Neruda Songs

Symphony Nova Scotia will honour the memory of one of the 20th century’s most spiritual and inventive American composers, the late Peter Lieberson, with a performance of his Neruda Songs on Thursday, February 7 at 7:30 pm at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax.

Audience members will also be a part of history. Symphony Nova Scotia is partnering with CBC Maritimes, CBC Producer Jeff Reilly, and Juno, Emmy, and Grammy award-winning concert film makers, Pierre and François Lamoureux of Cinemusica, to create a live audio visual recording of the best known of Lieberson’s works, based on five Spanish sonnets by Pablo Neruda, each a reflection of a different aspect of love. The resulting concert film will be nationally and internationally distributed, a testament to the beauty of this award-winning composition, of Mr. Lieberson’s reputation as a composer, and his leadership within the Buddhist community that led him to call Nova Scotia home.

Born in New York City, Peter Lieberson spent several years in Nova Scotia as a director at Halifax’s Shambhala Centre. During his time in Nova Scotia, Lieberson was a member of Symphony Nova Scotia’s board of directors, as well as a guest-conductor and composer for the orchestra. In 2006, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. 

Lieberson's Neruda Songs, was originally commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony, and performed by the late, magnificent, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. It will be performed by Andrea Ludwig, praised by Halifax Chronicle Herald music critic Stephen Pedersen as having “tones of silver and gold.” Nova Scotia audiences know Andrea Ludwig from her recent performance of a new piece by Peter Togni in the Atlantic Jazz Festival in July, and from her collaboration with Symphony Nova Scotia and Music Director Bernhard Gueller in R. Murray Schaefer’s Adieu Robert Schumann.

Under the direction of Maestro Bernhard Gueller, Andrea Ludwig and Symphony Nova Scotia, in collaboration with CBC, will honour Lieberson’s memory with this one-of-a-kind performance. This will also be the first time since 1992 that the symphony has performed Schumann’s “The Rhenish.” Additionally, the program will include Anton Bruckner’s Three Pieces for Orchestra.

Tickets are available now. Prices range from $29-$54 (HST included), or you can pick up a ticket package and save up to 30%. Student and group discounts are also available. Call 494.3820 or visit www.symphonynovascotia.ca.