Clarinet | Leaf Music

(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

(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Leaf Music announces the distribution of a new recording from early music specialist Anders Muskens, being released on November 29.

“Der meint’es treu!” Music for Fortepiano & Winds from the Biedermeier Salon: Mendelssohn, Schubert, Hummel & R. Schumann features compositions associated with German Romanticism (1815-1848), which were often performed in domestic settings. Muskens performs on an original German square pianoforte made by Johann Gottlieb Irmler in Leipzig c. 1823, paired with historical wind instruments. The album is presented by musicians from Das Neue Mannheimer Orchester Kamermusici, including Anders Muskens on fortepiano, Elia Celegato on historical clarinet, and Florencia Gomez on historical flute.

During the Biedermeier period, social life often revolved around the salon, intimate gatherings typically hosted by women in their homes, where intellectuals, artists, and musicians engaged in discussions, performances, and the exchange of ideas. The famous Schubertiade, named after the composer Franz Schubert, was a more specialized form of salon, dedicated to music and Schubert’s compositions. The German square piano was a popular fixture in homes of the time and was ideal for the smaller living spaces typical of the Biedermeier era.

Listen to “Der meint’es treu!” Music for Fortepiano & Winds from the Biedermeier Salon: https://leaf-music.lnk.to/am242

Prolific early music specialist Anders Muskens has had other recordings distributed by Leaf, including Beethoven: Waldstein & Appassionata Sonatas and Army of Generals Volume 11: Carl Theodor’s Court Orchestra in Mannheim 1742-1778. Muskens is a Canadian early keyboard specialist and ensemble director, who performs throughout North America and Europe. 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 the generous support of the Adriana Jacoba Fonds and the Sena Performing Artist Fund, and was recorded at the Lutherse Kerk Delft, May – June 2021.

Leaf Music is an independent recording label based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making and distributing high-quality classical music recordings by artists and composers from across Canada. Our growing catalogue of solo, orchestral, and chamber music is distributed by Naxos of America to the world’s most important music retailers, download providers, and streaming services. Leaf is also a provider of professional audio and video production, post-production services and integrated music marketing and distribution in Canada.

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MEDIA CONTACT:

For more information/photos or to arrange interviews, please contact Peggy Walt

peggy@leaf.music (902) 422-5403 (office) or (902) 476-1096 (cell).