Blue Engine History and Chronology – Past Concerts and Projects
(Last Updated November 24, 2009)
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: collaboration with Symphony Nova Scotia Concertmaster, Robert Uchida, and pianist Peter Allen, featuring works by Ernest Chausson and Lucie Vellère, Halifax, NS, October 18, 2009.
Recording Sessions of Blue Engine String Quartet Christmas CD at United Memorial Church, Halifax, NS, May 17, 18, 19, 2009.
Allen Wayte Memorial Concert: featured guests. Music by Dvorak. First Baptist Church, Halifax, NS, February 22, 2009.
Acadia University Sunday Music in the Garden Room Series: collaboration with pianist Peter Allen, and double bassist Lena Turofsky featuring works by Schumann and Schubert. Wolfville, NS, February 1st, 2009.
Music Room Concert Series: quartet concert - works by Shostakovich, Turina, Rebecca Clarke and Isaac Albéniz. Halifax, NS, January 28, 2009.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: the third and final concert of our 10th anniversary season (2007/08); "The Awakening" - an all Canadian programme of string quartets, including a newly commissioned (by Blue Engine) quartet by Peter Togni. Other works include "The Awakening" by Christos Hatzis, and a string quartet by Anthony Genge. St. Andrew's United Church, Halifax, NS, November 20, 2008.
"Invocation: Music to Remember" - a Remembrance Day collaboration with the Halifax Camerata Singers directed by Jeff Joudrey at St. John's Anglican Church, Lunenburg, NS, November 8, 2008. Repeat performance recorded live by CBC Radio at Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax, NS November 9, 2008.
Celtic Colours International Festival 2008: Opening Night Concert with Galician musician, Carlos Nuñez, and his band at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre, Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton, NS, October 10, 2008.
World Podium Influential Leaders Speakers' Series: special quartet performance at this gala event where Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, was the guest speaker. Halifax Metro Centre, September 16, 2008.
Musique Saint-Bernard 2008 Performance Series: quartet concert: "À La Française, an Afternoon of French Music" featuring quartets by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Germaine Tailleferre, Debussy, and Maurice Ravel at Église Saint-Bernard, NS, September 14, 2008.
Saint Patrick's Church: "Music of Sea and Sand" - a collaboration with composer Scott MacMillan in a re-working of his "Celtic Mass for the Sea." Halifax, NS, July 3, 2008.
Chester Playhouse: quartet concert with host Peter Togni, featuring works by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and Mozart. Chester, NS, June 21, 2008.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: "Summer Solstice" concert - a collaboration with composer Peter Togni in the premiere of his new work "Solstice" for string quartet and oboe d’amore. Special guest: Nigel Robbins, oboe d’amore. Other works by Haydn and Gershwin. Mahone Bay, NS, June 20, 2008.
Co-production - Saint Cecilia Concert Series with Blue Engine Music Concert Series: the second concert in our 10th anniversary season (2007/08); a retrospective of our first ten years together, featuring string quartets composed by Holocaust victims, a string quartet by British composer Doreen Carwithen, and a collaboration with pianist Oksana Zotova in Schumann’s piano quintet in E flat major, Mahone Bay, NS, and Halifax, NS, May 3 & 4, 2008.
Music Room Concert Series: quartet concert with host Peter Togni, featuring works by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen and Mozart, Halifax, NS, January 23, 2008.
Grace United Church Concert Series: collaboration with the Grace United Church Choir in a performance of traditional Christmas music, Dartmouth, NS, December 16, 2007.
Blue Engine Music presents: “Classical Christmas!” - a concert featuring quartet arrangements of traditional Christmas music. Recorded live by CBC Radio at Canadian Martyrs Church, Halifax, NS, December 2, 2007.
Acadia University: collaboration with clarinettist Stan Fisher featuring works by Brahms and Derek Charke, Atlantic Festival Theatre, Wolfville, NS, November 17, 2007.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: the first concert in our 10th anniversary season (2007/08); “À La Française, an Evening of French Music” featuring quartets by Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Germaine Tailleferre and Maurice Ravel at St. George’s Anglican Church, October 17, 2007.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: “Toasting the Classics” quartet concert at “Cecilia’s Retreat” in Mahone Bay, NS, September 29, 2007.
Special invitation to perform “If it be your will…Songs of Leonard Cohen” with singer Cliff Le Jeune and pianist Paul Simons at a fundraising event for McMaster University Medical Centre – Mitochondrial Disease Research, Hamilton, Ontario, September 9, 2007.
