"I am 3/4ths Canadian, and one 4th New Englander - I had ancestors on both sides in the Revolutionary war." - Elizabeth Bishop
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Monday, July 27, 2015

Fantastic Festival Food -- "In the Village" Cafe offers great fare for the Elizabeth Bishop Festival

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival is less than two weeks away. This full day of activities and events (food for the mind) will require fuel (food for the body). The "In the Village" Cafe, located in St. James Church, will be providing a special festival menu: breakfast, lunch and supper. The only thing to note is that if you would like to attend the supper, you need to make a reservation (no payment in advance is required). We recommend that you make your reservation early, as space is limited and they will go fast.
Check out the festival program on the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia website. All festival events will be cash or cheque only. There is an ATM machine at the Wilsons' Gas Stop in Great Village.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Carole Langille's Art Folk

Recently, Elizabeth Bishop Festival artist Carole Langille had an exhibit of her Art Folk (her driftwood people) at the Craig Gallery in Alderney Landing in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Here is a link to a YouTube video about that exhibit -- it will lift your spirits to watch it! Carole will bring some of her Art Folk to the Elizabeth Bishop Festival Market on 8 August 2015 in Great Village, N.S. She will also participate in a conversation about art and life in the afternoon. Join us and meet Carole and her delightful driftwood people.

"Girls Dancing" -- and they really are having a good time!!
You will have a good time at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival presents....

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival is a one-day arts extranvaganza with over 35 artists and artisans -- a feast for the mind. There will also be a feast for the body, amazing food offered by the "In the Village" Cafe (we will be posting more about what the cafe has planned very soon). From breakfast to supper and beyond, there will be activities and events for all ages. As if this was not enough, we are thrilled that the EBSNS Honorary Patron Suzie LeBlanc will perform with four astonishing musicians. We look forward to seeing you there.
Tickets will be available only at the door, so come early! There will be other wonderful music during the day: Brookfield musican Joanne Hatfield and singer Rosalee Peppard. Come for the whole day!

Friday, July 10, 2015

Music from the 45th Parallel North at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival: Profile of singer Suzie LeBlanc

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015 concludes with an exciting concert featuring four superbly accomplished, world-class artists: singer Suzie LeBlanc, and musicians David Greenberg, Nick Halley and Kiya Tabassian – with special guest Michel Angers. Suzie has created a brand new program which is being shared first with Nova Scotia audiences. The EBSNS is partnering with Musique Royale (http://www.musiqueroyale.com/events.html), which is presenting this exciting concert at three other venues across the province. This post is a profile of Suzie LeBlanc.
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Suzie LeBlanc (http://suzieleblanc.com) was born in Acadia, and fell in love with the Baroque early in life. Now an international star, the charismatic soprano provides convincing evidence for the popularity of Early Music while exploring French mélodies, lieder, Acadian folk music, contemporary music and, with Ensemble Mélosphère, the art of improvisation.
Suzie was recently appointed to the Order of Canada for her contribution to Acadian culture and to the performance of Early Music, and has also earned four honorary doctorates and a career grant from the Conseil des Arts du Québec.
Suzie’s recordings have received several prestigious awards, including a Grammy award for a recording of Lully’s Thésée with the Boston Early Music Festival, an Opus awards for best world music recording — “Tempi con Variazioni” — and best contemporary album, for a disc of early songs by Olivier Messiaen. In 2014, she was awarded ECMA’s Best Classical Album (2014) for “I am in need of music” (http://www.musiccentre.ca/node/77772), which was also a finalist for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks Award.
2015 is a busy year for Suzie, including the songs on poems by Elizabeth Bishop from her CD “I am in need of music” with the Victoria, P.E.I. and New Brunswick symphony orchestras; Mozart arias with Symphony New-Brunswick; a duet concert with Emma Kirkby and Les Idées Heureuses and multiple appearances at the Montreal Baroque Festival. She also teaches at the Orford Arts Centre Academy in June and at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance (LAMP) in the fall.
Suzie is the founder and artistic director of Montreal’s Le Nouvel Opéra and the honorary patron of the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia.

[Ed. Note: Like Elizabeth Bishop (and perhaps even more extensively), Suzie is a world traveller. The music of this concert will, in part, reflect this experience, which echoes in so many ways with Bishop’s own life. Elizabeth Bishop had many “Questions of Travel” and Suzie’s exploration of the world through music is a journey that would have enthralled Bishop herself. The EBSNS is thrilled to have Suzie and her fellow musicians to take us on this journey in Great Village.]

