Bird Island Suite

The "Bird Island Suite" originated from the acclaimed Iris Trio's "Project Earth." This multi-part recording project celebrates the natural world, highlighting the immense beauty and wonder of nature while examining human impact and encouraging a harmonious relationship with our biosphere. Featuring music by Juno Award-winning composer Florian Hoefner and poetry by renowned Canadian poet Don McKay, "Bird Island Suite" draws inspiration from the nesting bird islands off the Newfoundland coast. The work invites us to engage in deep listening—"attention made mammal"—and includes a poignant elegy for the Great Auk, hunted to extinction by 1848, a virtuosic musical reel honoring the resilient Leach’s Storm Petrel, and a lively jazz-inspired tribute to the bird islands, capturing what McKay describes as the "marvelous musical-noisy stew that seems to summon the very forces of birth and death." The film translates this work to the screen, featuring original footage of seabirds and their nesting sites around Newfoundland, with poet Don McKay exploring the enchanting coastline of this remarkable island.

Acclaimed for their “beauty of sound and striking expression” (Bremen Weser Kurier), the Iris Trio (clarinetist Christine Carter, violist Zoë Martin-Doike, and pianist Anna Petrova) are celebrated for their creative programming and powerful performances. They have toured extensively, performing at venues such as the National Arts Centre, Canadian Opera Company, Piano Salon Christophori (Berlin), Sendesaal (Bremen), Geneva Music Festival (NY), The Climate Museum (New York City), and Fotografiska Contemporary Museum of Photography, Art and Culture. The Trio’s debut album, "Homage and Inspiration," released in 2020, received international acclaim, with the CBC naming it one of “10 upcoming Canadian classical albums to get excited about,” and Fanfare Magazine praising it as “a five-star, real stand-out release.”

"Project Earth: The Blue Chapter" (2024, Centrediscs) – the first in a series of innovative releases addressing the planetary crisis – has gained significant international airplay and was recently chosen as “Record of the Week” by CBC’s “In Concert” with Paolo Pietropaolo.

The Trio’s members hold positions at Memorial University, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and the University of Louisville, and have performed worldwide on major stages including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and the Sydney Opera House.