Genius Child: Celebrating Portia White with Cecilia Concerts

Cecilia Concerts presents:
Genius Child: Portia White at Town Hall

Saturday, 
November 9
7:30 p.m. 
St. George's Round Church
2222 Brunswick Street in Halifax

In 1944, Truro born contralto Portia White performed her New York City debut at Town Hall, a concert venue with a distinguished history of presenting early twentieth-century African American performers, including soprano Marian Anderson, bass-baritone Paul Robeson, and jazz singer Billie Holiday.

Efforts to support her in this career milestone transformed into the NS Talent Trust in 1944. During the last 75 years we were able to support over 1,000 aspiring Nova Scotian artists to pursue arts training to become professional artists.

This special presentation recreates White's historic NYC concert featuring works by Scarlatti, Schubert, and Brahms as well as spirituals and text by African American poet Langston Hughes. The Grammy Award-winning soprano Harolyn Blackwell is accompanied by prize-winning pianist Daniel Zelibor.

Cecilia Concerts presents this concert in partnership with the Nova Scotia Talent Trust with assistance from the Halifax Ladies' Musical Club and Arts Nova Scotia.

Celebrate Talent Trust's 2019 Scholarship Recipients

While Celebrating 75 Years of Dedication, the NS Talent Trust Continues to Invest in Aspiring Nova Scotian Artists     Having recently finished its adjudication process, the NS Talent Trust has awarded scholarships to 58 emerging Nova Scotian artists in the fields of dance, music, theatre, film/new media, circus arts, literary arts, and visual arts from all over the province.    Residing in New Glasgow, Lower Sackville, Windsor Junction, Wolfville, Sydney, Beaverbank, Hammonds Plains, Mineville, Prospect Bay, Port Williams, Kentville, Lakelands as well as Bedford, Dartmouth and Halifax. These aspiring artists further their development and training in Nova Scotia and other Canadian provinces, the United States, the UK, and even Italy.   Through their residencies, mentorships, and schooling, NSTT scholarship recipients inevitably promote Nova Scotia’s cultural relevance by studying in some of the best institutions worldwide. Like Portia White herself, the original catalyst for the organization’s formation, recipients sometimes become world renowned themselves like Barbara Hannigan, George Ellitott Clarke, and Lucy Pullen. Since Portia’s impetus in 1944, the Talent Trust has distributed more than two million dollars in scholarships to over 1,000 recipients.      The independent, volunteer Scholarship Selection Committees, made up of twelve professional artists, two from each discipline, obviously recognize artistic skill, but they also look for signs of lasting commitment. The artist’s life has more than its fair share of challenges and for the NSTT, dedication to professional achievement is as important as artistic potential. Since the province is overflowing with talent, the decisions are never easy.   This year’s 58 successful scholarship recipients were chosen from a field of 142 applications over two submission periods, 1 March and 1 May, 2019.  Five of the 58 scholarship recipients are supported by the NS Arts Endowment Fund in the amount of $2,000 each. They are Carrigan MacDonald in dance, Ryan MacDougall in musical theatre, Cassie Mann in composition, Sahara Nyathi in dance, and Sidney Robichaud in literary arts. The Nova Scotia Talent Trust scholarships totalled $80,000 in 2019.     Below is the complete 2019 list of Nova Scotia Talent Trust scholarship recipients. The list can also be found on our website.

