremy VanSlyke Releases New EP – Beach: Children’s Carnival

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music and pianist Jeremy VanSlyke are pleased to announce the release of Amy Beach: Children’s Carnival (LM2052), a digital EP available August 15, 2025. 

Written in 1894, Children’s Carnival, Op. 25, is a set of six short character pieces that reflect Amy Beach’s interest in composing for young pianists. Inspired by stock characters from European pantomime, which remained popular in late-nineteenth-century America, the suite captures the theatrical spirit of the Harlequin tradition. From the sprightly “Harlequin” to the dreamy “Columbine,” each piece offers its own character and mood, showcasing Beach’s ability to write technically engaging and imaginative music that remains accessible to younger players. 

Jeremy VanSlyke is a pianist and music producer based in Nashville, Tennessee, whose passion for classical music began at a young age in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. He studied piano performance at McGill University in Montréal under Georgian pianist Marina Goglidze-Mdivani, and with Dr. Roger Lord in New Brunswick. His career spans both stage and studio, with experience in orchestral and chamber music, as well as award-winning sound and video recordings that have garnered millions of online streams. He contributed both piano and engineering to the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas’ I’m Nobody, a piece for soprano, viola, and piano featuring Grammy-nominated artist Measha Brueggergosman-Lee. Their recording of the work was released in September 2024 on Pentatone’s Grace multi-volume set. A dedicated educator, Jeremy serves as a collaborative pianist at Lipscomb University, where he works closely with voice students in preparation for performances. He is also the owner of Leaf Music, a classical music record label he established in 2012. In 2025, Leaf Music earned five JUNO nominations and 17 East Coast Music Award nominations. 

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 North America.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).  

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Andrew Staniland Transforms EEG Brainwaves into Music in “The Laws of Nature”

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new recording, The Laws of Nature from Canadian composer Andrew Staniland, being released in digital format on August 1.  

Award-winning Canadian composer Andrew Staniland presents an innovative and evocative classical crossover album, The Laws of Nature. Created in part using a novel electronic instrument (JADE), the recording transforms EEG brain waves of six dancers from St. John’s Kittiwake Dance Theatre into music, creating two multi-movement works:  Dancer Portraits and The Laws of Nature. The album blends electronic, classical, and cinematic genres, captured in stunning Dolby Atmos by John DS Adams of Stonehouse Sound. The project is the culmination of years of musical and technological exploration on the JADE digital musical instrument, housed at MEARL (Memorial Electroacoustic Research Lab) at Memorial University in Newfoundland.   

Described as a “new music visionary” (National Arts Centre), composer Andrew Staniland (andrewstaniland.com) has established himself as one of Canada’s most important and innovative musical voices. His music is performed and broadcast internationally and has been described by Alex Ross in the New Yorker Magazine as “alternately beautiful and terrifying.” Important accolades include three JUNO nominations, ECMA awards, the 2016 Terra Nova Young Innovators Award, the 2009 National Grand Prize winner of CBC/Radio-Canada’s Evolution National Composition Prize and the 2004 Karen Keiser Prize in Canadian Music. As a leading composer of his generation, Andrew was recognized by election to the Inaugural Cohort of the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists Royal Society of Canada. Andrew is currently Professor at Memorial University in St John’s Newfoundland, where he founded MEARL (Memorial Electroacoustic Research Lab). At MEARL, Andrew leads a cross-disciplinary research team that has produced the innovative JADE and Mune digital instruments. Andrew also performs as a guitarist and with new media (computers and electronics).  

Listen to The Laws of Nature on your favourite streaming platform.  

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Nashville, Tennessee, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across North America. 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 Music is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in North America.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt,   peggy@leaf.music 

(902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).

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