The Canadian Music Centre has just launched Centrestream – a free online service that provides audiostreams of the CMC’s music collection. Boasting 62 solid days of music, the 8,000 recordings are representative of works from over 700 Canadian composers.

(The Globe and Mail just released the story – you can find it here)

In order to access the free service, you do have to register. However, everything is self-explanatory and easy to access, allowing you to browse music by composer or genre, as well as search for specific pieces.

This is a great resource to listen to and learn more about hundreds of Canadian composers – including: Violet Archer, Norma Beecroft, Dorothy Chang, Emily Doolittle, Sophie Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatte, Ruth Watson Henderson, Sara Scott Turner and more!

I was lucky enough to be invited to hear a concert given by Tapestry this past weekend. My home in eastern Pennsylvania, about halfway between Philadelphia and New York City, is not known as a stopping point for touring artists. However, the undergraduate conference of medieval studies at Moravian College combined with Yuletide celebrations at a local church brought Tapestry and their music into my backyard. What a treat!

Laurie Monahan, Cristi Catt, and Daniela Tosic founded the Boston-based ensemble in 1995, and the group has grown to include numerous other guest members as each concert program requires. The program I heard was titled “Faces of A Woman” and featured works written by and for famous women. Composers included Comtessa Beatrice de Dia, Hildegard of Bingen, Joan Szymko, and Malvina Reynolds.

I was so glad to not only have such outstanding musicians performing in my little city, but also thrilled to be hearing such an impressive concert program of works all too often neglected from standard repertoire. The group has recorded six CDs (snippets of the recordings can be heard here), and they specialize in the music of Hildegard of Bingen.

I think I was most impressed by how succinctly and expertly Tapestry presented a glimpse into the breadth of musical history that can all be too easily forgotten. The audience, which consisted primarily of elderly members of the church congregation and very studious undergraduates, were all very pleased with the concert – most, I’m sure, walking away with a more well-informed education than what they had before the event. So, kudos to Tapestry! I hope to hear them again very soon.