List of the 2019 Talent Trust Scholarship and Nova Scotia Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Recipients CIRCUS ARTS RECIPIENTAcrobatics/Tumbling Morganne Hartlen, Mineville DANCE RECIPIENTSBallet Julia Barkhouse, Dartmouth  Chloe Bruce, Dartmouth Brooklyn Law, Bedford Mollie Oates-Johnson, Dartmouth Maggie Oates-Johnson, Dartmouth Aidan Vaudreuil, Lower Sackville Carrigan MacDonald, Bedford, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Sahara Nyathi, Halifax, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Ballet/Contemporary Niamh Draper, Bedford Stan Tonin, Windsor Junction Modern/Contemporary Gabrielle Kachan, Halifax Lucie Schmidt, Lakeview/Dartmouth Denver Scott, Halifax FILM Production and Post Production Rose-Marie Daniels, Port Williams Documentary Film Meagan Brown, Hammonds Plains Stop Motion and Digital Animation Katelyn Hawley, Hammonds Plains Directing and Producing Kassidy Mattera, Bedford Expanded Cinema Yalitsa Riden, Hammonds Plains LITERARY ARTSCreative Nonfiction Sara Leslie, Halifax Sidney Robichaud, Halifax, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship MUSIC RECIPIENTSKeyboard - Piano Devin Huang, Bedford Lala Lee, Halifax Andrew Son, Halifax Cindy Thong, Halifax Alex (Zixuan) Yang, Bedford Strings - Cello India Gailey, Wolfville Strings - Violin Rose Hanada, Halifax Lilith Richter-Stephenson, Dartmouth Indi Tisoy, Dartmouth Strings - Viola Ellis Yuen-Rapati, Dartmouth Strings - Double Bass Sean Sneddon, Halifax Voice - Opera Ruusu-Maaria Brousseau, Halifax Anisa Sobhani, Dartmouth Laura Johnston, Prospect Bay Morgan Reid, Sydney Nicholas Higgs, New Glasgow Nick Veltmeyer, Halifax Shanice Skinner, New Glasgow Composition Jessica MacIsaac, Halifax Cassie Mann, Halifax, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship Brass - Tuba Bryenton Innes, Lakelands Brass - French Horn Mimisu Lee, Halifax Brass - Trumpet Shaw Nicholson, Halifax Woodwind - Flute Amelia Bruce, Dartmouth THEATRE RECIPIENTSMusic Theatre Brooke Mitchell, Beaverbank Brent Raddall, Wolfville Ryan MacDougall, Hammonds Plains, NS Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship VISUAL/FINE ARTS RECIPIENTSInterdisciplinary Madeleine West, Halifax Gill Baldwin, Port Williams Caterina Slamovits, Halifax Design/Applied Craft Andrew Gilmour, Halifax Charles Bourne, Halifax Painting/Drawing Caitlin McGuire, Halifax Robin Lauzon, Kentville Textiles/Fashion Sienna Maeba, Halifax Jessie McLaughlin, Bedford Sculpture/Drawing Ada Denil, Halifax

The NSTT is supported by Margaret and David Fountain, the 2011 Canada Games Legacy Fund, RBC Foundation, The Craig Foundation, the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, Dalhousie Music in Medicine HEALS Program, Support4Culture, NSTT Foundation, Cecilia Concerts, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Theatre Nova Scotia, Debut Atlantic, Craft Nova Scotia,  immediaC, Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, CIOE 97.5 Community Radio, Symphony Nova Scotia, Neptune Theatre, FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Canadian Federation of Musicians, BoyneClarke Lawyers, RadioOui98.5, Mocean Dance, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Cape Breton University Art Gallery, MSVU Art Gallery, Halifax Central Library, Halifax Regional Municipality, and Arts Nova Scotia. The NSTT is pleased to work in partnership with the province to develop and promote our cultural resources for all Nova Scotians.

Becka Barker: FIN Special Program Featured Filmmaker Countdown

Media artist, Becka Barker is one of five NSTT scholarship recipients working in film that will be featured in our special partnership program with FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Then, Now, Change: Visions of Nova Scotia curated by Dr. Shannon Brownlee. 

Three of her film will be featured in the program:

And When Alone, Repeat (2017)
The strains of youth choir singing Robert Frost’s “Choose Something Like a Star” soar over animation based on images from weather balloons and dashcams.

Assembled (2006)
Etching each image by hand onto 35mm celluloid, Barker’s cameraless film explores loneliness and togetherness.

BUOY (2017)
Re-envisioning W.G. MacLaughlan's footage of the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, this “crowd-sourced” film was traced and drawn by scores of different hands.

Thursday, September 19
at 9:10 p.m.

Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane,
5657 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax

As described on her website, Becka Barker is an artist of settler ancestry who uses moving images, drawing, the English language, participatory performance, and collaboration in her work. Through these strategies, she explores intersections of geography, memory, and mediated communication.

A defining feature of her work is the use of hand-crafted processes, such as hand-processed analogue motion picture film and rotoscoped animation, as a media art methodology. She uses film and video frames as a starting point to develop an intimate relationship with visual increments as a way of considering relationships among knowledge, learning, and experience.

Becka’s work has been exhibited at venues such as the Ottawa International Animation Festival, Seoul’s EXiS (winner 2007, Best International Film), Images Festival (Toronto), Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (Montreal), KunstDoc Art Gallery (Seoul), Echo Park Film Centre (Los Angeles), Toronto Animated Images Society, WNDX (Winnipeg), and Struts Gallery (Sackville, NB). Her work has been supported by the National Film Board of Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and Halifax Regional Municipality. She has been regular part-time faculty at NSCAD University since 2005 and was visiting foreign faculty in the Film and Animation Department at SoonChunHyang University in South Korea from 2008-2012.

