Author: ailynn@leaf.music

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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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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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World Premiere: His Gabbah is Turquoise by Parisa Sabet

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music, along with double bassist Ali Kian Yazdanfar and pianist Brigitte Poulin, announces the release of His Gabbah is Turquoise (LM2051), a new work by composer Parisa Sabet. The single will be available on all digital platforms on July 11, 2025, marking the first release from their upcoming album, Sayeh-Roshan (Persian for “chiaroscuro”), set for release on November 21, 2025. 

Commissioned especially for Yazdanfar and Poulin, His Gabbah is Turquoise draws inspiration from the bold textures and asymmetrical designs of gabbah—traditional Persian rugs known for their raw beauty. The title reflects the spiritual and cultural significance of the colour turquoise, long associated with wisdom, healing, and hope. The piece is also deeply personal, serving as a tribute to the artists’ fathers and a reflection on their shared Iranian heritage. “It’s an homage to the fathers,” says Sabet, “woven with memory and tradition.” 

Known for her distinctive blend of Iranian influences and Western contemporary styles, Parisa Sabet has created works addressing themes of identity, justice, and diaspora. Her past projects include Silent, an interdisciplinary response to the Black Lives Matter movement, and a collaboration based on Forugh Farrokhzad’s seminal poem The Wind-Up Doll. Sabet holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on Persian musical idioms and intercultural synthesis. 

Ali Kian Yazdanfar, principal double bass of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, has built a vibrant international career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. He continues to champion contemporary works, including the 2018 premiere of a bass concerto by Behzad Ranjbaran and his acclaimed 2023 album Iridescence (Leaf Music). 

Brigitte Poulin, a Montreal-based pianist, is celebrated for her eclectic artistry and wide-ranging collaborations. A founding member of Ensemble Transmission and Trio Phoenix, she is a devoted teacher and regular performer at Orford Musique, McGill University, and the Université de Montréal. 

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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Leaf Music Distributes New Album from Anders Muskens – Beck: Sonata for Keyboard, Op. 5

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new digital recording from historical piano specialist Anders Muskens, being released in digital format on June 27.

Sonatas for Keyboard Op. 5 – Franz Ignaz Beck continues Musken’s tribute to the Carl Theodor Jubilee Year (1724-2024) with compositions by German composer, violinist, director and keyboardist Franz Ignaz Beck (1734-1809), performed on original instruments. Muskens recorded this album on a Square Pianoforte by Longman & Broderip (John Geib), London 1788 (restored by Paul Kobald in 2018) from his own personal collection. Carl Theodor was a regional monarch in German history, cultivating the Mannheim court orchestra; 2024 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth.

Franz Ignaz Beck was born in Mannheim, given his musical education by Johann Stamitz, famous composer, violin virtuoso and director of the Mannheim Court Orchestra. His early career was dramatically impacted by a duel during which his opponent feigned death. To avoid repercussions, Beck fled and travelled extensively throughout Italy, performing concerts and refining his compositional abilities. He settled in France and later faced a tribunal during the French Revolution along with his entire theatre ensemble. Fortunately, he was proven innocent and continued as a central figure in Bordeaux’s cultural life until his death in 1809. He wrote symphonies, vocal and operatic works and keyboard sonatas. The 18 Sonates pour le Clavecin ou le Piano Forte were published in Paris around 1772 and are full of wit, charm, sensuality and coquetry.

Prolific early music specialist Anders Muskens has had other recordings distributed by Leaf, including Vogler: Travel Souvenirs for Keyboard, Beethoven’s Forgotten Piano Concerto, Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas and Army of Generals Volume II: 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. He is active in Europe and North America and 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 Forschungszentrum HOF/MUSIK/STADT and Adriana Jacoba Fonds and was recorded at the Nikomedeskirche, Weilheim-Tübingen.

Listen to Beck’s Sonatas for Keyboard Op. 5 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.

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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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Leaf Music, Francesca dePasquale and Peter Takács present Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, Op. 30

(Nashville, TN) Leaf Music, violinist Francesca dePasquale and pianist Peter Takács announce the upcoming release of their new recording, Beethoven Violin Sonatas, Op. 30 (LM303), in digital format. 

