{"id":113214,"date":"2025-04-02T14:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T18:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=113214"},"modified":"2025-04-03T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T12:00:01","slug":"interview-pianist-jennifer-king-talks-curation-upcoming-album-souvenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/04\/02\/interview-pianist-jennifer-king-talks-curation-upcoming-album-souvenance\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Pianist Jennifer King Talks About Curation, And Her Upcoming Album Souvenance"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_113216\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-113216\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-113216\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2.jpg\" alt=\"Pianist Jennifer King (Photo: Jive Photographic)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/04\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-113216\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Jennifer King (Photo: Jive Photographic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Souvenance is the title of an upcoming album by pianist Jennifer King. The release of works for solo piano, including piano nocturnes, romances without words, and meditations, is a collection that begins in the Romantic era, stretches into the 20th century, and even to today.<\/p>\n<p>The composers represented on the release are all women, including King herself in an arrangement of Joni Mitchell&#8217;s iconic song Blue. The album is meant to convey a personal and introspective experience of the music and its varying moods of hope, heartbreak, strength and vulnerability.<\/p>\n<p>Souvenance will be released on April 25 on Wharf Records, with one single \u2014 C\u00e9cile Chaminade\u2019s, Nocturne in B major, Op. 165 \u2014 available already <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lnk.to\/opus165\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G7pDHc3qUOQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h2>Jennifer King, Piano<\/h2>\n<p>Jennifer King is a performer, collaborator, adjudicator, coach and recording artist. She also hosts the Cecilia Concerts Sensory Accessible Series in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She is equally at home performing as a soloist as she is as a chamber musician.<\/p>\n<p>The Canadian-British musician earned a Bachelor of Music from Acadia University, a Master of Music in solo piano performance from McGill University, and then went on to receive postgraduate diplomas from the University of Reading (UK) and the Royal Academy of Music in London, UK.<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer is a familiar face on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/08\/29\/preview-violinist-gillian-smith-pianist-jennifer-king-bring-nova-scotia-toronto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">concert circuit in the Maritimes and across Canada<\/a>. She has commissioned several original works from Canadian composers, and has also has co-written a musical play about women gaining the right to vote with mezzo-soprano Suzanne Campbell.<\/p>\n<p>As a recording artist, her catalogue has been characterized by thoughtful curation of the works involved. Her debut recording, O Mistress Moon (2018), spans 200 years of nocturnes and other music inspired by the night by composers Chopin, Britten, Satie, Debussy, Barber, Poulenc, Schumann, Scriabin, Respighi, and JUNO award winning Derek Charke. She followed up in 2022 with O Mistress Moon: Canadian Edition, featuring all-Canadian composers, which won the ECMA for Classical Album of the Year for 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Other albums include (among others), Doolittle: Minute \u00c9tudes \u201cExcerpts\u201d (Live), including excerpts from a series of piano pieces by composer Emily Doolittle, and Twilight Hour (2020), which features a collection of 12 short works inspired by fairy tales.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/fOjVxHBMbsw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Jennifer King: The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>Careful curation and selection is very much part of the recording process for King.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think that\u2019s something that\u2019s always interested me \u2014 how music can be juxtaposed, and how it can cause a different reflection of that piece,\u201d King says.<\/p>\n<p>She recalls being an avid reader in high school. At one point, she read a huge anthology of poetry, and seeing the works together, and observing how her perception of the individual poems was influenced by what she\u2019d read previously, left an impression.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s one way of working with a standard repertoire that includes hundreds of years worth of material, and literally thousands of pieces.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you\u2019re always playing somebody else\u2019s interpretations, it\u2019s a way to leave your mark,\u201d she notes. \u201cIt\u2019s always been a lifelong interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She counts herself lucky to have the opportunity to curate her own programs these days, including those for the Cecilia Concerts Sensory Accessible Series. \u201cThat\u2019s a really strong drive in what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZUPFeKLDLBs?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s a contrast to the approach of many artists, who will choose to focus on a single composer for an entire album.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know if I can do that!