Becka’s educational research interests find her at the intersections of discourses on studio-based learning, multiliteracies, and language teaching pedagogy. She has shared her work at KOTESOL Pan-Asian Consortium (2010), TESL Canada (2012), CSEA/CAGE (2013), NSATA (2013, 2014), DCUTL (2016), AWELL (2014, 2016), UAAC (with collaborator Gerard Choy, 2016), STLHE (2017), and SAS (panellist, 2018).

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Ann Verrall: FIN Special Program Featured Filmmaker Countdown

Award-winning media artist, Ann Verrall is one of five NSTT scholarship recipients working in film that will be featured in our special partnership program with FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Then, Now, Change: Visions of Nova Scotia curated by Dr. Shannon Brownlee. 

In the program, we return to Rain (2000), 

a short about a children’s game that turns ugly when an older brother tries to force his sister to play and see the world his way.

Then, Now, Change:
Visions of Nova Scotia

Thursday, September 19
at 9:10 p.m.

Cineplex Cinemas Park Lane,
5657 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax

Ann Verrall is a Halifax-based, award-winning media artist who’s work spans genres of drama, experimental and documentary. A graduate of NSCAD University, Ann’s films have been screened at festivals in Canada, USA, England and Australia, broadcast on CBC, Movieola, MTV Logo, Super Channel and screened on Air Canada.

She has taught at NSCAD University and the University of Regina where she was the Filmmaker-in-Residence in 2009. Ann also does community-based video collaboration projects in Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan working in partnership with the Centre for Art Tapes in Halifax, cultural organizations in Regina, community groups and schools, as well as a team of professional artists from various disciplines – music, dance, theatre, visual arts and media arts.

In 2011, Ann received the Vision and Accomplishment award from Women in Film & Television Atlantic. Ann is currently in production on a feature documentary 500 Days in the Wild and a short documentary series The Beacon Project.



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Violinist Gillian Smith Launches Her Album with Jennifer King

Past recipient Gillian Smith launches her upcoming album Into the Stone, featuring music for solo violin by women Canadian Composers Kati Agócs, Alice Ping Yee Ho, Veronika Krausas, Chantale Laplante, and Ana Sokolović on the Leaf Music label. Her Halifax launch includes special guest, NSTT recipient, Jennifer King on piano. 

Image and Bio from https://gilliansmithviolin.com/

Wedn, Sept 25, 7 p.m. 

Paul O’Regan Hall 

Halifax Central Library

5440 Spring Garden Road 

Admission is free.

Saturday, October 5, 7 p.m.
Glenn Gould Studio 

250 Front Street West

Toronto

Hear a sneak preview of Dance II from Ana Sokolovic’s Cinque Danze per violino solo.

Artist Bios:

A dynamic and intuitive performer, Gillian Smith enjoys a varied and exciting performance career as a violinist. Deeply committed to performing music by contemporary composers, she has recorded two CDs with members of the Acadia New Music Society on the Centrediscs label: Live Wired, which features the music of Derek Charke, Jérôme Blais, and Anthony Genge, and In Sonorous Falling Tones, which features the music of Derek Charke and which was nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year in 2018. She can also be heard on a recording of the chamber music of Carmen Braden that will be released in November 2019.

Gillian Smith has appeared at such series and festivals as the Acadia Performing Arts Series, the East Coast Music Awards, Inner Space Concerts, the Music Room Chamber Players, Open Waters Festival, Shattering the Silence Festival, and Sunday Music in the Garden Room. She has also performed and recorded as an orchestral musician with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, and Symphony Nova Scotia.

A dedicated teacher, Gillian Smith serves as instructor of violin and viola at the Acadia University School of Music and as head of the upper strings department at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts. Her students have won top prizes and awards in regional and national competitions.

Gillian Smith holds degrees in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music (B.Mus.), the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (M.Mus.), and the University of Minnesota (D.M.A). Her teachers have included Jorja Fleezanis, Camilla Wicks, Peter Salaff, and Philippe Djokic.

As described on Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, the energetic and insightful, Jennifer King is a versatile pianist who is equally at home on the concert stage, in the classroom and teaching studio. She is in high demand as an adjudicator, coach, and clinician and has firmly established herself as a sought-after talent across Atlantic Canada.

Jennifer worked as staff pianist and part time faculty member at Acadia University’s School of Music from 2003. She currently works as a private piano instructor, coach and free-lance pianist based in Halifax. She is excited to join the faculty at MCPA in 2017. Ms. King has performed in hundreds of recitals and concerts as a collaborative pianist, chamber musician and as a soloist. Jennifer can be heard in concert alongside some of Canada’s most respected singers and musicians.

