Symphony Nova Scotia wins 2016 ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year

Orchestra wins for collaboration with Canadian composer Tim Brady, entitled The How and the Why of Memory

Halifax, NS – Symphony Nova Scotia is the winner of the 2016 East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year.

The ECMA was awarded to Symphony Nova Scotia’s record The How and the Why of Memory, released by Centrediscs in September 2015.

The record featured three new orchestral works written by prominent Canadian composer Tim Brady, as part of a four-year creative collaboration between Brady and Symphony Nova Scotia.

The works were conducted by Symphony Nova Scotia Music Director Bernhard Gueller, with solo appearances from Canadian musicians Robert Uchida (violin) and Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot (viola). All three works were recorded live in concert at Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.

“We’re so honoured to be recognized with an ECMA for this exciting and rewarding project,” says Chris Wilkinson, CEO of Symphony Nova Scotia.

“This record was a four-year journey for us, and one that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of so many dedicated partners. We’re very grateful to composer Tim Brady, along with our two brilliant soloists, our Music Director Bernhard Gueller, and our fantastic musicians. We’d also like to thank the teams at Centrediscs and CBC, our producer Jeff Reilly, our recording engineer Rod Sneddon, and the incredible audience at these live recordings.”

The three symphonic works performed on The How and the Why of Memory include:

  • REQUIEM 21.5: VIOLIN CONCERTO, featuring Robert Uchida, violin. Recorded April 2012.
    A dramatic and emotional three-movement violin concerto, with string orchestra.
  • THE HOW AND THE WHY OF MEMORY: SYMPHONY #4. Recorded March 2014.
    A symphony featuring an accessible blend of jazz, rhythm, and melody, and exploring how we listen to, imagine, and remember music.
  • VIOLA CONCERTO, featuring Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot, viola. Recorded January 2015.
    A piece showcasing four aspects of the viola – its lyrical/melodic side, its virtuosity, its mysterious side, and its ability to really groove!

The record’s two featured soloists, Robert Uchida and Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot, are both prominent Canadian performers. Uchida served as Symphony Nova Scotia’s Concertmaster from 2006 to 2013, and since then has been Concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony. He has been praised for his “ravishing sound, eloquence and hypnotic intensity” (Strings Magazine), and has been heard throughout North America and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster to great acclaim.

Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot is also a fixture on the Canadian classical music scene, teaching at the Université de Montreal, releasing several critically acclaimed recordings, and serving as President of the Canadian Viola Society. Her virtuoso performance on this recording received particular praise for its “cocoa-coloured sound and brilliantly lyrical playing” (The Whole Note).

Additional praise for The How and the Why of Memory includes:

  • “On this album… we hear [Tim Brady’s] composer chops applied to orchestral forces: a symphony bookended by two string concertos, one for violin and one for viola. They are admirably rendered by Symphony Nova Scotia, conducted by Bernhard Gueller.” – The Whole Note
  • “Symphony Nova Scotia under Bernhard Gueller bring us enthusiastic, detailed readings of the works. They center around Brady’s Symphony No. 4, ‘The How and the Why of Memory’ (2010-13) which is a rhythmically charged, bold and expressive modern work. The performances are inspired and the music, indeed, lingers on in the memory as something to return to often. Very recommended.” – Classical Modern Music Review

In addition to Symphony Nova Scotia’s ECMA win for Classical Recording of the Year, the orchestra’s RBC Composer in Residence Dinuk Wijeratne also won the 2016 ECMA for Classical Composition of the Year. Wijeratne was nominated for his new work entitled Two Pop Songs on Antique Poems, performed by the Afiara Quartet with Nova Scotia’s Skratch Bastid on their award-winning 2015 release Spin Cycle. The work was also recently awarded a 2016 JUNO for Classical Composition of the Year.

Audio samples of Symphony Nova Scotia performing The How and the Why of Memory are available here, and a video introducing the record is online here.
The record is currently available for purchase at symphonynovascotia.ca, Centrediscs, iTunes, and amazon.ca. The CD is also available in person at Symphony Nova Scotia concerts at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.

Symphony Nova Scotia will release its next record, an exploration of music from beloved composer Franz Schubert, in the summer of 2016.

TimBrady2About Tim Brady
Based in Montreal, Tim Brady is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, and producer who creates music in a wide range of genres, including orchestral music, chamber opera, contemporary dance scores, jazz, and free improvisation.

Praise for Brady includes:

  • “Tim Brady’s Third Symphony, Atacama, (is) a work of haunting and explosive power.” – Gramophone
  • “The most striking (performance) was Tim Brady’s Atacama: Symphony #3… highly recommended.” – Wire

Brady has been commissioned and performed by numerous ensembles and orchestras in North America and Europe, including the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, New Music Concerts, INA-GRM (Radio-France), the English Guitar Quartet, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Esprit Orchestra (CBC), the Philadelphia-based Relâche ensemble, the Australian group Topology, and the British string ensemble The Smith Quartet.

Since 1988, Tim Brady has released 20 CDs as both a composer and a performer. He is also the founding president of the Canadian New Music Network, serving from 2005 to 2014.

Behind the scenes of “The How and the Why of Memory”

About Symphony Nova Scotia
Symphony Nova Scotia is Nova Scotia’s orchestra. Each year more than 50,000 audience members (including 15,000 young music lovers) join us in communities across Nova Scotia for performances of the music they love – from baroque and classical to pop and rock and folk. Under the inspirational leadership of Music Director Bernhard Gueller, Symphony Nova Scotia is one of the most broadcast orchestras in the country, with over 20 commercial releases and multiple East Coast Music Awards. Visit symphonynovascotia.ca to learn more, listen online, or get tickets today!

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For more information, please contact:
Heidi MacPhee
Director of Communications and Marketing, Symphony Nova Scotia
902.421.5264
[email protected]
symphonynovascotia.ca