One week theatre production of “If it be your will…Songs of Leonard Cohen” with singer Cliff Le Jeune and pianist Paul Simons, Chester Playhouse, Chester, NS, August 28 – September 2, 2007.
Tour of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia with singer Cliff Le Jeune and pianist Paul Simons; “If it be your will…Songs of Leonard Cohen” May 11-16, 2007.
Marigold Center: performance of string quartets by Schubert and Dvorak, Truro, NS, April 22, 2007.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: collaboration with pianist Walter Delahunt. Featuring Blue Engine First Violinist, Jennifer Jones, Brahms violin sonata and Brahms Horn Trio with David Parker, horn, and Brahms piano quintet, Halifax, NS, March 11, 2007.
Private performance by singer Cliff Le Jeune and Blue Engine String Quartet for the Govenor General, Her Excellency, Michaelle Jean and His Excellency, Jean-Daniel Lafond, Halifax, NS, February 11, 2007.
Music Room Concert Series: quartet concert – Mozart string quartet in D major k. 575, Borodin string quartet No. 2, Halifax, NS, January 24, 2007.
Grace United Church Concert Series: performance of traditional Christmas music, Dartmouth, NS, December 5th, 2006.
Presbyterian Church of St. David Concert Series: performance of string quartets by Schubert and Dvorak, October 24th, 2006.
Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Concert Series: guest artists with Duo Concertante (violinist Nancy Dahn and pianist Tim Steeves), performing a CBC commissioned work for Duo Concertante and Blue Engine String Quartet by Brian Current as well as works by Chausson and Mozart. Recorded live by CBC Radio, St. John’s, Newfoundland, September 15, 2006.
Music Room Concert Series: collaboration with pianist Peter Allen featuring Brahms and Korngold piano quintets, Halifax, NS, April 19, 2006.
Juno Awards Gala Live Television Broadcast: collaboration with singer Michael Bublé, Halifax, NS, April 2, 2006.
Music Room Concert Series: collaboration with David Parker and Mary Lee, horn players performing works by Beethoven and Mozart, Halifax, NS, March 1, 2006.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: collaboration with Symphony Nova Scotia Concertmaster, Terry Tam and SNS Music Director and cellist, Bernhard Gueller performing Schubert quintet and Mendelssohn Octet, Lunenburg and Halifax, NS, February 11 and 19, 2006. Recorded live by CBC Radio, Halifax, NS, February 19, 2006.
Sanctuary Concert Series: performance of original works by Peter Togni and Jeff Reilly, Halifax, NS, May 10, 2005.
Bauer Theatre: quartet concert featuring light classics, Antigonish, NS, April 9, 2005.
Dalhousie University Faculty Concert Series: performance with Dalhousie voice professor Marcia Swanston and pianist Barbara Pritchard, Halifax, NS, April 3, 2005.
CD Release of “If it be your will… Songs of Leonard Cohen” with singer Cliff Le Jeune and pianist Paul Simons, recorded by CBC, Halifax, NS, March 11, 2005.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: performance with Philippe Djokic, viola and Denise Djokic, cello featuring Brahms Sextet in B flat major and Schoenberg Verklaerte Nacht, Halifax, NS, January 8, 2005.
Music Room Concert Series: performance with Janice Jackson, soprano, Halifax, NS, December 1, 2004.
Dalhousie University Faculty Concert Series: performance with Dalhousie piano professor, Lynn Stodola featuring Dohnanyi and Shostakovich piano quintets, Halifax, NS, October 17, 2004.
Artists in Residence, Saint Cecilia Concert Series, 2003-2004.
The following four concerts were presented:
- March 6, 2004 performance with composer and pianist Peter Togni featuring the premiere of his string quartet.
- Jan. 13, 2004 performance with SNS principal oboist Suzanne Lemieux.
- Dec. 7, 2003 performance with Duo Concertante (Nancy Dahn, violin, and Timothy Steeves, piano).
- Nov. 9, 2003 performance entitled "Lost Composers" featuring music suppressed during the Nazi era with guest artists Sung Ha Shin-Bouey, soprano, Peter Allen, piano and Shimon Walt, cello.
Mahone Bay Concert Series: performance with pianist Barbara Pritchard featuring Dvorak piano quintet, Mahone Bay, NS, Aug 22, 2003.