Ms. King holds a Masters of Music degree in solo piano performance from McGill University, postgraduate diplomas from the University of Reading in the UK as well as the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. Her accolades include two scholarships from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, and an Award of Appreciation from the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia in recognition of her contributions to musical life in the province. Recently Jennifer performed outside for 6 hours on the Halifax waterfront with artist Holly Carr for Nocturne Art at Night Festival. She has her first solo recording of all night inspired music – O Mistress Moon! due for release this Spring/Summer 2017.

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Letitia Fraser Shows Her Proud Paintings at MSVU Art Gallery

Winner of the NSTT’s 2018 RBC Emerging Artist Award Letitia Fraser shows her paintings at our 75th Anniversary partner organization, the MSVU Art Gallery, with work curated by Laura Ritchie. 

Photo and Bio from https://www.newscotlandblack.com/

Exhibition runs

Sept 14 - Nov 3

Opening Reception: 

Saturday, September 14, 
2 p.m.

MSVU Art Gallery
166 Bedford Highway

As described by the MSVU Art Gallery, this exhibition showcases a selection of works by Halifax painter and recent NSCAD graduate, Letitia Fraser. A proud descendant of North Preston, Letitia weaves faces from her life into textiles, both literal and figurative. Her recent accolades throughout Nova Scotia are many and this project allows a closer look at and meditation on her intimate work. 

Artist Bio:

Letitia Fraser is a figurative artist born and raised in Halifax Nova Scotia. Letitia is a proud descendant of North Preston. Coming from a long line of Artists. Her artistic interest was shown early in life. Her interest matured during her high school years driving her desire to continue to NSCAD, where she is a recent graduate.

​Her art work has been featured in exhibits at the Black Cultural Centre of Nova Scotia, the Freedom Festival Art Exhibit coordinated by the African Nova Scotian Music Association; and several exhibits by the Black Artist Network of Nova Scotia (2014-2017). In 2011 she illustrated images for “The Journey Continues; An Atlantic Canada Black experience.” Written by Craig M. Smith.

In 2018 Letitia had the opportunity to have her art work published alongside other women in Understorey Magazines 12th issue dedicated to African Nova Scotian Women. In 2018, she received the Nova Scotia Arts Endowment Fund Scholarship and the 2018 RBC Emerging Artist Award from Nova Scotia Talent Trust.

​In February of 2019 Letitia was featured on the cover of The Coast, and interviewed by CBC for her first solo, graduate exhibition Mommay's Patches, at the Anna Leonowens Gallery, where her piece "Rested" was currently on display in the Graduation exhibition, Along the Way.


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Chantal Peng Brings Her Piano Passion to NSTT’s Pop Up Series in Wolfville & Kentville

In celebration of our 75th Anniversary, award winning virtuosic piano player and scholarship recipient Chantal Peng, promotes the work of the NSTT through two Pop Up recitals in rural Nova Scotia. 

Sunday, September 15, 2019
2:30 p.m.
K.C. Irving Environmental Science Centre
Acadia University, 32 University Avenue, Wolfville


Sunday, October 20, 2019
2:00 p.m.
St. James Anglican Church
18 Prospect Avenue, Kentville 

Free and open to the public. 

In her own words:

“I have been involved in my community and surrounding areas since I began playing music. Whether I’m giving concerts on large stages across North America or performing for a senior’s home my purpose is to ensure the audience is engaged in the wonders of music making.

That’s why I believe the Nova Scotia Talent Trust is so crucial to Nova Scotia. Whether through words of encouragement or monetary scholarships their help allows studies and careers across the globe.

The Talent Trust scholarships have been the backbone of my career and I want to give back to the organization through my pop-up concerts and also rejuvenate community support for the arts as well as corporate support for charities like the Nova Scotia Talent Trust.”

Chantal Peng

Artist Bio:

19-year-old Chantal Peng is a classical pianist based in the Annapolis Valley, currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree with Professor John Hansen at Acadia University.

She continues to receive numerous accolades through her piano career. Apart from being interviewed for a feature on CBC Radio One Peng has performed for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2018 and won 1st Prize at the Canadian Music Competition National Finals as well as Great Composers’ International Concerto Competition in 2016. In 2017, she won the Tietje Zonneveld Award through the Nova Scotia Talent Trust. 

It's been three years since this video, just imagine Chantal now.

 


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Talent Trust Artist Spotlight Radio with Becka Barker and Gwyneth Christoffel

Tune in for the 5th edition of the Talent Trust Artist Spotlight.

