Members Performance

"A Net of Gemsis the latest project of acclaimed Canadian musicians Suzanne Shulman and Erica Goodman. Following the success of their 2018 Naxos release “Serenades and Sonatas,” this album showcases the exquisite combination of flute and harp through a program that includes a dazzling new work for the ensemble, virtuosic showpieces, and the duo’s interpretation of traditional favourites.

Flutist Suzanne Shulman, with more than 40 recordings in her discography, has collaborated with some of the greatest names in the classical world, including pianist Glenn Gould.  Juno award winning harpist Erica Goodman was already on stage as a teen and performed with Igor Stravinsky. The two musicians began their music journey together in the 1970s and say “it’s a privilege and career highlight” to work together.

A Net of Gemstakes its name from the title track, a piece dedicated to the two musicians by Toronto composer David Occhipinti. About this world premiere recording, Occhipinti says “Shulman and Goodman bounce light off of each other throughout the piece using the flute and harp to reflect the musical ideas I composed. I am honoured to have had these two amazing musicians record my work.”  

For the rest of the program, the duo looked for works with “strong fantasy elements”, which the cover art, by Leonora Carrington, beautifully portrays. There is the nostalgic Saint-Saëns Fantaisie, which Goodman first learned with her father, former TSO concertmaster Hyman Goodman. Gnossienne No. 5 by Eric Satie was selected by Shulman who “can’t resist a quiet ending.” These sit alongside Doppler/Zamara’s romantic virtuosic showpiece Casilda Fantaisie, and Narthex by Bernard Andrès which features intriguing and surprising sounds from the two instruments.

As a founding member of the outstanding ensembles Camerata Canada, Trio Lyra and ChamberWORKS Suzanne Shulman has premiered commissioned works by many prominent Canadian composers including Srul Irving Glick, Milton Barnes, Marjan Mozetich, Glenn Buhr, Christos Hatzis and Jacques Hétu. She has performed and taught all over the world and is currently a flute instructor at McMaster University in Hamilton.  Erica Goodman is a charter member of New Music Concerts, has encouraged many prominent Canadian composers to write for harp, and has been voted NOW Magazine’s Classical Musician of the Year.  She is the harpist with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. 

The award-winning sound engineer and producer is Kirk Starkey of Wolftone Media."