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Press Releases

June 2026 releases on AVIE Records from Christopher Tyler Nickel, René Schiffer, and Caroline Nicolas

May 19, 2026 | By Rebecca Davis
Rebecca Davis Public Relations

June 2026 releases on AVIE Records from Christopher Tyler Nickel, René Schiffer, and Caroline Nicolas

Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel's Stabat Mater and Magnificat out June 5

René Schiffer, principal cellist of Apollo’s Fire, performs Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello, out June 12

Caroline Nicolas makes her solo debut recording with Pièces en solitude, works for viola da gamba of the French Baroque era, out June 19
Christopher Tyler Nickel: Stabat Mater | Magnificat

Catherine Redding, soprano
Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra
Vancouver Chamber Choir
Kari Turunen, chorus master
Clyde Mitchell, conductor
 
June 5, 2026 (AV2855)
Expressing what cannot be expressed, what is sometimes beyond understanding, is a task that has challenged composers of sacred music for centuries. In his latest collection of vocal and choral works, award-winning Canadian composer Christopher Tyler Nickel aims to articulate these complex emotional states.
 
The works range from Stabat Mater, an intimate portrayal of a mother’s grief sung by soprano Catherine Redding; a collection of motets, both a cappella and accompanied, including the wonders expressed in a new setting of the O Magnum Mysterium; a meditative setting of the De Profundis; and an uplifting Magnificat. Chorus master Kari Turunen and the Vancouver Chamber Choir join forces with Clyde Mitchell and the Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra in performances that capture by turns the works’ peace, grief, hope and transcendence through Nickel’s very personal and spiritual musical language.
 
 
CHRISTOPHER TYLER NICKEL (b. 1978)
Stabat Mater** (2021)
1. I. Stabat Mater dolorosa 3:00
2. II. Cujus animam gementem 3:19
3. III. Quis est homo, qui non fleret 5:24
4. IV. Sancta Mater, istud agas 2:18
5. V. Fac me tecum pie flere 2:52
6. VI. Fac ut portem Christi mortem 1:32
7. VII. Flammis ne urar succensus 3:22
8. VIII. Quando corpus morietur 2:43
 
A cappella Motets* (2024)
9. O Magnum Mysterium 4:52
10. Kyrie 4:25
 
Accompanied Motets* (2024)
11. I. Virga Jesse Floruit 3:11
12. II. Ave Verum Corpus 3:32
13. III. Pater Noster 4:16
14. IV. Tenebrae Factae Sunt 4:00
 
De Profundis** (2021)
15. I. De profundis clamavi ad te 4:01
16. II. Sustinuit anima mea in verbo ejus 5:01
 
Magnificat* (2024)
17. I. Magnificat anima mea Dominum 4:23
18. II. Fecit potentiam 4:14
19. III. Gloria Patri 2:50
20. IV. Amen 2:00
 
**Catherine Redding, soprano
*Vancouver Chamber Choir
Kari Turunen, chorus master & conductor
Vancouver Contemporary Orchestra
Clyde Mitchell, conductor
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Christopher Tyler Nickel’s award-winning music has been heard in over 160 countries in concert halls, in film, television, and theatre. He is the author of numerous concert works which have been performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe. Highlights include the 2002 performance by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic of his Fanfare for Freedom for an audience of 40,000. This concert was broadcast on live radio throughout the east coast of the United States for their 2002 Independence Day celebrations. Another highlight was the Vancouver Symphony’s outdoor performance of the aforementioned piece for an audience of 9,000. Major works include a concerto for piccolo/flute/alto flute written especially for Sarah Jackson (piccolo of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) that was premiered in Vancouver; Tranquility for solo English horn and orchestra premiered by Beth Orson (principal English horn of the Vancouver Symphony); and the 2015 premiere of his Concerto for Oboe written for Roger Cole (principal oboe of the Vancouver Symphony). Christopher’s many orchestral performances include two world premieres by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. His theatre work includes a musical based on Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, ballet music for CatchingART Contemporary Ballet, as well as composing music for director Christopher Gaze and the celebrated Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival in Vancouver.
 
