Musique Royale

05/30/2026

Musique Royale invites you to enjoy an outdoor concert at the Lightship Brewery in Lunenburg by the fantastic Tom Richards Trio. The concert will take us on a cinematic journey through vibrant landscapes, weaving stories of turmoil, love, and redemption. Instrumental music which spans genres such as jazz, cinematic, groove, and minimalist. Every performance includes a special twist - an immersive audience-outreach component where Tom leads a discussion about the music. For the concert on Saturday June 7, Tom is joined by two fantastic performers, bassist Nicholas D'Amato, and drummer Mark Adam. Don't miss this beautiful concert overlooking the scenic view of Lunenburg Harbour!

🗓 Sunday June 7 at 2 pm
📍 Lightship Brewery, 93 Tannery Rd, Lunenburg
🎟 Admission: $30 at the door, $25 advanced rate, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

About Tom Richards - Tom Richards presents a kaleidoscopic world of music through his piano trio. Inspired by artists like Bill Frisell and Khruangbin, TRT takes down-tempo grooves and explodes them into fragments that dance and interweave. Through-composed melodies dissolve into dreamlike landscapes as Nic D’Amato (bass) and Mark Adam (drums) steer the ship over the horizon.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer Tom Richards performs with dozens of projects, including The Human Rights, Jah’Mila, and Many Worlds. In 2025, Tom released Monophilia, a triptych of mono records presented as an interactive art installation and custom web app.

Tom has appeared on well over 100 albums, and has recorded and performed with countless artists, including The Australian Art Orchestra, Ben Caplan, Bruno Capinan, Dan Mangan, David Braid, Do Make Say Think, Friendly Rich, Gregory Stafford, The Heavyweights Brass Band, The Hidden Cameras, Kairo McLean, Kevin Breit, The Massey Hall Band, Mats Gustafsson, Rheostatics, Ron Sexmith, Roscoe Mitchell, Spoon, and The Wooden Sky.

05/30/2026

Hear one of the 20th century’s most visionary musical statements - where jazz meets the sacred, through community voices coming together in sound. Composed in the final decade of Duke Ellington’s life, his Sacred Concerts represent what he called “the most important thing I have done.” Designed for choir, soloists, and instrumental ensemble, these works fuse jazz, gospel, blues, and classical traditions into a vibrant and deeply human musical language. The Sacred Concerts move seamlessly from intimate prayer to exuberant celebration.

The concert features soprano soloist Frances Farrell, and is a collaboration of Nova Scotia ensembles, including Nova Voce (Nova Scotia’s Provincial Men’s Choir), Truro Cantabile Singers, and the Tuesday Night Band, bringing together professional and community musicians in a large-scale choral-jazz setting. The performance at historic St John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg takes place on Saturday June 6 at 4 pm, and will reflect the spirit of Ellington’s original performances, presented often in cathedrals and uniting audiences across backgrounds.

🗓 Saturday June 6 at 4 pm
📍 St John's Anglican Church, Lunenburg
🎟 Admission: $30 at the door, $25 advanced rate, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

05/30/2026

On Saturday June 6 at 2 pm, join Musique Royale at the Lunenburg School of the Arts for our final Cookie Concert before summer break, "Sketches and Sound". For this unique concert, young students in Grades 2 to 4 at Bridgewater Elementary School have drawn Graphic Scores that will be interpreted by the four featured musicians, Nicola Miller, saxophone; Tim Crofts, keys; Erin Donovan, percussion; and Pete Johnston, bass. The program will feature interpretations of these Graphic Scores along with other standard repertoire. Cookies are served following the hourlong concert, and all ages are welcome!

🗓 Saturday June 6 at 2 pm
📍 Lunenburg School of the Arts, Lunenburg
🎟 Admission: $10 at the door, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

05/13/2026

Jessica Pearson and the East Wind is a female folk Canadiana trio from Ottawa. The trio performs this Friday May 15 at 7 pm, at the Lunenburg School of the Arts.

With haunting three-part harmonies, the trio will bind you in a timeless folkloric spell. Alchemizing roots, classic country, Americana and Celtic soundscapes, the trio spin tales of outlaw heroics, matriarchal power, resistance and resilience, and the unrelenting beauty of becoming who you are. “Song of the Year” winners in 2021, and nominated for “Performer of the Year” at Folk Music Ontario Awards 2024, they’re touring the East Coast in May with their new EP titled “Wilding Part 1”.

