Award-winning Canadian pianist Louise Bessette will perform a variety of works, including Nova Scotia composer John Plant’s new work, West Jeddore.
“West Jeddore is a small fishing village on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. It has been a part of my life since 1970 and is now my home,” says Plant, “In this work, commissioned by Louise Bessette as part of her inspiring project A Piano Around the World, my intention was to capture in sound something of the deep hold this place has in my heart. It has always been a place where I breathe more easily, where I am most in touch with the vastness and wonder of being.”
Presented by Cecilia Concerts, the October 14 concert will also include Anthony Rozankovic’s Pier 21. The son of immigrants from the part of Yugoslavia that is now Croatia, Rozankovic’s family arrived in Canada through Halifax’s Pier 21, now the country’s national museum of immigration. His composition Pier 21 is inspired by the journey of his family and the nearly one million immigrants who landed in Canada through the seaport immigration shed.
Bessette will also perform Paul Frehner’s Amelia, After Harbour Grace, a work inspired by Amelia Earhart, who took off from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland and Labrador, in 1932 for her historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, making her the first woman to achieve this feat.
All three composers will be present for Bessette’s Halifax concert, which also includes works by Spanish and Latin American composers Joaquín Turina, Ernesto Lecuona, and Astor Piazzolla.
Louise Bessette performs in the Lilian Piercey Concert Hall at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts (6199 Chebucto Rd, Halifax) on October 14. Visit ceciliaconcerts.ca for tickets and information.