About

Musique Royale is delighted to welcome Blue Engine String Quartet to Mahone Bay on Friday April 25th at 7pm for a performance at St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. The fabulous Halifax-based quartet was formed in 1997 as the core ensemble of the Nova Scotia chamber music series, Blue Engine Music. Featuring Jennifer Jones (violin), Anne Simons (violin), Alexandra Bates (viola), and Hilary Brown (cello), Blue Engine has been artist-in-residence at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, Acadia University, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, and is heard frequently on national CBC Radio and CBC.ca. Named after “The Little Blue Engine That Could,” the quartet is known for their compelling performances of both Classical masterworks and the music of living artists, including acclaimed Canadian composers!

The concert will include works by Elgar, Haydn, Piaf, Piazzolla, Dvorak, Delibes and more.

About Blue Engine String Quartet

The Blue Engine String Quartet was formed in 1997 as the core ensemble of the Nova Scotia chamber music series, Blue Engine Music. Blue Engine has been artist-in residence at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, Acadia University, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, and is heard frequently on national CBC Radio and CBC.ca.

Named after “The Little Blue Engine That Could,” the quartet is known for their compelling performances of both Classical masterworks and the music of living artists, including acclaimed Canadian composers. The members of Blue Engine are especially proud to champion the works of female composers, including Fanny Mendelssohn, Amy Beach, Doreen Carwithen, Elizabeth Raum, Germaine Tailleferre, and Jennifer Higdon.

Always looking for music that matters, the quartet strives to perform works that have greater social context - for example, performing compositions that were repressed by the Nazis or hidden away during the Holocaust. Highlights include the 2009 premiere of Scott Macmillan’s “We Are Africville” and the 2012 premiere of John Plant and Andrew Wainwright’s concert opera, “I Will Fly Like a Bird” - a memorial to Robert Dziekanski. Blue Engine was featured on the 2000 documentary, “Dudley Moore: After the Laughter” (2000) and the 2003 television special, “Quartet Plus Four at Christmas” (Vision TV and CBC).

The quartet is frequently featured as guest artists on the recordings and videos of some of Canada’s finest singer-songwriters - notably, they were delighted to accompany Michael Bublé in his breakout performance at the 2006 Juno Awards Gala broadcast! In 2005 Blue Engine released their first commercial recording, “If It Be Your Will - Songs of Leonard Cohen,” and were featured as the core ensemble for Canadian soprano Suzie LeBlanc’s Elizabeth Bishop Legacy Project, “I Am In Need Of Music,” which received the 2013 East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year. Recently, they performed at the 2023 East Coast Music Awards with Inuk soprano Deantha Edmunds.