"Quartet Plus Four at Christmas", a Vision TV production aired on Vision TV, Bravo and CBC every December since 2003 featuring the Blue Engine String quartet as well as collaborations with Canadian singers Cindy Church, Jeri Brown, Lina Boudreau and Mary Jane Lamond.
Atlantic Scene Festival: performance with singer Cliff Le Jeune in Ottawa, ON, April 26, 2003.
University of New Brunswick Concert Series: performance with Artist in Residence, pianist and composer, Peter Allen featuring the premiere of his string quartet, Fredericton, NB, March 12, 2003.
Saint Cecilia Concert Series: performance of songs by Leonard Cohen and Elvis Costello's “Juliet Letters" with singer Cliff Le Jeune, Halifax, NS, January 29, 2003.
Indian River Festival: performance with singer Cliff Le jeune and Christopher Palmer, piano, “If it be your will…songs of Leonard Cohen”, Indian River, Prince Edward Island, July 26, 2002.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “Thwarted Voices” – a chamber music concert dedicated to the lives and memories of those people who perished during, as well as those who escaped and survived, the Holocaust. Works by Georg Tintner, Hans Krasa, Pavel Haas, Robert Convery, Erwin Schulhoff, Viktor Kohn, Zikmund Schul and Frantisek Domazlicky. Pier 21, Halifax, NS, May 22, 2002.
Dartmouth Community Concert Association: “According to Mozart…” – a collaboration with actor/playwright Peter Duschenes. Letters between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father, Leopold Mozart read aloud dramatically and in costume by Peter, interspersed with movements of Mozart’s string quartets performed by the quartet. Dartmouth, NS, April 26, 2002.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “An Evening of Comedy…Music by P.D.Q. Bach (1807-1742)?” - a collaboration with colleagues of Symphony Nova Scotia and other special guests, Halifax, NS, February 9, 2002.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “If it be your will…Songs of Leonard Cohen” – a collaboration with singer Cliff Le Jeune and pianist Christopher Palmer, Halifax, NS, October 19 & 20, 2001.
Mahone Bay Summer Concert Series: “According to Mozart…” – a collaboration with actor/playwright Peter Duschenes. Letters between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father, Leopold Mozart read aloud dramatically and in costume by Peter, interspersed with movements of Mozart’s string quartets performed by the quartet. Mahone Bay, NS, August 24, 2001.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: a collaboration with pianist Peter Allen featuring the music of Amy Marcy Cheney Beach – her piano trio performed by Trio Nova Scotia (Jennifer Jones, vln., Hilary Brown, cello, Peter Allen, piano), string quartet, and piano quintet. Recorded live by CBC Radio, Halifax, NS, May 15, 2001.
East Coast Music Awards: performance in Jazz/Classical Concert Series. Recorded live by CBC Radio, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, February10, 2001.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “Percussion Frenzy” – a collaboration with percussionists D’Arcy P. Gray and Kristie Ibrahim, Halifax, NS, December 6, 2000.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “According to Mozart…” – a collaboration with actor/playwright Peter Duschenes. Letters between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father, Leopold Mozart read aloud dramatically and in costume by Peter, interspersed with movements of Mozart’s string quartets performed by the quartet, Halifax, NS, October 21, 2000.
BBC Television: film documentary on the music of Dudley Moore – performance (in Moore’s presence) of his string quartet at the Kejimkujik Seaside Adjunct, South Shore, NS, August 29, 2000.
Indian River Festival: performance with soprano Sung-Ha Shin-Bouey and clarinettist Margaret Isaacs. Recorded live by CBC Radio, Indian River, Prince Edward Island, August 27, 2000.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: collaboration with the Saint John String Quartet (of New Brunswick) featuring Mendelssohn’s Octet. Wolfville, NS, May 9, 2000; Halifax, NS, May, 8, 2000; Saint John, NB, May 3, 2000; Fredericton, NB, May 2, 2000. Recorded live by CBC Radio in Saint John, NB, May 3, 2000.
