For many local music enthusiasts, the beginning of a new academic year at Mt. A means having a chance to experience 17th and 18th century European music through the annual Sackville Festival of Early Music (SFEM). This year, the festival welcomed three ensembles: the Eybler Quartet, who explored the beginnings of string quartets; Les Boréades, with music by 17th century English composers; and the newly formed Ensemble SFEM, with Baroque German sacred music. Each of the ensembles presented the music they have been working on with concerts held at Mt. A’s Brunton Auditorium on September 13–15.
Among the performers of Ensemble SFEM were also the festival’s three new Co-Artistic Directors, Christina Haldane, Alexander Dobson, and Jimin Shin, taking over the long-standing Artistic Director, Dr. Linda Pearse, for the 2024 festival season. Haldane, Dobson and Shin have amassed years of experience performing around Canada, the US, and Europe, which has been their focus before coming to Sackville as music professors. This opportunity poses an exciting challenge of being relatively new to teaching and directing, as well as finding balance between their festival duties and teaching responsibilities. However, behind those challenges is an opportunity to bring their unique professional and personal experiences to the festival.
The purpose of this festival has always been to showcase more than just concerts, and this year is no exception. As part of the festival’s experiential learning opportunities, The Eybler Quartet hosted an open rehearsal in collaboration with Baroque Performance class taught by Dr. Haldane and Prof. Shin. The rehearsal was open to any students interested in watching the behind-the-scenes process of the ensemble and asking questions. The ensemble has also given an “All the Feelings” talk during the weekly Collegium Musicum, open to all music students, where they shared how they approach and integrate emotion in music, conducting an engaging, interactive activity with the audience.
In addition to the interactive musical lecture given by the Eybler Quartet, and the three concerts by the ensembles, the directors highlighted the importance of their Festival Outreach Project. Dr. Haldane, Prof. Dobson and Prof. Shin are interested in making exposure to early music among younger audiences more intentional and interactive to open a safe space for them to explore and experiment with music. As Prof. Shin has commented, exposing children to the early music that she built her career on is personal: she came across early music accidentally in her freshman year of university. Her goal with the Outreach Project is to introduce younger students to this music as early as possible with hopes that it becomes someone else’s passion, just like it happened with her. Dr. Haldane’s personal connection to the project is in bringing early music to smaller communities in her home province of New Brunswick, with a similar hope to introduce it to young students. As an example of the project, the Eybler Quartet performed to the students at Sistema New Brunswick and Salem Elementary School, introducing the students to the ways music conveys emotion through interactive games.
If you missed learning from these talented musicians and watching the performances this past weekend, keep an eye on the 2025 season of SFEM. For more information, visit sackvilleearlymusic.com and mta.ca/music .