Tickets: musiqueroyale.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9joSmIycJ7A

Recorded at: Motel ChelseaTitle: Far From St John'sArtist: Jessica Pearson and the East WindAlbum: LIVE from Motel ChelseaLabel: Willow Sound RecordsLyrics:B...

05/04/2026

Musique Royale invites the audiences to the beautiful St John’s Anglican Church on Bell Island on Saturday May 9 at 3 pm to hear the Daniel MacNeil’s jazz quartet. Featuring guitarist Daniel MacNeil, joined by Chris Mitchell, saxophone; Tom Easley, double bass; and Nick Halley, drums, the quartet represents some of the most versatile musicians in Nova Scotia. The concert will mix original works with improvisations, jazz repertoire, and classical traditions from around the world. Don’t miss it!

🗓 Saturday May 9 at 3 pm
📍 St John's Anglican Church, 388 LaHave Islands Road, Bell Island
🎟 $25 advance, $30 at the door, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

05/02/2026

Musique Royale welcomes you to an evening of jazz and song with pianist and composer Peter-Anthony Togni and soprano Janelle Lucyk. Reuniting for an intimate house concert at Cecilia's Retreat in Mahone Bay, the pair will revisit and reimagine songs from earlier collaborations, with music that blurs the boundaries between classical and jazz storytelling. The program includes original works and standards, with themes varying from nostalgia, chance, and devotion, all the while combining lyrical immediacy and maritime sensibility.

Praised for her luminous tone and expressive storytelling, Lucyk is one of Canada’s leading early music voices, performing internationally as a soloist and artistic director while bringing a uniquely versatile presence to repertoire spanning centuries. Togni, a JUNO-nominated composer and improviser based in Halifax, is renowned for music that is both spiritually contemplative and boldly exploratory, with works performed and broadcast worldwide. All proceeds will support the Capella Regalis Choirs tour in late May. Exciting details can be found at www.capellaregalis.com.

Musique Royale is pleased to support Capella Regalis in their upcoming tour to Quebec and Ontario by presenting some very special events - complete with wonderful music, delicious meals, and, for added fun - silent auctions and door prizes. Excitement has been building for months among the choristers but in today’s world we need to face the unfortunate reality of cutbacks in government funding. Rather than dim any prospects of a tour postponement, especially on the heels of a successful ‘Songs of the Sea’ CD release, we look to those silver linings. Your donations are so incredibly important and attendance at events is valued now even more. Live music is to be celebrated - we know you will agree!

🗓 Friday May 8 at 5 pm
📍 Cecilia's Retreat, Mahone Bay
🎟 $35 - admission by advance reservation, please email [email protected]
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

04/29/2026

On Saturday evening, Musique Royale welcomes three musicians, trombonist Maximilien Brisson, British tenor Charles Daniels and harpsichordist Christophe Gauthier to Lunenburg to perform a very rare and unique concert at Zion Lutheran Church.

Following the release of his CD Scorrete lagrime mie on Passacaille in 2024, trombonist Maximilien Brisson takes us on a journey to early Baroque in Italy, with a programme of great expressive richness. Featuring celebrated British tenor Charles Daniels, and harpsichordist Christophe Gauthier, Maximilien brings to life rare and striking pages by Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, and Sigismondo d’India, exploring how these composers treat musically the theme of tears. The result is an ideal repertoire to highlight the vocal virtuosity of the trombone, an instrument that, historically, has probably been associated more than any other with the human voice.

🗓 Saturday May 2 at 7 pm
📍 Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lunenburg
🎟 $25 advance, $30 at the door, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

04/29/2026

On Saturday evening, Musique Royale welcomes three musicians, trombonist Maximilien Brisson, British tenor Charles Daniels and harpsichordist Christophe Gauthier to Lunenburg to perform a very rare and unique concert at Zion Lutheran Church.

Following the release of his CD Scorrete lagrime mie on Passacaille in 2024, trombonist Maximilien Brisson takes us on a journey to early Baroque in Italy, with a programme of great expressive richness. Featuring celebrated British tenor Charles Daniels, and harpsichordist Christophe Gauthier, Maximilien brings to life rare and striking pages by Barbara Strozzi, Francesca Caccini, and Sigismondo d’India, exploring how these composers treat musically the theme of tears. The result is an ideal repertoire to highlight the vocal virtuosity of the trombone, an instrument that, historically, has probably been associated more than any other with the human voice.

