MP3 Roddy Ellias & Donna Brown - Acts of Light

14 MP3 Songs in this album (50:02) !
Related styles: Classical: Art songs, Classical: Chamber Music, Type: Vocal

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Details:
Acts of Light. Texts by Sandra Nicholls, Music by Roddy Ellias. Donna Brown (soprano), Jennifer Swartz (harp), Ken Simpson (marimba), Frederic Lacroix (piano), Roddy Ellias, (guitar).

Roddy's music has been described as âshimmering musicalityâ Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen; âExquisite ⦠the kind of subtlety you donât often hear ⦠anywhere.â Mark Miller, The Globe and Mail; â⦠gorgeous expressions ⦠full of warmth and generosity of spirit.â Richard Todd, Music critic.

The phenomenal soprano, Donna Brown, has sung throughout the world and recorded with many of the worlds finest musicians. Jennifer Swartz is the principal harpist with the Montreal Symphony. Ken Simpson is a percussionist with Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra and Frederic Lacroix is one of the most sought after young pianists around. Various combinations of these wonderful musicians is magical.

Review: Acts of Light luminous with insight, beauty and love BY RICHARD TODD, THE OTTAWA CITIZEN JULY 9, 2011
REVIEW (Music and Beyond) Acts of Light, the music of Roddy Ellias St. Andrewâs Church, Friday, July 8
OTTAWA â The program was called Acts of Light, and it could scarcely be described better. The whole evening was luminous with insight, beauty and, dare I say it, love. The program, officially the launch of Roddy Elliasâs CD of the same name, was made up mainly Elliasâs songs, though there were other things as well.
The songs, all of them settings of poems by the composerâs wife, Sandra Nicholls, were drawn from the cycle on the CD and an earlier one called Beyond the Halos of a Feathered Moon â Songs of Peace.
Five musicians were involved, soprano Donna Brown, harpist Jennifer Swartz, percussionist Kenneth Simpson, pianist FreÌdeÌric Lacroix and Ellias himself, who played the guitar.
The first set of songs was accompanied by an ensemble of guitar, harp and marimba. It included Coming into Being, an entirely convincing rendition of a text of shimmering beauty.
Shimmering beauty, thatâs another way one could describe the evening.
The Beyond the Halos songs were for voice and piano, perhaps a little less ethereal than the others but no less engaging. Their inner logic was flawless, but it was the power of the words and music to move the heart that was their chief strength.
Ellias played three movements from a sonata for guitar solo. Each was pleasing in its own way, the first and last utterly exquisite.
Much of the eveningâs success lay upon the shoulders of Donna Brown, whose voice was a joy in every offering. She also contributed something unique: a prose poem of her own called Golden. It was recited rather than sung, a few short flourishes for the harp and some dance movements contributing to its considerable effect.
It told of someone visited by the Muse and invited to fly away. But unable to let go, the someone felt the muse fade away, then tried to assure herself that she would return.