The three sonatas mark the beginning of Beethoven’s “heroic” middle period. Completed in 1802 and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, they were written during one of the most tumultuous years of Beethoven’s life. Around this time, he penned the now-famous Heiligenstadt Testament, a poignant letter to his brothers revealing his despair over his worsening hearing loss. Though it reads like a farewell, the letter ends with a vow to persevere in the service of art. That inner struggle—between hopelessness and determination—finds voice in the music as Beethoven begins to push the familiar classical forms to new expressive ends.

Photo credit: Alexandra DeFurio

Celebrated for her “sincerity, intensity, and individual voice” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and praised for her “immaculate and discreet phrasing” (Strad Magazine), violinist Francesca dePasquale was the First Prize winner of the 2010 Irving M. Klein International String Competition. She was also awarded the 2014–2016 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship Fund for the Performing and Visual Arts and received the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Young Artist Award. Francesca is currently a violin faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and previously was a member of the violin faculty for the Juilliard School Pre-College Program. She studied with Itzhak Perlman, Catherine Cho, and Robert Lipsett. Her earlier teachers include Hirono Oka, Charles Parker, and William dePasquale, with additional mentorship from Norman Carol and Arnold Steinhardt. 

Hailed by The New York Times as “a marvelous pianist,” Peter Takács has performed widely to critical and audience acclaim and is noted for his penetrating and communicative musical interpretations. He enrolled at the Conservatoire de Paris at age fourteen, later earning full scholarships to Northwestern University and the University of Illinois, followed by a three-year fellowship at the Peabody Conservatory, where he completed his artistic training under the guidance of the renowned pianist Leon Fleisher. Takács has appeared as a guest soloist with major orchestras across the U.S. and internationally and has performed at prominent festivals, including Tanglewood, Music Mountain, Chautauqua Institution, ARIA International, the Schlern Music Festival in the Italian Alps, Tel Hai International Master Classes in Israel, and Sweden’s Helsingborg Festival. His recording of the complete Beethoven piano sonatas was released on the Cambria label in 2011 to critical acclaim. ​ 

Listen to Beethoven Violin Sonatas, Op. 30 on your favourite streaming platforms. 

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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Leaf Music, Frédéric Lambert and Chloé Dumoulin Present Nouveau lyrisme

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music, violist Frédéric Lambert and pianist Chloé Dumoulin announce the upcoming release of their new recording Nouveau Lyrisme (New Lyricism) (LM300) in digital format. This celebration of the ever-evolving Quebec music contemporary scene is an ode to inner landscapes, murmurs, and brilliant dialogues between viola and piano, with works composed between 1990 and 2025. 

The album opens with Trois poèmes by Jeanne Landry, a work rooted in the Western tonal tradition, flowing with expressive contrasts that mirror the upheavals of the 21st century. Next is Alain Payette’s Romance pour alto et piano, inspired by his time at Les Choralies in Vaison-la-Romaine. Michel Edward’s Sonate pour alto et piano, Op. 37, is a work exploring a lighter, more playful side of his typically serious compositional style. Alto-Neptune by Denis Gougeon, part of his Six thèmes solaires, offers a contemplative and mournful chant, an invitation to gaze into the universe with infinite tenderness. Alejandra Odgers’ Discusión unfolds as a fierce musical argument between viola and piano, shifting between tension and resolution. The album closes with Julie Thériault’s Nocturne boréal, a meditation on the human experience within vast northern landscapes—solitary, awe-inspiring, and deeply introspective.  

Photo credit: Brenden Friesen

Frédéric Lambert received a doctorate in viola performance at McGill University under the direction of Professor André Roy. During his studies, he became a founding member of the award-winning Lloyd Carr-Harris String Quartet. In 2007, Frédéric joined the Molinari Quartet, an ensemble devoted entirely to twentieth- and twenty-first-century string quartet repertoire. The group’s 2016 recording of the complete György Kurtág quartets received the prestigious Echo Klassik award and a Diapason d’Or. First viola of the Orchestre symphonique de Laval and Orchestre Métropolitain violist, Frédéric is regularly invited to appear with ensembles such as Les Violins du Roy, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. He teaches at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University as well as the Université du Québec à Montréal. He previously released Iridescence on the Leaf Music label in 2023. 

