Calgary getting a double dose of Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Slean’s music

Ian White speaks with Canadian singer Sarah Slean, who will team up with a strong quartet for a performance at the National Music Centre on Oct. 25.

Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Slean is paying forward her expertise to the next generation of musicians by teaching film scoring and songwriting at York University in Toronto.

“There were no Spotifys in 2001,” Slean said with a laugh.

“So, it’s a really different landscape, but I maintain that human beings create as a default. It’s part of what we are. We can’t stop creating. We long to create.”

Slean will perform with a string quartet Oct. 25 at the National Music Centre, and it’s not the only Calgary connection to her music these days.

Theatre Calgary commissioned Slean to write the music for Maudie, a musical based on the life of Nova Scotia artist Maud Lewis.

“There’s a lot of exciting momentum around that project,” Slean told CTV News.

Slean said the play will have a much different tone than Maud, a 2016 film on Lewis, starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke.

“Turning this quiet, small story into something that could burst into song on stage has been a really interesting exercise for me as a composer. But the story is full of just massive emotions that I feel it really lends itself to a musical,” Slean said.