Loreena McKennitt: NEW LIVE ALBUM and SEASONAL TOUR (Official Press)

 

UNDER A WINTER'S MOON Loreena's Concert of Carols and Tales Featuring Dylan Thomas' A Child Christmas in Wales narrated by CEDRIC SMITH NEW LIVE ALBUM and SEASONAL TOUR

Loreena performed and recorded a series of live seasonal concerts with special guests in December 2021. She’s now releasing that magical concert as her 16th album, entitled Under A Winter’s Moon – with a two-week companion TOUR of Ontario set to launch in early December.     The Album   The six-panel, two-disc digipak will be released Nov. 18, 2022 on her own label, Quinlan Road. The album features 15 seasonal songs performed by Loreena, interspersed with seasonal readings by Canadian Indigenous actor and Companion of the Order of Canada, Tom Jackson, Gemini Award-winning actor Cedric Smith and Ojibway artist and flautist Jeffrey "Red" George. The album will also be released digitally, mixed in Dolby Atmos surround sound.   PRE-ORDER ALBUM     The Tour The eight-city Under A Winter’s Moon Tour launches Dec. 2 in Stratford. The original seasonal concert will be re-staged with its original musicians and narrators.  They’ll be taking the concert to seven other Ontario cities, including London, Guelph, Hamilton, Toronto, Peterborough and Kingston, wrapping up in Ottawa Dec. 17. Pre-sale tickets for members of the Loreena McKennitt Community are available now.    PRE-ORDER TICKETS Share Tweet Forward “On a handful of winter’s nights close to the solstice of December 2021, my musical friends and I wove this miscellany of music and spoken word,” writes Loreena in the new album’s liner notes. “…I sought to incorporate elements of the oral traditions found in many cultures – to capture, inspire and reconnect us with our past, while offering a reminder of the people of those times and what their manner of communication meant in their lives and might mean still.” ~ Loreena LEFT: Tom Jackson (Photo Bill Borgwardt)    RIGHT: Cedric Smith (Photo Terry Manzo) The album features such seasonal favourites as “Coventry Carol”, “Good King Wenceslas” and the “Huron Carol”. The first set begins with Jackson reading The Sky Woman Story, an Indigenous creation story. The whole second set embodies Smith’s reading, in six parts, of A Child’s Christmas in Wales, a moving and nostalgic piece of prose by the late Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, interspersed with some of Loreena's favourite carols. This is also the first time Loreena has ever recorded the “Huron Carol”. Also known as “'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime”, it’s the oldest known Canadian Christmas song. It was written in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons settlement. Brébeuf’s lyrics were originally written in the native language of the Huron-Wendat Indigenous people. Caroline Lavelle, Graham Hargrove, Jeffrey George, Pete Watson, Errol Fischer, Cait Watson. Photo: Terry Manzo Loreena produced the record and in addition to vocals plays harp, keyboard and accordion. She’s accompanied by Caroline Lavelle on cello and recorders, Graham Hargrove on percussion, Errol Fischer on fiddle, Pete Watson on guitar, 12-string, Irish bouzouki and 12-string bouzouki, and Cait Watson on Irish whistle. All these musicians also added back-up vocals for the performance. Under A Winter’s Moon was recorded at Knox Church in Stratford, Ontario, Canada then mixed and mastered by multi-award-winning engineer, mixer, producer and editor Jeff Wolpert at Desert Fish in Toronto. www.UnderAWintersMoon.com Newsletter written by: Diane Sewell          Newsletter designed by: Mark McCauley Copyright © 2022 Quinlan Road, All rights reserved.