In the world of film and television music, Christopher has composed for hundreds of hours of productions for clients that include Discovery, CBC, Corus, Sci-Fi, Hallmark, Alliance Atlantis, Lifetime, National Geographic, Teletoon, HGTV, and History. His scores include music for the acclaimed series Highway Thru Hell, Heavy Rescue: 401, and The Nature of Things. His many film and television scores have garnered him three SOCAN Awards, a Leo Award win and eleven nominations to date, and the 2004 Gold Medal for Best Score at the Park City Film Music Festival.
 
Recordings of Christopher’s concert music include the album Music for Woodwind Choirs on the Centrediscs label, which features his Symphony for Flute Choir and Suite for Two Oboes and Two English Horns; his expansive hour-long Symphony No. 2 with the Northwest Sinfonia conducted by Clyde Mitchell; the present album of his Concerto for Oboe, Concerto for Oboe d’amore and Concerto for Bass Oboe; and his seven-hour long oratorio The Gospel According to Mark also conducted by Clyde Mitchell. Christopher’s music is published by C.F. Peters, Robert Wendel Music, C. Alan Publications, and the Canadian Music Centre.
 
Bach: Cello Suites
 
René Schiffer, cello
 
June 12, 2026 (AV2704)
 

Anyone familiar with Apollo’s Fire will recognize the Baroque orchestra’s principal cellist René Schiffer. Featured on dozens of the Apollo’s Fire recordings, Schiffer steps into the spotlight for his solo debut recording with a rendering of that pillar of the Baroque repertoire, J.S. Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello.
 
Deploying different instruments – a 1768 Benoît Fleury cello for the first four suites, an anonymous late 18th century violoncello piccolo with an added string for the fifth (in his own arrangement) and sixth – and multiple tunings, Schiffer’s distinctive interpretations are in harmony with his comprehensive and probing liner notes which abound with theories and intellectual insights.
 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Six Suites for Solo Cello
Disc 1: Suites Nos. 1-3
Disc 2: Suites Nos. 4-6
ABOUT THE ARTIST
René Schiffer was born in the northern part of the Duchy of Brabant, in Bach’s era part of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. He studied in Amsterdam with Anner Bylsma, then specialized in historical performance with Jaap ter Linden. At Oberlin College, he studied the viola da gamba with Catharina Meints, to whom he dedicated his Concerto for Two Viols (spelling her name Katharina von Mainz).
 
Mr. Schiffer performed with groups including La Petite Bande, Ensemble Gare de Lyon, correction: Gardellino; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Netherlands Bach Society and occasionally with Concerto Armonico and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. He has been principal cellist for Apollo’s Fire since its founding in 1992. He has played recitals and solo performances with orchestras in Budapest, Paris, Versailles, Utrecht, Brôme (‘there’s nothing wrong with playing Uccellini in Brome’), Chautauqua, Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Grandchamp. On two occasions he asked the way to Carnegie Hall on his way to perform, but did not have the good fortune to get the answer Practice!
 
Schiffer has taught at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Music, at Oberlin, and as a guest at several colleges across the United States, including Duke, UConn, Dartmouth, and Penn State. He has given talks about music in Toledo and in Cleveland for Apollo’s Fire’s subscription series.
 
To date, Schiffer has mastered the cello, the historical cello, the bass viol, the (French) bass violin, the violoncello piccolo in at least three different tunings, and recently dabbled in the G-violone, with G-strings that were different from what he expected them to be. He shares a GRAMMY® Award with Apollo’s Fire’s musicians and the incomparable Karim Sulayman.
 
He is also very good at declaiming epic poetry and driving really long distances.
 
As composer Schiffer, sometimes under names like René Antoine Duchiffre, Renato Marini, Captain Hummus and Johann Sebastian Offenschiffer, can be heard on Apollo’s Fire’s Vivaldi & Friends CD, where his Tango Concerto is featured. A video of the tango from that concerto can also be enjoyed on YouTube. His Clorinda Sonata and his Jewish Rhapsodies (Ovos, Kaddish and Olenu) also feature on that channel. Among works that are awaiting recording are his Variations on themes from Ortiz’ Tratado, a set of Abel arrangements for five-string cello and seven-string gamba, and his Christmas Medley. He wrote two ‘Bach suites’: the 7th Suite in D, BMW 1013 (in the 1990s) and the more recent Kronstadter Partita, BMW 17465.
 