Named one of CBC’s 30 top musicians under 30, pianist Chloé Dumoulin is recognized for her sensitive touch, refined sense of colour, and artistic depth. She holds a double master’s degree in solo and collaborative piano from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, where she also specialized in chamber music. In 2023, she was awarded the Leverhulme Arts Scholarship to pursue an Artist Diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Ronan O’Hora. Founder of the award-winning Quatuor Vatra, she has performed at the Montréal Chamber Music Festival, Maison symphonique, and Bourgie Hall. She has also appeared as a soloist with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre Métropolitain. Her performances span Canada, the U.S., Europe, and China, supported by numerous foundations.  

The album was recorded at Domaine Forget from January 6-8, 2025, with assistance from le Conseil des arts et de lettres du Québec. Listen to Nouveau Lyrisme 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 Canada.  

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, N.-É.) Leaf Music, l’altiste Frédéric Lambert et la pianiste Chloé Dumoulin annoncent la sortie imminente de leur nouvel enregistrement intitulé Nouveau Lyrisme (LM300), qui paraîtra en format numérique. Cette célébration de la scène musicale contemporaine québécoise en constante évolution est une ode aux paysages intérieurs et un hommage à ces murmures et brillants dialogues entre alto et piano que nous livre le répertoire choisi, qui se situe entre 1990 et 2025. 

L’album débute avec Trois poèmes de Jeanne Landry, oeuvre ancrée dans la tradition tonale occidentale et débordante de contrastes expressifs qui reflètent les bouleversements du XXIe siècle. Elle est suivie de la Romance pour alto et piano d’Alain Payette, inspirée de son passage aux Choralies de Vaison-la-Romaine. La Sonate pour alto et piano, op. 37 de Michel Edward explore un côté plus léger et ludique du  style de ce compositeur habituellement grave. « Alto-Neptune » de Denis Gougeon, extrait de ses Six thèmes solaires, offre un chant méditatif et mélancolique, une invitation à contempler l’univers avec une infinie tendresse. Discusión d’Alejandra Odgers se déploie comme un débat musical acharné entre alto et piano, oscillant entre tension et résolution. L’album conclut avec Nocturne boréal de Julie Thériault, une méditation sur l’expérience humaine au cœur des vastes paysages nordiques – solitaire, grandiose et profondément introspective. 

Photo credit: Brenden Friesen

Frédéric Lambert a obtenu un doctorat en interprétation de l’alto à l’Université McGill sous la direction du professeur André Roy. Durant ses études, il est devenu membre fondateur du Quatuor à cordes Lloyd Carr-Harris, lauréat de nombreux prix. En 2007, Frédéric s’est joint au Quatuor Molinari, un ensemble entièrement consacré au répertoire du quatuor à cordes des XXe et XXIe siècles. L’enregistrement de l’intégrale des quatuors de György Kurtág, paru en 2016, a reçu le prestigieux prix Echo Klassik et un Diapason d’Or. Premier alto de l’Orchestre symphonique de Laval et altiste de l’Orchestre Métropolitain, Frédéric est régulièrement invité à se produire avec des ensembles tels que Les Violons du Roy, la Société de musique contemporaine du Québec et l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal. Il enseigne à l’École de musique Schulich de l’Université McGill ainsi qu’à l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Il a précédemment publié Iridescence sur étiquette Leaf Music en 2023. 

Photo credit: Brenden Friesen

Nommée au palmarès de la CBC parmi les « 30 meilleurs musiciens de moins de 30 ans », la pianiste Chloé Dumoulin est reconnue pour sa sensibilité, son sens raffiné des couleurs et sa profondeur artistique. Elle est titulaire d’une double maîtrise en piano solo et en piano d’accompagnement du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, où elle s’est également spécialisée en musique de chambre. En 2023, elle a reçu la bourse Leverhulme Arts pour poursuivre un diplôme d’artiste à la Guildhall School of Music and Drama de Londres sous la direction de Ronan O’Hora. Fondatrice du Quatuor Vatra, ensemble primé, elle s’est produite au Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal, à la Maison symphonique et à la salle Bourgie. Elle s’est également produite en soliste avec l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal et l’Orchestre Métropolitain. Ses concerts se déroulent au Canada, aux États-Unis, en Europe et en Chine, avec le soutien de nombreuses fondations. 

L’album a été enregistré au Domaine Forget entre les 6 et 8 janvier 2025, avec le soutien du Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. Écoutez Nouveau Lyrisme sur votre plateforme de streaming préférée. 

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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About Fredéric Lambert
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