CROSSING BORDERS HISTORY
Crossing Borders is a concert series founded by Batt in 2014 that features contemporary music by living Canadian composers and musical artists from around the world. With themes of themes of compassion, contemplation, beauty, loneliness, darkness, healing, and warmth, the pieces presented in this series mirror both modern societal views and ancient cultural contexts through the lenses of humour, hope, and nostalgia. Three programs have toured to Halifax, Toronto, and Philadelphia with Cheryl Duvall on piano: Crossing Borders: A Celebration of New Music from New Mexico to Nova Scotia (January/March 2015) Crossing Borders: Realities Blurred (March and August 2016) Crossing Borders: Mission Compassion (January/February 2018). Crossing Borders: Travesía Latinoamericana toured to Canada and Colombia in October and November 2019 with Fabián Arciniegas (tenor) and Claire Harris (piano).
Art song is a featured genre on this recital series, but programs also often include opera, musical theatre, and electronics. So far, Crossing Borders has given 12 world premières and has given composers and works countless Canadian/American/Colombian premières. Among those world premières are works by Bob Bauer, Leila Lustig, Saman Shahi, Anthony T. Marasco, Anna Höstman, Rodney Sharman, Jessie Rivest, Rosśa Crean, Alondra Vega-Zaldivar, Leo Herrera, Mario Gómez-Vignes, Chris Hutching.
One of the cycles that Crossing Borders commissioned and premièred 2018, Breathing in the Shadows (Saman Shahi) will be released on a commercial album later in 2020 on Leaf Music’s label with support from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts.
Upcoming commissions by Canadian composers Elisha Denburg, Amy Brandon, and Chia Yin Wu are programmed for Crossing Borders 2021-2022.
Crossing Borders tours have been supported by SOCAN, Arts Nova Scotia, and FACTOR. And Crossing Borders commissions have been supported by Arts Nova Scotia and Ontario Arts Council.
Previous calls for scores can be found here, here, and here for reference. If you want to discuss commissioning, please feel free to get in touch. You can also find posts about Crossing Borders on my site here.
