About

Part of the Wednesdays at Noon series, Musique Royale welcomes harpist Meta Epstein and organist Barbara Butler on Wednesday August 26 at 12 pm at St John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg. Their concert together includes arrangements and compositions for harp and organ by Marcel Grandjany, G.F. Handel, Gustav Mahler and more.

Wednesdays at Noon is a series of music presentations at St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg. Concerts are roughly 45 minutes in length and are held every Wednesday at 12 pm through July and August. Performances feature artists from the local and national scene in an eclectic mix of presentations. These performances will draw residents and tourists to enjoy music within beautiful and historic setting of St John’s, the second-oldest Anglican church in Canada, and first church established in Lunenburg. Admission is $10 at the door, youth free. Programming supports the St John’s Music Program.

About the Artists

Meta Epstein – harp

No one comes to be a wandering troubadour by accident. Daughter of a concert pianist, I grew up immersed in music, dancing around the house to Swan Lake and singing my mother’s Chopin etudes before I learned to read. I will always be grateful to my parents for encouraging my love of music. My mother arranged for me to commute to NYC by myself on the train when I was only thirteen to study with the renowned harpist Marcel Grandjany. This amazing pedagogue instilled in me a life-long love of the Bach repertory which he was transposing for harp at the time. He was also an excellent role model for me as a teacher: his answer to any frustrating fingering problem was a glass of orange juice.

My parents supported my desire to continue my studies in France at the Paris Conservatory, where I graduated with a First Prize and also met my future French Canadian husband, following him to Quebec where we raised a large family of ten children. Playing for my children’s schools and day care centers led me to return to university to earn a master’s degree in education. One summer I encountered a musician playing the accordion in the streets of old Quebec and decided that I wanted to be a street harpist bringing music, especially Bach, to people everywhere. “The world needs more Bach” has been my motto for twenty years now. I live on my sailboat off-grid on the Maine coast when I’m not nomading and couch surfing in my children’s lives. My partner Arlen (captain of the boat jointly with the cat) builds magical sounding folk harps, and I have been exploring the world of sound and vibration.

Barbara Butler – organ

Barbara Butler is a chamber musician, choral conductor, organist and music educator and a well-known champion for the arts in Nova Scotia. She is a graduate in music from Acadia University and in Arts Management from the Banff School of Fine Arts. In 1990 she was made a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. She has earned both the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal for her service to music and the arts in Nova Scotia. Barbara is the Founder and past Artistic Director of the St. Cecilia Concert Series and former Director of the Lieutenant Governor’s Concert Series. She is a 2006 recipient of a Women of Excellence Award in the field of culture from the Canadian Progress Club (Halifax – Cornwallis) and in 2011 was honoured to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the University of King’s College.

Barbara has strong affiliations with many arts organizations in the province and has sat on various boards including the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, Debut Atlantic, Opera Nova Scotia, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, The Nova Scotia Masterworks Foundation and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust. She is currently Chair of the Board of Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir, Senior Artistic Advisor of Musique Royale and organist/choir director at St. John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg. On December 30 2020, Barbara Butler was appointed a member (CM) of the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the musical landscape of Nova Scotia, notably through her promotion of numerous concert series across the province.