ABOUT CROSSING BORDERS 

Crossing Borders is a concert series founded by Maureen Batt that features contemporary music by living Canadian composers and musical artists from around the world. With 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.

The most recent projects include world premières of Caroline’s Sweeper, a new opera by Michael Donovan, with libretto by Monica Pearce (2026), and Five Formosa Songs, a new song cycle by Chia Yin Wu 吳佳音, with poetry by Chen Mo Lin 林沈默 (2026). 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 (2015) Crossing Borders: Realities Blurred (2016) Crossing Borders: Mission Compassion (2018). Crossing Borders: Travesía Latinoamericana toured to Canada and Colombia in 2019 with Fabián Arciniegas (tenor) and Claire Harris (piano). Crossing Borders: Living Room Edition, was a livestreamed concert featuring works for solo soprano and soprano and electronics from Maureen’s living room in April 2020. Crossing Borders: Shifting the Lens featuring Tara Scott, Claire Harris, Fabián Arciniegas was a digital broadcast in December 2021. Our June 2023 digital broadcast was a première of Amy Brandon’s Vertical Labyrinth featuring Maureen Batt and the Halifax Camerata Singers.

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 18 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, Chia Yin Wu, Elisha Denburg, Claire Harris, and Michael Donovan.

One of the cycles that Crossing Borders commissioned and premièred in 2018, Breathing in the Shadows (Saman Shahi) was released on a commercial album in September 2020 on Leaf Music’s label, with support from Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, and Canada Council for the Arts. It earned Saman Shahi a JUNO nomination for Classical Composition of the Year (2022). Elisha Denburg’s Durme, Durme: Four Ladino Folk Songs was released on an EP February 2023, and was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year by Music Nova Scotia (2023). Chia Yin Wu’s Five Formosa Songs will be released as an EP in 2026-2027.

Crossing Borders concerts and tours have been supported by SOCAN, Arts Nova Scotia, and FACTOR. And Crossing Borders commissions have been supported by Arts Nova Scotia, the Canada Council for the Arts, Waterloo Arts Fund, and the Ontario Arts Council.

Previous calls for scores can be found here, here, here, and here for reference. If you want to discuss commissioning, please feel free to get in touch via the contact form or maureen @ maureenbatt . com. You can also find previous posts about Crossing Borders from past year on my site here.

RECENT PROJECTS

FIVE FORMOSA SONGS

WORLD PREMIERE ONLINE
December 22, 2025 – January 22, 2026

More info here:
www.maureenbatt.com/five-formosa-songs

PRODUCTION TEAM

Maureen Batt, soprano
Tara Scott, piano
Chia Yin Wu, composer
Chen Mo Lin, poet

Jeremy VanSlyke, producer, post-production
Ally Cribb, assistant recording engineer
Luke Fraser, director
Chin Yi Lin, poster artwork
Chia Yin Wu, English poetic translations
Phín-tsì Kí, lyric diction coach, copy editing, translation

PROGRAM NOTE

In the 16th century, Portuguese sailors spotted Taiwan, back then an uncharted island, and dubbed it “Ilha Formosa”, which means “beautiful island”. Five Formosa Songs is an exploration into the sound world of the traditional music of Taiwanese Hokkien, delving into its idiomatic phrasings and use of intervals, among others. It is also an artistic exchange with the art song tradition in the West, probing possibilities on how the two traditions might influence and enrich one another.

Through the penetrating texts by celebrated Taiwanese poet Chen Mo Lin, this song cycle seeks to portray ordinary scenes of everyday life, and to unveil pressing social/political issues in Taiwan’s past and present, from the long colonial shadow cast upon the island nation to environmentalism.

This Crossing Borders project was made possible by the Waterloo Arts Fund, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Arts Nova Scotia.

PAST PROJECTS

CALL FOR WORKS (Duets) –

Deadline for submission: ongoing

There is no age, gender, or nationality restriction on this call.

Scores selected for performance will be purchased (submitted scores via email are for perusal only).

INSTRUMENTATION

Voice duets (sop & tenor) unaccompanied 
2 Voices and piano
2 Voices and electronics
2 Voices, piano, and electronics
Spoken word
Graphic scores
Interactive scores

Please read the full call here: https://maureenbatt.com/crossing-borders-call-for-duets/

*See full call for more details on voice types.

In Shifting the Lens and Vertical Labyrinth, we explore the richness found in the layers of blurred timelines, where our art and our voices connect us across dimensions. Works on this program shift the perspective of our current world while honouring people and poetry from the past.

Crossing Borders: Shifting the Lens

Wednesday, December 8, 2021, 8pm AT/ 7pm ET

(48-hour replay available with ticket purchase by show time)

Fabián Arciniegas, tenor
Claire Harris, piano
Maureen Batt, soprano
Tara Scott, piano
Grej, vocals and electronics
And the Halifax Camerata Singers*

Featuring a program of premières by Amy Brandon*, Elisha Denburg, Chia Yin Wu, Mario Gómez-Vignes, and music from Maureen and Grej’s most recent album, Lighthouse.

In Crossing Borders: Shifting the Lens, we want to explore the richness found in the layers of blurred timelines, where our art and our voices connect us across dimensions. Works on this program shift the perspective of our current world while honouring people and poetry from the past.

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Crossing Borders: Living Room Edition

3:30pm ET/ 4:30 pm AT

Streamed live at www.facebook.com/maureenbattsoprano

FB event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/217954729413994/

Tickets here: https://www.tickethalifax.com/events/106757949/crossing-borders-living-room-edition

Featuring pieces by Stephen Bachicha, Melissa Dunphy, Melissa Vargas Franco, Monica Pearce, Bob Bauer, Daniel Gardner, Matthew Emery, Rosśa Crean

Program notes, song texts, and composer information will be emailed to you before the concert. Buy a ticket to ensure the program is emailed to you.

The concert is part of the recital series Crossing Borders, which puts Canadian music together and in dialogue with music from other countries. The series pushes geographical, musical, and metaphorical thresholds. With sounds of ice crackling, to dreaming of blissful sun basking, to contemplating a blurred reality, this program of living classical contemporary composers explores themes of compassion, isolation, and joy.