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This summer was spent on the spectacularly beautiful island of Belle Ile, off the coast of Brittany, performing as part of Lyrique en Mer’s 10th season.

SATURDAY 2nd, SUNDAY 3rd : Leslie performed with world-renowned pianist, New York based Gail Niwa, and string players from New York City and the American String Quartet in a special children’s concert on Saturday and a main-series concert on Sunday. Repertoire included Prokofiev’s Sonata in D-major, op. 94, and Mozart’s D-major flute quartet.

OPERA FANTAISIE disc is reviewed by Wholenote Magazine (Toronto), Pan; the Journal of the British Flute Society and Rick Phillips of CBC's Sound Advice.

THURSDAY 30th : Leslie Newman releases her second solo disc. Inspired by operatic melodies, the disc features some of the very best repertoire written in the operatic fantaisie genre which was so popular throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Also featured are two of Leslie's own arrangements, the beloved Meditation, from Thais, and Saint-Saens' compelling aria from Samson et Delila, "mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix". It is all accessable repertoire, beautifully performed and wonderfully recorded. You can listen to Opera Fantaisie on the discography page of the website.

THURSDAY 12th : Gemini award winning composer Jim McGrath has written a new flute concerto for Leslie Newman. This work was premiered with the Montreal Chamber Orchestra and conductor Wanda Kaluzny. In the composer's words, the piece segues from "a moody, harp-driven nocturne in the first movement to a bluesy, Gershwin-inspired second movement to an arch habenera and cascading cadenza in the third." This past June Leslie recorded the concerto on a compilation CD featuring four works written by Jim, including solo works for Clarinet, Trumpet and String Orchestra. The new CD, featuring the Montreal Chamber Orchestra, can be found on the discography page where you can also listen to sound samples of these works.

FRIDAY 28TH : "Woodwind quintet debuts with talent and taste"
JOHN TERAUDS - TORONTO STAR CLASSICAL MUSIC CRITIC
One of the most compelling chamber concerts of the year...
It was the debut of a new classical quintet, the Network Winds, at the Glenn Gould Studio. Made up of first-rank artists who either live in Toronto or have close ties to it, the small ensemble showed itself to be huge on talent, taste and intelligent programming.
Leslie Newman (on flute and piccolo), Kathy Halvorson (oboe and English horn), Micah Heilbrunn (clarinet), Nadina Mackie Jackson (bassoon) and Wendy Limbertie (French horn) — along with guest contrabassoon player Fraser Jackson — chose works from the 20th and 21st centuries that combined to show off the full spectrum of tonal colour and contrapuntal effect that their instruments can offer.
And, contrary to what most people think of music written in the past 80 or so years, everything on the program was easy and fulfilling listening.
The small audience knew it was in for something special when the five main players dug into the fabulous rhythmic romp that opens the Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet written in 1953 by recently deceased Hungarian composer György Ligeti.
That work's six movements are alive with contrasting textures and atmospheres. The writing also throws all kinds of difficulties at the performers.
It was a theme on the program that would repeat in the playful Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), the languorous Summer Music of Samuel Barber (1910-1981), which evokes the season as superbly as his bigger-scale Knoxville, Summer of 1916, and the Kvintet, Op. 43 of Danish composer Carl Nielsen (1865-1931).
The program closed with a new work by Montreal bassoon virtuoso and teacher Mathieu Lussier, the Sextet for Wind Quintet and Contrabassoon. Firmly tonal and with a neo-classical structure, Lussier's work created a lush, common colour filled with playful passages.
The Network Winds have arrived in style. Long may they play together.