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Music from the 45th Parallel North at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival: Profile of musician Michel Angers

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015 concludes with an exciting concert featuring four world-class artists: singer Suzie LeBlanc, and musicians David Greenberg, Nick Halley and Kiya Tabassian. – and  surprise guest Michel Angers! Suzie has created a brand new program which is being shared first with Nova Scotia audiences. The EBSNS is partnering with Musique Royale (http://www.musiqueroyale.com/events.html), which is presenting this exciting concert in three other venues across the province. This post is a profile of Michel Angers.
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Michel Angers completed a Master in interpretation of Baroque guitar. Twice scholarship holder at the Fondazione Marco Fodella, he perfected himself in early music under the direction of Paul Beier, at the Accademia Internazionale della Musica di Milano, in Milan.
 
Priced with honors unanimously by the Quebec Conservatory of Music with Paul-André Gagnon as a teacher, Michel Angers received grants from many cultural organizations including the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Academy of Music of the Domaine Forget, Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in Toronto, Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and winner of the Suzanne Hamel-Michaud scholarship in 2005. In 2006, he recorded for the program “Jeunes Artistes-Espace musique” at Radio-Canada.

Winner of the national final of the Canadian Music Competition in 2005, Michel Angers is very active on the international music scene. In addition to his many musical projects including Consort Baroque Laurentia with the talented soprano Peggy Bélanger, he played with Ensemble Constantinople, Les idées heureuses, Les Violons du Roy, Da Sonar, Ensemble Anonymus, Theatre of Early Music and Tafelmusik.

In 2011, Michel Angers won the prize for artistic creation for the Chaudière-Appalaches region, presented by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. He has recorded with Consort Baroque Laurentia and the soprano Peggy Bélanger for the prestigious Italian label Stradivarius Amanti, io vi sò dire (2011) and Passioni, Vizi & Virtù (2014).

Elizabeth Bishop at Wikileaks

References to Elizabeth Bishop, it turns out, may be found in several places within the Wikileaks archives. Whoever would have thought? -- JAB

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Music from the 45th Parallel North at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival: Profile of musician Kiya Tabassian

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015 concludes with an exciting concert featuring four world-class artists: singer Suzie LeBlanc, and musicians David Greenberg, Nick Halley and Kiya Tabassian. Suzie has created a brand new program which is being shared first with Nova Scotia audiences. The EBSNS is partnering with Musique Royale (http://www.musiqueroyale.com/events.html), which is presenting this exciting concert in three other venues across the province. This post is a profile of Kiya Tabassian.
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Kiya Tabassian (http://www.banffcentre.ca/faculty/faculty-member/4672/kiya-tabassian/)  was born in 1976, in Tehran, Iran, immigrating to Montreal in 1990. He has been trained in Persian music under Reza Ghasemi and Kayhan Kalhor. He studied musical composition at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Gilles Tremblay.
In 1998, he co-founded Constantinople (http://constantinople.ca/?lang=en), a Montreal based ensemble which has earned an international reputation for its unique juxtaposition of early musical sources and the living traditions of the Middle East. He has recorded 11 CDs for the Atma and Analekta labels and has created with Constantinople over 35 original programs performing them at some of the most prestigious festivals and venues such as  Salle Pleyel (Paris), Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (France), Festival de Musiques Sacrées de Fès (Morocco), Festival d’Ile de France (Paris), Festival Stimmen (Germany), Festival de Mexico en el Centro historico (Mexico), Schwetzinger SWR Festival (Germany) and Vancouver Summer Festival (Canada). Over the past decade, he has staged near 600 concerts in 110 cities in 26 different countries.
From 2002 to 2005, he was involved in the international MediMuses research project on the history and repertoire of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern music lands in several publishing and recording projects. As part of MediMuses, he published several articles on the music of Iran during the Safavid court and recorded a CD compiling the work of Abolhassan Saba together with Hossein Omoumi. Numerous musical groups and institutions have called upon his talents as a composer, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the European Radio Broadcasting Union. He has also composed music for documentary and feature films, including Jabaroot and Voices of the Unheard.
From 2005 to 2011, he has been a member of the Conseil des arts de Montréal and  the Chairman of the Music Committee during  three years. His artistic researches and creations receive the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Music from the 45th Parallel North at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival: Profile of musician Nick Halley

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015 concludes with an exciting concert featuring four world-class artists: singer Suzie LeBlanc, and musicians David Greenberg, Nick Halley and Kiya Tabassian. Suzie has created a brand new program which is being shared first with Nova Scotia audiences. The EBSNS is partnering with Musique Royale (http://www.musiqueroyale.com/events.html), which is presenting this exciting concert at three other venues across the province. This post is a profile of Nick Halley.
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Nick Halley (http://www.nickhalley.com/) is a drummer/percussionist, keyboardist, composer, and conductor. As a drummer and world percussionist, Nick has performed and recorded internationally with a wide range of musicians including James Taylor, Oscar Castro-Neves, Maucha Adnet, David McGuinness & Revenge of the Folk Singers, Concerto Caledonia, Jefferson Hamer & Eamon O’Leary, Old Man Luedecke & Tim O’Brien, the Chris Norman Ensemble, various Paul Halley ensembles, Suzie LeBlanc, Theresa Thomason, Diomira with Dinuk Wijeratne & Joseph Petric, Matt Brewer, and occasionally the Nick Halley Band. The recording Barnum Hiill (2008) features Nick and his ensemble performing some of Nick’s original compositions.

