Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Staff
A standout on the Toronto jazz scene, Napanee’s Hannah Barstow will return for her first hometown concert in nearly a decade as part of the L&A County’s Live at the Museum series May 31 at 7 p.m.
Having grown up in Napanee but now living in Toronto, she says she’s looking forward to returning to her old stomping grounds and furthering the town’s developing jazz scene.
“In the last five or 10 years (Napanee) just keeps getting more and more beautiful and there’s so much culture happening in Napanee,” said Barstow. “I feel really proud to go back and be a part of that. It’s a very important place to me, I spent my whole childhood there and it feels really special to go back.”
Though she hasn’t played Napanee since she was in her teens, she has headlined several shows in the surrounding area. That includes the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival for the last 10 years, where she was billed as the 2016 Rising Young Star. She has also been a featured vocalist and pianist for the Kingston Symphony and Greg Reunions Big Band. She’s currently a regular performer at the Rex Hotel Jazz and Blues Bar in Toronto.
The 24 year old took up piano at the age of four and was singing professionally by the age of 12. In June 2012 she received an ARCT in piano performance with first class honours. In August of that year she won first place in the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers’ Association Music Writing Competition for her piano suite entitled A Day and went on to graduate from the University of Toronto with a bachelor’s music degree in jazz performance on piano with honours in 2016.
Next Thursday’s performance will be the first time she has played at the recently renovated museum.
“It’s beautifully done and I’m really excited to play in it,” she said. “It’s a fairly small room so it’s going to be like an intimate concert and the sound will be great and I’ll be able to talk to the audience comfortably.”
Joining her for the performance will be Paul Clifford on bass and her younger brother Kieth Barstow on drums. They’ll be performing songs from her debut EP, Hannah Barstow Trio, which she released last year, along with some rearranged pop songs that have a jazz twist to them as well as some jazz standards.
This fall she plans to return to U of T for master’s studies in jazz performance.
“Personal projects are going to have to be on hold for school,” she said of plans to release any more music.
“But I intend to do a lot of composing for different kinds of ensembles while I’m a student at the school.”
Her May 31 show in Napanee will also coincide with the launch of a new exhibit at the museum which will explore life after the Great War. It will include stories and photos from the roaring 1920s.
Admission to the show is $3, with tickets sold at the door.