Lady of the Lake Maureen Batt

• Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828):
• 1Ellens Gesang I, Op 52 No. 1, D. 83707:28
• 2Ellens Gesang II, Op 52 No. 2, D. 83803:16
• 3Bootgesang, Op 52 No. 3, D. 83501:38
• 4Coronach, Op 52 No. 4, D. 836 "Todtengesang der Frauen und Mädchen"05:41
• 5Normans Gesang, Op 52 No. 5, D. 84603:00
• 6Ellens Gesang III, Op 52 No. 6, D. 839 "Ave Maria — Hymne an die Jungfrau"05:49
• 7Lied des gefangenen Jägers, Op 52 No. 7, D. 84302:54
• Fiona Ryan:
• 8Lady of the Lake: No. 1, Soldier Rest - Hunter Rest04:55
• 9Lady of the Lake: No. 2, Prayer05:12
• 10Lady of the Lake: No. 3, Battle Cries and Prophecies "Roderick"01:47
• 11Lady of the Lake: No. 4, Battle Vignette "A Warrior's Farewell"04:08
• 12Lady of the Lake: No. 5, Battle Cries and Prophecies "Blanche"02:04
• 13Lady of the Lake: No. 6, Song of a Warrior Woman04:25
• 14Lady of the Lake: No. 7, Battle Cries and Prophecies "Brian"01:54
• 15Lady of the Lake: No. 8, The Prisoner's Lament04:28
• 16Lady of the Lake: No. 9, Reconciliation - Mémoire04:21
• Total Runtime01:03:00

Info for Lady of the Lake

Canadian soprano Maureen Batt will be releasing her debut album „Lady of the Lake“ in collaboration with independent label Leaf Music​. Batt has joined forces with pianist Simon Docking, bass-baritone Jon Paul Décosse as well as the Halifax Camerata Singers to record two exciting song cycles based on the epic poem ‘Lady of the Lake’ by Sir Walter Scott.

Noted by Opera Canada as a “young, lovely and captivating soprano,” Batt is passionate about sharing Canadian contemporary music with the world. She is co-artistic director of Essential Opera, now in its seventh season, and has performed throughout the world in opera roles and as a recitalist.

The recording features a rare recording of Franz Schubert’s Op. 52 song cycle Sieben Gesänge aus Walter Scotts “Fräulein am See” (Seven songs from Walter Scott’s “Lady of the Lake”) combined with a newly composed cycle by Nova Scotia composer Fiona Ryan. While the Schubert cycle includes the famous melody ‘Ave Maria,’ the work is rarely heard in its full context among six lesser-known Schubert songs.

Ryan’s work includes a ‘Prayer’ inspired partly by Schubert’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as a strong influence of folk traditions. She writes: “I draw upon Scottish (and Nova Scotian) folk music traditions in my songs. Some movements are very obviously influenced by Scottish folksongs, such as ‘Soldier’s Farewell’ (which could be as much at home at a folk music session in a pub as in a concert hall) and others draw inspiration from rhythmic patterns, ornamentation, and droning sounds found in Scottish bagpipe music.”

Maureen Batt, soprano
Simon Docking, piano
Jon Paul Décosse, bass-baritone
Halifax Camerata Singers

Maureen Batt
Noted by Opera Canada as a “young, lovely and captivating soprano,” and by the Halifax Herald as being “enthusiastically at home on stage” and having an “endlessly energetic and animated interpretation,” Maureen Batt is an accomplished concert and opera artist.

Maureen’s opera credits include Belinda, Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Silvia, L’isola disabitata (Haydn), Lauretta, Gianni Schicchi (Puccini), Rosa, Il campanello (Donizetti), Polly, The Threepenny Opera/Die Dreigroschenoper (Weill), Morgana, Alcina (Händel), Nina, Chérubin (Massenet), Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Eusebia, Die Freunde von Salamanka (Schubert), Jenny, La Dame Blanche (Boieldieu), Papagena, Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Zerlina, Don Giovanni (Mozart), Annina, La Traviata (Verdi), Despina, Così fan tutte (Mozart), Laetitia, The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti), Serpina, The Maid Mistress (Pergolesi), Limonia, Ten Belles Without a Ring (Von Suppe), Miss Silverpeal, The Impresario (Mozart).

