Linda has released four recordings to date - her debut recording being a solo piano recording entitled Positive Force, which was an album of original music, about which Fanfare Magazine said... "recommended as much for its warmth and comfort as for its shimmery post impressionism... this and the Marion McPartland are the best new solo piano albums so far this year..... accessible, appearling, substantial." Her third recording was a predominantly solo piano recording of original music entitled Voices from the Cloisters, which was released across Canada on the Phoenix Records label. Her current CD release Paradise Reborn is also on the Phoenix Records label and displays Shumas' vast understanding of the piano's sound capabilities, displayed in pieces from all musical eras, including works by Haydn, Couperin, Rameau, Scarlatti, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin as well as the World Premier recording of five pieces for solo piano by Canadian composer Nick Peros entitled Poemes, and the World Premiere recording of five of her original works for solo piano.
 Linda Shumas continues to perform as a soloist and with ensembles across North America. | Linda Shumas is a pianist/Composer and Harpsichordist. She is a native of West Vancouver who now resides in Toronto. She began training at 7 years old and went on to Vancouver Community College for Composition and then on to the University of Victoria to study with Bruce Vogt, presently the head of University of Victoria's Piano Department. She took further piano coaching from renowned pianists Kevin Fitzgerald and Bernadine Blaha. She began composing at age 8 and went on to win the Jean Coulthard Award for Original Composition at the Kiwanis Music Festival.
Linda Shumas likes to refer to most of her compositions as 'structured improvisions', and indeed her works have a strong air of spontaneity and life, each with a very unique and individual character. Her original works are very much in a tonal idiom with wonderful chromatic turns, being also very melodic and deeply expressive. She is a highly expressive musician with a natural technique who can bring both power and sensitivity to all that she plays.
 Linda has been harpsichordist for The Quantz Trio, comprised of baroque flute, baroque recorder and harpsichord, and currently plays in the baroque trio Musica Maxima. She is also part of a duo with Violist Joe Nadurata and currently working towards a recording with Joe Nadurata with programs including such composers as Bach, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Hindermith, Coulthard as well as other modern compositions, including their own original works. Linda has also worked with the brilliant Israeli Violinist Ezra Azmon and has released a recording with him entitled Peace For the Middle East, which is a compilation of works composed by both Linda and Ezra. The two musicians have also recorded Mozart, Bach, Handel and Bloch which is planned for a 2007 release.
In 2005, she was invited to have her Song Cycle performed at the Crane Music School in New York where she also gave two lectures on her music. Recently, Linda has also composed music for musical collaboration with her sister, Naif Painter Carol Shumas.
Linda has also been featured as a performer and interview guest on a number of national television, including CBC TV's Adrienne Clarkson Presents and Bravo's Artist of the Day. Linda's music has been accompanied Film, Dance and Television. The film maker Paul Lee created his film Thick Lips Thin Lips upon hearing her composition Ruins and this film later went on to win a number of awards and was also a featured film in The Berlin Film Festival. Linda's music has been described
"it conjures up images of unparalleled passion, longing and still so many more dimensions of the human spirit, there is an expressiveness to her work that speaks intuitively to the heart and soul." |
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