Guest soloists with Halifax orchestra “Nova Sinfonia” in Edward Elgar’s “Introduction and Allegro” for String Quartet and Orchestra, Op. 47. Halifax, NS, April 17, 2000.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: collaboration with pianist Walter Delahunt featuring Beethoven’s “Ghost” piano trio in D major, Op. 70, No. 1, Dvorak’s piano quartet in E flat major, op. 87, and Brahms piano quintet in F minor, Op. 34, Halifax, NS, January 26, 2000.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “Trains, Trains, Trains” featuring Steve Reich’s “Different Trains” for quartet and pre-recorded CD, Christos Hatzis’s string quartet No. 1 “The Awakening” (formerly known as “Nunavut”) for string quartet and tape, and R. Murray Schafer’s “Train” for strings, brass and percussion. Performed at VIA Rail Train Station, Halifax, NS, November 24, 1999.
Dalhousie University Faculty Concert Series: collaboration with Dalhousie violin professor Philippe Djokic and Dalhousie piano professor Lynn Stodola featuring Ernest Chausson’s concerto for violin, piano and string quartet in D major, Op. 21. Performed in Halifax, NS, October 3, 1999.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: performance with guest Symphony Nova Scotia string colleages - works by Mozart, Rossini and Mendelssohn. After intermission a collaboration with vocalist Chris Church featuring Elvis Costello’s “The Juliet Letters” (a song sequence for string quartet and voice) at Halifax bar & restaurant, “The Velvet Olive” April 21, 1999.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: “Women of Note” – a quartet concert in honour of International Women’s Day featuring an entire programme of works by women composers (Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Sarah W. Aderholdt, Elizabeth Raum, Gloria Coates and Lucie Vellère), Halifax, NS, March 3, 1999.
CBC Radio: recording for radio broadcast of Christos Hatzis’s string quartet No. 1 “The Awakening” (formerly known as “Nunavut”) for string quartet and tape, Halifax, NS, December 2, 1998.
Scotia Festival of Music: performance as Guest Artists of Christos Hatzis’s string quartet No. 1 “The Awakening” (formerly known as “Nunavut”) for string quartet and tape, Halifax, June 13, 1998.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: collaboration with jazz/gospel singer Jeri Brown featuring songs by Kurt Weill, arranged for voice and string quartet accompaniment by Chris Palmer and Chris Church. Halifax, May 8, 1998.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series: collaboration with percussionist D’Arcy P. Gray featuring works by Steve Tittle, Dmitri Shostakovich, Arvo Pärt, and Gary Kulesha. Halifax, April 16, 1998.
Blue Engine Music Concert Series INAUGURAL CONCERT: collaboration with Anthony Rissesco, Peter Allen, special guest conductor Wallace Leung, and guest Symphony Nova Scotia colleagues featuring works by Sammartini, Brahms (sextet in B flat major), Copland (Appalachian Spring), Cam Wilson (Fantasia on the Turtles’ Happy Together), and Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody). Halifax, NS, March 11, 1998.
Organizational work/first recording etc. for grant applications etc. – i.e. when it all began! Halifax, Fall 1997.
Canadian Works Performed
Brian Current: “Faster Still” for solo violin, piano, and string quartet. Commissioned by CBC Radio for Duo Concertante (Nancy Dahn , violin & Tim Steeves, piano), and the Blue Engine String Quartet. World premiere recorded live by CBC Radio St. John’s Nfld, September 15, 2006.
Anthony Genge: string quartet (world premiere) Canadian Music Centre Composers’ Reading, November 2002, Music Room Series, December, 2004 and recorded for a CD compilation of works by Anthony Genge, April 2005.
Peter Togni: piano quintet, “Caspian Blue” (world premiere) and performance of his first string quartet, Saint Cecilia Concert Series, Halifax, NS, March 6, 2004.
Peter Allen: string quartet (world premiere) University of New Brunswick Concert Series, Fredericton, NB, March 12, 2003.
R. Murray Schafer: "Train", Blue Engine Music Concert Series, Nov. 24, 1999, Halifax, NS.
Elizabeth Raum: String Quartet, Blue Engine Music Concert Series, Halifax, NS, March 3, 1999.
Christos Hatzis: String Quartet No.1, "The Awakening" (formerly entitled "Nunavut") performed at Scotia Festival of Music, Halifax, NS, June 13, 1998 and again in Blue Engine Music Concert Series, Halifax, NS, Nov. 24, 1999,
Steve Tittle: “Let it Shine all the Time” for string quartet and vibraphone, Blue Engine Music Concert Series, Halifax, NS, April 16, 1998.
Gary Kulesha: Quintet-Sonata for marimba and string quartet, Blue Engine Music Concert Series, Halifax, NS, April 16, 1998.
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