As an actor, she has appeared in Theatre St. Thomas University’s productions of Measure for Measure, Oh, What a Lovely War, and Caucasian Chalk Circle. She filmed a TV pilot for a series called Oznaberg, which premiered in the 2011 Silverwave Film Festival, and has since aired on Rogers Television.

Her selected concert and oratorio credits include Handel’s Messiah and Esther, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore and Exsultate Jubilate, Bach’s BWV 187 Es wartet alles auf dich, BWV 4 Christ lag in Todes Banden, and BWV 245 St. John Passion.

Maureen’s formal training includes a Master of Music from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Music from Dalhousie University, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Thomas University. She is an alumna of the St. Andrews Opera by the Sea workshop, the Halifax Summer Opera Workshop, the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival, and the Daniel Ferro Vocal Program in Italy, and the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy (CO-SI).

She is equally at home in opera, oratorio, cabaret, musical theatre, art song, and contemporary music. An avid supporter and promoter of new Canadian music, Maureen has both commissioned and premièred many works by emerging and established composers. She performed in a number of the Toy Piano Composers’ seasons, including the Opera Scenesters production; performed in Toronto Operetta Theatre’s TAPTOO! première; participated in a singer-composer collaborative workshop in Halifax called Opera from Scratch; performed in the 2013 Tapestry Songbook New Opera 101 program; and participated in the Contemporary Performance Studies program at the Vancouver International Song Institute, where she performed works by living Canadian composers, and worked with composers Jake Heggie and Jeffrey Ryan. She has created the roles of Helen (Aunt Helen, Pearce), Keri Ferrell (Hipster Grifter, Denburg), Lorelei Henderson (Stockholm Syndrome, Ryan), Bride (Cake, Pearce), Hannah (Hannah & Paige and the Zombie Pirates, Thornborrow), Dorothy Parker (Etiquette, Pearce), Anna (Regina, Denburg), and Cindy (Heather:Cindy + Mindy =BFFS 4EVER, Thornborrow).

Maureen is the co-artistic director of Essential Opera. Founded in 2010, Essential Opera is committed to presenting a wide variety of concert opera works, ranging from the Baroque to contemporary. Essential Opera has been invited to perform with organizations around Ontario including Open Ears Festival and New Hamburg Live. Essential Opera opened Season 5 with Gluck’s Paride ed Elena (Amor) in September 2014 in Toronto, and in Kitchener and closed with Essential Zarzuela! including Vives’ Bohemios (Cossette). The company has premièred a triple bill of new Canadian operas and will be remounting Etiquette by Monica Pearce and Regina by Elisha Denburg with Opera Lyra in October 2015. Essential Opera has also been invited by the Gilsig Series to remount Regina in Halifax in October 2015. For more information, please visit the Essential Opera Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Maureen has had the distinguished honour of being invited to perform as a guest soloist for Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan during their visit to Ottawa, marking 80 years of diplomatic ties between Canada and Japan. And, with the St. James Choir in Toronto, she sang for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburg.

Among the list of conductors and directors Maureen has worked with are Andrew Ager, Derek Bate, Larry Beckwith, Michael Capon, Laura Caswell, Robert Cooper, Philippe Djokic, Gary Ewer, Richard Hornsby, Steven Jarvi, Walter Kemp, Kevin, Mallon, Peter Merrick, David Passmore, Leigh Rivenbark, Ilkay Silk, Guillermo Silva-Marin, and Vicki St. Pierre. As part of the BlackCreek Music Festival Chorus, Maureen had the honour of singing under the batons of Marvin Hamlisch, Eugene Kohn, and Lorin Maazel.

Booklet for Lady of the Lake