{"id":118103,"date":"2025-10-03T16:17:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T20:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=118103"},"modified":"2025-10-06T08:00:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:00:02","slug":"interview-pianist-cheryl-duvall-composer-linda-catlin-smith-talk-plains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/10\/03\/interview-pianist-cheryl-duvall-composer-linda-catlin-smith-talk-plains\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Pianist Cheryl Duvall & Composer Linda Catlin Smith Talk About The Plains"},"content":{"rendered":"
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L: Linda Catlin Smith (Photo: Claire Harvie); R: Cheryl Duvall (Photo: Shayne Gray)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Plains, a new album that releases today (October 3, 2025) on Redshift Records, is the result of a collaboration, and friendship, between pianist Cheryl Duvall and composer Linda Catlin Smith. It\u2019s the first volume of a new set of recordings of Duvall playing Smith\u2019s complete works for solo piano to date.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s music has been gaining accolades in recent years, including praise from international media like the Guardian, the BBC, the Wire, and Gramophone \u2014 along with a commission from the BBC Proms.<\/p>\n

Unusually, The Plains consists of one, one-hour long work.<\/p>\n

LV spoke to both artists about the project.<\/p>\n

Composer Linda Catlin Smith<\/h3>\n

Linda Catlin Smith was born in New York City, where she first studied composition and theory with composer and pianist Allen Shawn. She went on to further studies in composition at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. Her studies in piano began at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and continued privately in Victoria.<\/p>\n

Smith made the move to Toronto in 1981, and became Artistic Director of Arraymusic from 1988 to 1993. She taught composition at Wilfrid Laurier University from 1999 to 2020.<\/p>\n

Her compositions have been performed by a wide range of ensembles and artists in North America and internationally, including Goeyvaerts Trio, Psallentes, Tafelmusik, Victoria, Kitchener-Waterloo and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, Continuum, Tapestry New Opera, Via Salzburg, Evergreen Club Gamelan, Exaudi, and the Penderecki and Bozzini string quartets, and soloists such as Eve Egoyan, Philip Thomas and Elinor Frey, among others.<\/p>\n

Pianist Cheryl Duvall<\/h3>\n

Cheryl Duvall has developed a reputation as one of Canada’s premier interpreters of new music. With an Honours BMus and Diploma of Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Master\u2019s of Piano Performance and Pedagogy from University of Toronto, she began to focus on the music of living composers during her student days.<\/p>\n

Cheryl co-founded Thin Edge New Music Collective in 2011 with violinist Ilana Waniuk, and since then, the ensemble has commissioned more than 70 new works from composers, have toured and held residencies internationally. Cheryl has also worked with choreographers, film composers, and others on unique projects.<\/p>\n

Linda Catlin Smith & Cheryl Duvall: The Interview<\/h2>\n

Linda Catlin Smith and Cheryl Duvall met as teacher and student, respectively, at Wilfrid Laurier University<\/p>\n

\u201cCheryl was performing student compositions as a concert series,\u201d Smith recalls.<\/p>\n

Duvall was taking a course in composition as part of the theory component in her degree. Smith helped out with student concerts at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to know her when she was a very interesting composer in the first year,\u201d Smith says.<\/p>\n

Their musical friendship continued, and a few years later, Duvall would form Thin Edge New Music Collective in 2011. Thin Edge\u2019s inaugural concert included one of Smith\u2019s pieces. In 2023, the ensemble commissioned and recorded Dark Flower from Smith, for which the composer netted a JUNO nomination. (Begin watching below at the 51 minute mark or so.)<\/em><\/p>\n