August 20, 2020 – (Lunenburg, NS) Musique Royale Celebrates 35th Season with Four Cellists in Praying & Dancing
Musique Royale’s concerts featuring early music and more, filmed in historic venues across Nova Scotia, continue with four cellists in Praying and Dancing. Recorded at the historic Saint Barnabas’ Anglican Church, the concert airs on Facebook and YouTube this Saturday, August 22 at 7:30 p.m., and is available for viewing for two weeks. Built in 1886 in the Greek Revival style, the church has municipal heritage designation and is located in the heart of the small fishing village of Blue Rocks, NS. More information on the church is available here: https://www.
The cello quartet comprises Rachel Desoer, Shimon Walt and Ben Marmen of Symphony Nova Scotia, and SNS Apprentice, Priscilla Lee, in a mixed selection of works designed to show the singing quality of the cello. In this time of forced isolation, this is a program to lift the spirits, featuring beautiful melodies including dances to remind us of celebrations we’ve had and will return to, as well as meditative prayer-like works. The full repertoire includes Bach’s Gavotte 1 & 2 and Air from his Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV1068, Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ BWV 639 (No. 40)and Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, as well as Fauré’s Pavane, Dvorak’s Mazurka Op. 56, No. 3, Bruckner’s Graduale WAB 23 Locus site and Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise.
Link to a preview: https://www.youtube.
About the Artists
Currently Principal Cellist of Symphony Nova Scotia, Rachel Desoer toured extensively around the world, recording four albums on the Analekta label with the Cecilia String Quartet from 2010 to 2018. Exemplifying their commitment to the equal representation of women in music, Rachel spearheaded the commissioning of four string quartets by Canadian women composers in 2016. She studied at the Juilliard School, Oberlin College, McGill University and the Banff Centre, graduating from Oberlin in 2008 with a Bachelor of Music degree. Rachel plays the 1929 Carlo Guiseppe Oddone cello generously on loan to her from an anonymous donor.
Shimon Walt is the Assistant Principal Cellist and a founding member of Symphony Nova Scotia, and teaches at Dalhousie University. Mr. Walt studied in Tel Aviv and Boston with Uzi Wiezel and George Neikrug, performing with major orchestras under such noted conductors as Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta and Pablo Casals. With the Rhapsody Quintet he has played all over Canada and recorded six CDs. He has adjudicated music festivals in many provinces and is the recipient of an Established Artist Award from Arts Nova Scotia.
Born in the small town of Grand Bay-Westfield, New Brunswick, cellist Benjamin Marmen studied with Shimon Walt at Dalhousie University, and is now a member of Symphony Nova Scotia’s cello section. He has performed as soloist with Symphony Nova Scotia, The Saint Andrew’s Arts Council Festival Orchestra, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra, Nova Sinfonia and the Chebucto Symphony Orchestra. Outside of SNS, he’s played with Natalie MacMaster, Maxim Cormier, singer/songwriters Mo Kenney and Selby Evans, and provided solo cello accompaniment to the Scottish play at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Stage (nominated for Best New Score at Theatre Nova Scotia’s Merritt Awards). When not playing music, Benjamin enjoys spending time with his wife Lydia and their three-year-old son Felix, reading, and getting more involved in his home church in Halifax.
Priscilla Lee is entering her fourth year of Bachelor in Music performance at Dalhousie University. One of seven children and home-schooled, she credits her musical training started with listening to her older siblings’ daily music practice. She started piano lessons at age five and picked up cello at age ten, soon participating in competitions, orchestras, and chamber groups. She has performed solo with Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra, and at age 18, is the youngest winner of the apprenticeship position in Symphony Nova Scotia. She is the principal cellist of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, and studies cello under Shimon Walt and piano under Peter Allen.
Based in the World Heritage Town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Musique Royale has been dedicated to promoting traditional and early music in historic venues throughout the province for thirty-five years. Founded in 1985 by John Grew and a small group of dedicated friends, the French and English overtones in the festival’s name were chosen to pay homage to the presence of two cultural forces in Nova Scotian’s development. Musique Royale is generously supported by Arts Nova Scotia, the Lloyd Carr Harris Foundation, the Craig Foundation, the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and the federal Department of Canadian Heritage. For more information, please visit musiqueroyale.com.