\u201d she laughs. Jennifer notes that she reads three books at once, for example. \u201cI like to see how these things relate to each other.\u201d Choosing pieces that move from one era to another, and revolve around a theme, can serve to reveal connections between the music and different periods of history.<\/p>\n<p>As she points out, she began recording after she\u2019d already established herself in a career, working at a university and performing as a collaborative pianist. \u201cI didn\u2019t start recording until I was in my late 40s,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p>While she was at Oxford, however, the seeds were planted by explorations in a wonderful music store, where she was introduced to many pieces of music.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just started collecting nocturnes.\u201d That\u2019s where O Mistress Moon came from. It felt like time for her to do something on her own, and her collection of nocturnes was calling. When she released the redux, O Mistress Moon \u2013 Canadian Edition, she says she \u201creluctantly\u201d submitted it for an ECMA (East Coast Music Award).<\/p>\n<p>Twilight Hour, with its fairy tale theme, arose from music she\u2019d collected for performances that involved live painting and dance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had this beautiful little collection of fairy tale pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with music she\u2019d collected, her albums have included original commissioned works.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the composers themselves like having this theme,\u201d she notes. \u201cThat has helped in my curation. It becomes very personal, this curation.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/b8z1BglGiw0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>Souvenance<\/h3>\n<p>Souvenance came about partly because of happenstance. Jennifer happened to have some time for a project during the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a really good piano dealer here in Halifax,\u201d she notes. It led to the purchase of a wonderful grand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy am I going to rent a hall, and pay for a piano that I don\u2019t really know what it will sound like?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Together with multi JUNO Award winning producer\/recording engineer John DS Adams, she set to work. Adams gave the thumb\u2019s up to her idea of recording from her living room. The only sticking point was ambient noise.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went around to 18 neighbours,\u201d she recalls. She asked if they could possibly not mow their lawns or do noisy yard work between certain specific hours of the day. As she reports, they were thrilled to comply.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was kind of a good community building exercise,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n<p>The pieces on the album include music, much of it seldom heard or recorded, by French composers Mel Bonis (1858 to 1937), and C\u00e9cile Chaminade (1857 to 1944), Russian-born Canadian composer Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatt\u00e9 (1899 to 1974), and American Dana Suesse (1911 to 1987), along with Clara Wieck-Schumann&#8217;s Notturno in F Major, Op. 6 No. 2, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel&#8217;s Notturno in G Minor, H-U 337, and King\u2019s own arrangement of Joni Mitchell\u2019s Blue.<\/p>\n<p>Finding and collecting the repertoire is an ongoing process. Jennifer had been introduced to C\u00e9cile Chaminade during her undergrad days, for example. Some of her work as a collaborative pianist led to further discoveries.<\/p>\n<p>When it came to lesser known pieces like Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatt\u00e9\u2019s Caprice II Nocturne \u201cGute Ruh\u201d, E.96, a little more digging was required. King says she found one single recording of the work to use as a reference. It meant research to determine the composer\u2019s original intentions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really feel like it\u2019s a new offering. I\u2019m really proud of my interpretation of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For her own compositional input for the album, she was looking for music, and an artist, that crossed genres. Joni Mitchell and her music fit that bill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted some more Canadian content,\u201d she adds. \u201cI actually want to send this improvised version to Joni.\u201d She likens it to the \u201crecomposed\u201d albums, which are inspired by a specific piece, but improvise around it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI improvise,\u201d she says of her compositional process. It\u2019s not something she often does in a public concert, but that may change. Her work with Mitchelll\u2019s Blue has sparked a new direction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI put this nugget of this beautiful, stunning song on the album because it\u2019s kind of where I want to go next.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find links to pre-reserve, stream or buy Souvenance [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lnk.to\/souvenance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<li>If you\u2019re on the East Coast, you can attend the Halifax album launch; details [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/s\/album-launch-souvenance\/2601977590009803\/?mibextid=wwXIfr&amp;rdid=LWu6Z1L5sbLokabh&amp;share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2F1FM8RexhVN%2F%3Fmibextid%3DwwXIfr#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? 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