Every first Thursday of the month with your host, past scholarship recipient and current board member Breagh MacKinnon.

September 5 at 1 p.m. 

97.5 CIOE Community Radio

Hear from two of the five NSTT alumni filmmakers showcased in the FIN Atlantic International Film Festival's special partnered 75th Anniversary program Then, Now, Change: Visions of Nova Scotia. Interdisciplinary-multimedia artist and academic, Becka Baker and animator and filmmaker Gwyneth Christoffel discuss the life of an artist in their chosen field. 

Previous episodes included:

Gina Burgess, Marcel d'Entremont, Gharrett Paon, Marc Djokic, Charley Young, Shandi Mitchell, Jane Archibald and Charlotte Wilson-Hammond. 

You can listen to former episodes here.


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In 2019, the Talent Trust is celebrating its 75th  anniversary featuring former scholarship recipients with a travelling art exhibition, pop-up events in theatre, music, and dance, film screenings and more.

The 75th anniversary activities are supported by the province of Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality, The Craig Foundation, Canadian Federation of Musicians, and Margaret and David Fountain. 

Jacinte Armstrong and D'Arcy Gray Pop Up Twice with Music and Dance

Past scholarship recipients Jacinte Armstrong and D’Arcy Gray do the Duo Drum Dance to celebrate our 75th Anniversary with two Pop Up performances in rural Nova Scotia. 

November 3 at 3:00 p.m. 

295 d'Entremont Road 

Meteghan River

(Private property ... look for markers)
postponed from September. 

&

Sept 28, 4:30 p.m.
Truro Farmers Market

Cooperative Space
15 Young Street, Truro

Free and open to the public. 
(photo credit: Louis-Charles Dionne)

Duo Drum Dance blends improvised sound, movement, music, dance, and jocularity. The audience will surely wonder: who’s dancing, who’s playing music, and what the heck is going on so that I am enjoying this?! 

The exciting collage of artistic expressions compliments the range of artistic disciplines the Nova Scotia Talent Trust supports.

We thank alumni Jacinte Armstrong and D’Arcy Gray for participating in our 75th anniversary celebrations and René Belliveau in Meteghan River, plus Melissa Page-Webster and Amanda LaRusic of KickTalkDance Productions in Truro for hosting and organizing the events.

About the artists:

Jacinte Armstrong is a Halifax-based dance artist who has worked with many collaborators locally and across Canada. Receiving her early training at Halifax Dance, she went on to study at Dalhousie University and at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL.

Jacinte is the Artistic Director of Kinetic Studio, and performs regularly with Mocean Dance, SiNS (Sometimes in Nova Scotia) dance, independently, and in her own work. Her choreography ranges from intimate and imagistic to large-scale collaboration with architects, visual artists, radio producers, filmmakers, and musicians. She has worked with many choreographers, including Cory Bowles, Sara Coffin, Susanne Chui, Veronique MacKenzie, Lisa Phinney, Tedd Robinson, Serge Bennathan, Denise Fujiwara and more. (bio from Mocean Dance website)

D’Arcy Gray joined the Symphony Nova Scotia administrative team as Education and Community Outreach Coordinator in March 2016.

D’Arcy is a very versatile musician who has played a great deal of orchestral, solo, chamber music, interdisciplinary, and free improv shows in many countries over the last 20 years. Originally from Amherst (well, Tidnish actually) here in Nova Scotia, he studied percussion at McGill University and the Juilliard School. He also studied electronic music with David Tudor in New York and at STEIM in Amsterdam. In the last 10 years he has given first performances of over 100 new pieces.

As an educator, D’Arcy has been teaching at the university level since 1991. He has been a guest artist or given workshops at many prestigious institutions like the Banff Centre, New Music Concerts, Conservatorium van Amsterdam, Cal Arts, and the Lincoln Centre Institute. He taught percussion at McGill University from 1991-2008.

D’Arcy moved back to Nova Scotia in 2008. Since then he has mostly been teaching at Dalhousie University (The Fountain School of Performing Arts), playing as an extra with Symphony Nova Scotia, and enjoying other collaborations with Suddenly Listen, MusIkon, and many other local artists. (Bio from Symphony Nova Scotia website) 


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In 2019, the Talent Trust is celebrating its 75th  anniversary featuring former scholarship recipients with a travelling art exhibition, pop-up events in theatre, music, and dance, film screenings and more.

The 75th anniversary activities are supported by the province of Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality, The Craig Foundation, Canadian Federation of Musicians, and Margaret and David Fountain.