(Halifax/Kjipuktuk, NS) Nova Scotian composer Amy Brandon is releasing her cello concerto Simulacra, now available on Bandcamp. 

Recorded in January of 2023 with acclaimed cellist Jeffrey Zeigler (jzcello.com) and Symphony Nova Scotia, the work was conducted by Karl Hirzer (karlhirzer.com) in a live performance as part of Upstream Music’s Open Waters Festival at St. Andrew’s United Church in Halifax. 

The dramatic and sonically shifting work was commissioned by Zeigler with assistance from Arts Nova Scotia and Canada Council for the Arts, and recorded by John D.S. Adams of Stonehouse Sound. 

Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler, a former member of the internationally renowned Kronos Quartet, lives in New York and is Assistant Professor of Chamber Music and Innovation at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. He is considered one of the most innovative and versatile cellists of our time, described by the New York Times as “fiery,” and a player who performers “with unforced simplicity and beauty of tone.”

This single is the first release from a new album anticipated in early 2024, which will include chamber pieces by Brandon performed by Quatuor Bozzini, Ensemble Paramirabo, Chartreuse Trio, and the Alkali Ensemble. All the music on the new album was written since 2017 and recorded between 2019 and 2022. 

The title of the cello concerto, Simulacra, refers to Baudrillard’s famous book on semiotics, and the concept of ‘a copy that does not have an original’, or the idea that sometimes we create our identities out of nothing, becoming hyperreal, says composer Brandon. Throughout the piece, timbral elements undergo continuous transformation, eventually ending in an uneasy balance.

Composer Amy Brandon's pieces have been described as “...gut wrenching and horrific” (Critipeg), and "otherworldly, a clashing of bleakness with beauty" (Minor Seventh). Her performances, installations and acoustic works have been presented at the Gaudeamus Festival (Screen Dive), National Sawdust (NYC), Trinity College (Dublin), and the Winnipeg New Music Festival. She has received Canadian and international composition awards and honourable mentions including the Leo Brouwer Guitar Composition Competition (Grand Prize 2019) and an East Coast Music Award 2022 for Composer of the Year. She teaches composition at Dalhousie University at the Fountain School of Performing Arts.

For more information, please visit amybrandon.ca

AmyBrandon Simulacra MvtIII

AmyBrandon Simulacra MvtII

AmyBrandon Simulacra MvtI

02 Amy Brandon - Scavenger - Scavenger

01 Amy Brandon - Scavenger - Artificial Light

05 Amy Brandon - Scavenger - Transform

gouging at a forest sea

Composer Amy Brandon's pieces have been described as “...gut wrenching and horrific” (Critipeg), and "otherworldly, a clashing of bleakness with beauty" (Minor Seventh). Her performances, installations and acoustic works have been presented at the Gaudeamus Festival (Screen Dive), National Sawdust (NYC), Trinity College (Dublin), and the Winnipeg New Music Festival. She has received Canadian and international composition awards and honourable mentions including the Leo Brouwer Guitar Composition Competition (Grand Prize 2019) and an East Coast Music Award 2022 for Composer of the Year. She teaches composition at Dalhousie University at the Fountain School of Performing Arts.

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