Nick is the founder and Artistic Director of the Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir (http://www.capellaregalis.com/) in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He is the founder and Director of The King’s Chorus, a choir for members of the King’s and Dalhousie University communities in Halifax.  Nick is also the Assistant Director of the acclaimed University of King’s College Chapel Choir directed by his father, Paul Halley. He is Cantor and Director for the chapel’s male Compline choir.  In 2012, Nick was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his contribution to Canada and Nova Scotia through the arts, particularly for his work with Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir. Nick was the Host of CBC’s Choral Concert for the 2013–2014 season.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Music from the 45th Parallel North at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival: Profile of musician David Greenberg

The Elizabeth Bishop Festival on 8 August 2015 concludes with an exciting concert featuring four world-class artists: singer Suzie LeBlanc, and musicians David Greenberg, Nick Halley and Kiya Tabassian. Suzie has created a brand new program which is being shared first with Nova Scotia audiences. The EBSNS is partnering with Musique Royale (http://www.musiqueroyale.com/events.html), which is presenting this exciting concert in three other venues across the province. This post is a profile of David Greenberg.
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David Greenberg (http://www.davidgreenberg.ca/) is a baroque violinist and fiddler in the Cape Breton and 18th-century Scottish styles. He grew up in Maryland, learning violin from age four and exploring various fiddling styles early on. David studied baroque violin with Stanley Ritchie at Indiana University in the 1980s and joined Tafelmusik for ten years, 1988–1998. With Kate Dunlay, he co-authored an influential treatise on Cape Breton fiddling, the DunGreen Collection. David co-founded several music ensembles, including the Medieval Quintet, Puirt a Baroque, Ferintosh, and Tempest Baroque Ensemble (http://www.tempestbaroque.ca/). He performs regularly with Chris Norman, Suzie LeBlanc, Red Priest (UK), Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (France) and Tempest. He is featured on dozens of recordings, including those with Seattle Baroque, Apollo’s Fire, Ensemble Caprice, Les Voix Humaines, La Nef, Toronto Consort, Doug MacPhee, Suzie LeBlanc, Chris Norman, Ferintosh, Concerto Caledonia, and Tempest. David and Tempest were involved in the EB100 celebrations, collaborating with Suzie LeBlanc and writer Harry Thurston on a wonderful concert program inspired by Bishop's poem "At the Fishhouses."

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Young film-makers at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival

Elizabeth Bishop has inspired film-makers over the years. Most recently, “Reaching for the Moon,” a Brazilian feature film about Bishop’s life with her partner Lota de Macedo Soares; and “Welcome to this House,” a documentary about Bishop’s life by New York film-maker Barbara Hammer. Three young women from Great Village have also been inspired by Bishop to create two short films, “Heritage Minutes,” as school assignments. One film is based on Bishop’s memoir, “In the Village,” and the other is inspired by World War I, the time during which Bishop was a child in Great Village. These films will be screened at the Elizabeth Bishop Festival, 8 August 2015, in Great Village, during dinner at the “In the Village” Café.

They are: Laura Sharpe, April Sharpe and Serena George. This post is a profile of these budding film-makers.
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Laura Sharpe is a currently and has always been, a resident of Great Village, Nova Scotia; the only place in the universe that could rival Gallifrey (see Doctor Who). She enjoys writing, but often spends more time coming up with story ideas than she actually does writing them; which leads to file folders full of partially written plot lines. The “My Great Village Monday” series found on the Festival Facebook and Twitter pages is the first public appearance of her writing. Laura also has an interest in all things vintage which has caused her to become the proud owner of three typewriters, a box camera and numerous other oddities. As a student at Cobequid Educational Centre, she has a passion for study of psychology; mainly surrounding the study of mental health and the stigma associated with it. She can often be found lounging around a record player listening to classic rock music and cuddling with her two cats, Tabby and Luna.
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April Sharpe, age 13, was born and raised in Great Village, with her sister and parents. She has long had a love for horses, soccer and books. She plays on a summer soccer team as well as her school soccer team. Music is a huge part of her life for she never seems to stop singing. You can often find her reading, taking her pet rabbit for a walk or watching reruns of Friends.
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Serena George is a former resident of Truro, however, she has called the Great Village area her home for the past eight years. Serena is currently a student at the local high school: Cobequid Educational Centre. She is well known for her wacky sense of style and you will be hard pressed to find someone who has dyed her hair more colours than Serena. When not hanging out with her eight siblings, she can often be found playing a wide variety of sports such as basketball, lacrosse, and soccer.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Lifting Yesterday — Supplement — Chapter 8: Reminiscences of “In the Village”