Schiffer recently purchased a historical bow from Stephen Marvin. With his beloved wife, Marie, he resides in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
 
Pièces en solitude
 
Caroline Nicolas, viola da gamba
Kevin Payne, theorbo
 
June 19, 2026 (AV2861)

New York City-based viola da gambist Caroline Nicolas is “one of the finest gambists working today” (Gotham Early Music Scene). Nicolas has performed with ensembles including The English Concert, Kammerorchester Basel and Philharmonia Baroque, and collaborated with the likes of Jordi Savall, William Christie and Kristian Bezuidenhout.
 
For her solo debut recording, Nicolas has chosen viola da gamba repertoire from France’s defining era of the instrument – the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Pièces de viole were integral to the French instrumental Baroque, and Nicolas’s program leads with selections by the master of the genre, Marin Marais. For contrast, Caroline juxtaposes the first Suite by the iconoclastic Antoine Forqueray, and in between offers a pair of amuse bouche, an intricate Chaconne by Marais’ tutor, Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe, and a Prelude by the pedagogue Le Sieur de Machy. In keeping with French viol music’s nuance and relative restraint, Nicolas is accompanied solely by theorbo, its complementary timbre reflecting the repertoire’s aesthetic.
 

PIÈCES EN SOLITUDE
 
MARIN MARAIS (1656–1728)
from Suite No.7 in G in Pièces de viole, Livre 3
Prélude (92)
Allemande & Double (94 & 95)
Sarabande grave (99)
La Musette (105)
 
from Suite d’un goût étranger in Pièces de viole, Livre 4
Le Badinage (87)
 
LE SIEUR DE MACHY (fl. 1655–1700)
from Suite No.1 in D minor in Pièces de viole
Prélude
 
MARIN MARAIS
from Suite No.4 in D in Pièces de viole, Livre 3
Plainte (55)
 
from Suite No.1 in A minor in Pièces de viole, Livre 3
Prélude (11)
Fantaisie (1)
Allemande (2)
Courante (3)
Minuet et Autre (8 & 9)
 
MONSIEUR DE SAINTE-COLOMBE (c.1640–c.1700)
Chaconne (Tournus 49)
 
ANTOINE FORQUERAY (1672–1745)
Suite No.1 in D minor in Pièces de viole avec la basse-continue
Allemande (La La Borde)
La Forqueray
La Cottin
La Bellemont
La Portugaise
La Couperin
 
MARIN MARAIS
from Suite No.3 in D in Pièces de viole, Livre 2
Les Voix humaines (63)
 
CAROLINE NICOLAS viola da gamba
KEVIN PAYNE theorbo (1–5, 7–12, 14–20)
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Acclaimed cellist and gambist Caroline Nicolas maintains an active career spanning repertoire from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. Praised for her “eloquent artistry and rich, vibrant sound” (Gainesville Times) and hailed as “one of the finest gambists working today” (Gotham Early Music Scene), she performs regularly as a soloist, chamber musician, and music director, combining emotionally compelling interpretations with a historically informed spirit.
 
Caroline has collaborated with ensembles including The English Concert, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston, Juilliard Baroque, Harmonia Stellarum Houston, Philharmonia Baroque, Pacific MusicWorks, Kammerorchester Basel, the New World Symphony, and the Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein. She recently concluded her tenure as music director of New Baroque Orchestra. She has appeared at the Boston Early Music Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Connecticut Early Music Festival, Bachfest Leipzig, and Styriarte Festival in Austria. She has performed in major venues such as KKL Luzern, Berliner Philharmonie, Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Benaroya Hall. Her performances have been broadcast on KING FM, KUHF, WDIY, and CCTV.
 
Notable collaborators include Andrea Marcon, Amandine Beyer, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Jordi Savall, William Christie, Rachel Podger, Harry Bicket, and Stephen Stubbs. A former fellow of The English Concert in America and winner of The Juilliard School’s Historical Performance Concerto Competition, she made her solo debut at Alice Tully Hall. A native of Winnipeg, Canada, Caroline began studying cello at an early age. Drawn to early music, she pursued advanced studies with Phoebe Carrai at The Juilliard School and with Christophe Coin and Paolo Pandolfo at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. She now resides in New York City, where she serves as Artistic Director of Ars Poetica. When not performing, she enjoys reading, writing, solving crosswords, or watching Star Trek with her husband, lutenist and theorbist Kevin Payne. More information is available at carolinenicolas.com
 
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