Triple ECMA Award Nominee to Record with 10 Symphonies in 3 Months For Upcoming True North: The Canadian Songbook
TORONTO, March 9, 2016 /CNW/ - Eleanor McCain is about to make history.
In an unparalleled and ambitious move to celebrate the country's 150th birthday with her upcoming True North: The Canadian Songbook, the three-time East Coast Music Association Award nominee is traveling across Canada from St. John's, NL to Victoria, BC to record with 10 orchestras for inclusion on her 33-song recording project.
"The idea for this project began in January 2014 and was to reimagine some of our most iconic Canadian songs in new arrangements for orchestra in celebration of Canada's 150th birthday," said McCain. "But if you plan on recording with a Canadian symphony, how do you choose only one? That's when the dream happened: wouldn't it be great to do this with orchestras across the country and make it Pan-Canadian."
To fulfill this dream, Florenceville, NB native McCain will be trekking across the nation between the months of March and June with Emmy Award-winning album producer Don Breithaupt (The Breithaupt Brothers Songbook), conductor Martin MacDonald, and orchestral recording engineer Jeremy Tusz to capture the dynamic and powerful sounds of 40-plus-piece orchestras based on arrangements provided by such stellar arrangers as Shelly Berger, Peter Cardinali, Darren Fung, Lou Pomanti, and Sarah Slean, to name a few.
True North: The Canadian Songbook, is a musical celebration of 32 of the nation's best-known songs, plus 1 original, as interpreted by Eleanor McCain. It will feature some of the country's most distinguished performers and recording artists as special guests.
"When I created the song list for this project, I wanted a cross section of styles and songs from across the country. Yet they also had to be songs consistent with my style," said McCain, a classical crossover artist with a five album catalogue.
Song titles and guest artists will be announced at a later date.
The orchestral portions of the recording kick off with the 56-piece Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Edmonton, Alberta on March 22. The project then relocates to the East Coast later that week to Halifax and Saint John for sessions with Symphony Nova Scotia and Symphony New Brunswick respectively.
April will be bookended by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in Winnipeg and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in St. John's, while the first 13 days in May will include visits to the Victoria Symphony in Victoria, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Vancouver, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Kitchener-Waterloo and L'orchestre symphonique de Québec in Quebec City.
The orchestra sessions will be wrapped in Ottawa on June 13-14 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra.
In addition to the recording, a coffee table book featuring picturesque Canadian landscapes captured by nationally prominent photographers will accompany the double CD. The album is also being offered as a stand-alone double CD with an enhanced booklet and as a digital download. The album and book are scheduled for release on Retriever Records in the spring of 2017 in time for Canada's Sesquicentennial birthday.
The project will also be captured on film for a companion documentary.
"I am so excited to start the orchestra recording sessions and to eventually share these wonderful arrangements of some of Canada's most iconic songs with everyone," McCain enthused.
Please visit www.EleanorMcCain.ca for further details.
True North: The Canadian Songbook participating orchestras and dates:
Date: March 22 (Edmonton)
Orchestra: Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Date: March 24 (Halifax)
Orchestra: Symphony Nova Scotia
Date: March 26 (St John, NB)
Orchestra: Symphony New Brunswick
Date: April 4 (Winnipeg)
Orchestra: Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
Date: April 24 (St. John's, NL)
Orchestra: Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra
Date: May 2 (Victoria)
Orchestra: Victoria Symphony
Date: May 4 (Vancouver)
Orchestra: Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Date: May 10 (Kitchener-Waterloo)
Orchestra: Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony
Date: May 13 (Québec City)
Orchestra: L'orchestre symphonique de Québec
Date: June 13-14 (Ottawa)
Orchestra: National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra
SOURCE Deb McCain Communications
Image with caption: "Eleanor McCain (Photo Credit: Greg Locke) (CNW Group/Deb McCain Communications)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20160309_C8835_PHOTO_EN_638913.jpg
For further information, images and to arrange interviews with Eleanor McCain, please contact: Deb McCain, 416-402-5681, [email protected]; Wonjay Chang, 647-349-2899, [email protected]
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