Chapter 8 of Lifting Yesterday is a compare and contrast exercise between two central Bishop texts. The first is an unpublished manuscript housed at Vassar College, written when Bishop was in her 20s, mostly during her time at Vassar. The second is her “prose poem” (Bishop’s term) memoir “In the Village,” written in Brazil in 1952–1953 and published in The New Yorker in December 1953.
In the Vassar College file list for the Elizabeth Bishop Papers, the first of the above texts is described as “Reminiscences of Great Village” (a name given to it by the archivist). In the early 1990s, I ordered a copy of the file list of the EBP from Vassar and as soon as I saw this title, I ordered a photocopy. Much of it is holograph and I spent months transcribing Bishop’s nearly illegible handwriting. As the transcription slowly accumulated on the page, I realized the full significance of this document: essentially, the first rendition of Bishop’s vivid memories of the breakdown of her mother in Great Village in 1916. I had already read “In the Village” and could see that this later version, highly refined with the passage of time and through aesthetic imperative, was a powerful artistic “echo” of her intense childhood memories, evolved from the raw and intimate words of the earlier version, transcending into something amazingly universal.

This supplement is a little story about “In the Village” and how Great Village itself learned about this story’s existence. One of my dearest friends in Great Village was Donalda Nelson, daughter of Donald and Alberta MacLachlan. Bishop was very fond of Don and Bertie. One of their oldest daughters, Margaret MacLachlan Motley, was a good friend of Bishop’s mother, Gertrude Bulmer Bishop. Bishop went to school with Muir MacLachlan (see her memoir “Primer Class” for a famous mention of Muir). Donalda herself, four years younger than Bishop, had memories of seeing Bishop walking the Bulmer cow Nelly to the pasture not too far past her family home (on Scrabble Hill Road in Great Village).

I met Donalda in the early 1990s, after she joined the Elizabeth Bishop Society of Nova Scotia, when it was formed in 1994. Donalda was a wonderful person. Always welcoming, she had a deep knowledge of the history of Great Village which she generously shared. After having lived away from Great Village for many years, she and her husband, Harry Nelson, had moved back and lived across the road from her family home, where her sister Margaret lived, and beside her brother Muir and his wife Helen. Donalda lived in the lovely old house that had belonged to the Great Village postmaster during Bishop’s childhood, Angus Johnson.

Donalda, Muir and Margaret kindly allowed me to interview them (recorded on a cassette tape) a couple of times, sitting in the kitchen of the MacLachlan family home, with its old stone oven and open fire place. Margaret died not too long after these interviews. She was over 100. Muir died in 2003, well into his 90s. Donalda died in 2014, nearly 100.

As often as I could when I went to Great Village, I would visit Donalda. We would sit in her kitchen and have tea using “Margaret’s teapot,” a small earthenware pot painted a soft pink. It made the best tea ever. Donalda’s stories were always engaging and she was always keenly interested to hear about Elizabeth Bishop activities. Over the years, I took a number of people to visit her, including BBC Radio 3 folks, who recorded her playing the piano (Donald and Alberta MacLachlan were accomplished musicians and this musical ability was passed on to a number of their children, including Donalda).

Often, Donalda would bring out objects and items that were of keen interest to us both. During one afternoon visit in the mid-2000s, she left the room for a moment and returned with an item, “You might be interested in this,” she said. It was a copy of the 19 December 1953 issue of The New Yorker, in which “In the Village” appeared (in great shape, I might add). You can imagine my delight. Donalda told me that Margaret was living in New York City in the 1950s, where in December 1953 she discovered Bishop’s story. She immediately recognized the village. She mailed this very copy back home to her family.

I have no idea if Bishop herself mailed a copy of it to her beloved Aunt Grace (who also lived in the village at that time). None was in Grace’s possession when she died. So, this copy from Margaret to her family may be the first hint in the village that it had been immortalized in print. The MacLachlans kept it, all that time. It eventually reached Donalda. I was thrilled to see it and even more thrilled when she quietly said to me, “Would you like to have it?” It is one of my prize possessions.
I attended the memorial service for Donalda held in St. James Church on 1 August 2014. She had chosen the music for this service and each song was gentle and uplifting. So like Donalda to think of those who would gather, who would feel deep sorrow at her passing, that her final act was one of gracious consideration and comfort. I always uplifted after a visit with Donalda, and I left her memorial service feeling the same way. I will always be grateful for all the gifts she gave me.
 

An Excerpt from Barbara Hammer's "Welcome to this House"