🗓 Saturday May 2 at 7 pm
📍 Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lunenburg
🎟 $25 advance, $30 at the door, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PCywQm4eqw

75 likes, 18 comments. "Giovanni Battista Bovicelli - Io son ferito (Maximilien Brisson, canticum trombonorum)"

04/16/2026

Musique Royale invites you to hear Jessica Pearson and the East Wind, a female folk, Canadiana trio from Ottawa. Like sirens calling from an ancient shore, the haunting three-part harmonies of the trio will bind you in a timeless folkloric spell. Alchemizing roots, classic country, Americana and Celtic soundscapes, the trio spin tales of outlaw heroics, matriarchal power, resistance and resilience, and the unrelenting beauty of becoming who you are. “Song of the Year” winners in 2021, and nominated for "Performer of the Year" at Folk Music Ontario Awards 2024, they're touring the East Coast in May with their new EP titled "Wilding Part 1", join us at the Lunenburg School of the Arts on Friday May 15 at 7 pm.

🗓 Friday May 15 at 7 pm
📍 Lunenburg School of the Arts, Lunenburg
🎟 $25 advance, $30 at the door, youth free
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

04/16/2026

Experience an intimate performance of richly blended harmonies and expressive jazz stylings of Canvas, a captivating vocal quartet from Halifax. Hear songs from a variety of artists ranging from Nat King Cole, Charlie Chaplin, The Beatles, Prince, and even Johannes Brahms, featuring four amazing voices — Fran Farrell (soprano), Amelia McMahon (alto), Ryan Billington (tenor), and Kurt Sampson (bass & vocal percussion). Enjoy the nuance, and engaging musicality that define the group’s approach, all in the intimate setting of Cecilia's Retreat in Mahone Bay.

🗓 Saturday May 16 at 11 am
📍 Cecilia's Retreat, Mahone Bay
🎟 Admission: $35, by advance reservation, please email [email protected]
🎶 musiqueroyale.com

About the artists
Ryan Billington - Originally from NS, Ryan is Associate Professor of Voice/Jazz at St. Francis Xavier University and also the artistic director and conductor for the Cape Breton Chorale.

Amelia McMahon - From Annapolis Valley, a vocal educator through the conservator of music. She’s directed many choirs over the years and currently co-directs Eastern Horizon, and is assistant conductor of Halifax Camerata Singers.

Fran Farrell - Born in Halifax, Fran is a high school music educator, directs two senior high choirs, and the Dartmouth Choral society, and is involved in the Halifax regional arts program.

Kurt Sampson - Originally from Charlottetown, PEI, Kurt sang professionally with the 10-time CARA Award winning and three-time JUNO Award nominated a ca****la quartet, CADENCE, based in toronto. He teaches privately from his home studio and continues to perform with a variety of groups.

04/16/2026

Musique Royale invites Katherine Dowling to Cecilia's Retreat in Mahone Bay for a solo piano performance "Cri de coeur". Praised by the New York Times for her “crystalline performances", Katherine's upcoming concert invites listeners to experience the full range of emotion and expression at the piano, englobing the grand Romantic tradition of the virtuoso, all the way to the intimacy and directness of the love song.

🗓 Saturday June 20 at 11 am
📍 Cecilia's Retreat, Mahone Bay
🎟 Admission: $35, by advance reservation, please email [email protected]
🎶 www.musiqueroyale.com

Katherine Dowling, piano
Praised by the New York Times for her “crystalline performances, gestural expressiveness, and careful attention to color”, and by the Boston Globe for her “effortless incisiveness”, award-winning “tour-de force” (OpusKlassiek, Berkshire Eagle) pianist Katherine Dowling performs across the Americas and Europe as a soloist and chamber musician.

Katherine is familiar to audiences through regular appearances at Canada’s major music festivals and concert series, including Ottawa Chamberfest and Stratford Summer Music. Recent highlights include her recital debuts in Vienna, The Hague, and Rio de Janeiro. She has premiered over one hundred new works by composers including Louis Andriessen and John Harbison.

As a soloist, and as a member of the chamber ensemble Gruppo Montebello, Katherine appears on nine critically-acclaimed recordings on the Etcetera label. Her debut solo album “Awake and Dreaming - piano music of Alice Ping-Yee Ho” has been nominated for “Classical Album of the Year (Solo Artist)” at the JUNO Awards. Her performances have been broadcast on the BBC (United Kingdom), National Radio 4 (Netherlands), CBC, and Radio Canada.