Isolation Commissions #22 - Peggy Lee

Commissioned by Mark Scivier Dark, Dear Heart by Mary Margaret O'Hara Isolation Commission #22 comes to us from Peggy Lee, commissioned by Mark Scivier. Peggy is a vital part of Vancouver's music community, but is spending this isolation period in the Land Down Under, where she sent us this great performance from. Dark, Dear Heart is written by Mary Margaret O'Hara, and if you've ever seen Peggy and Mary Margaret perform you know they have a rare energy and synergy together, making this solo performance even more meaningful. Cellist, improviser, composer Peggy Lee was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She studied classical cello, completing a bachelors degree in performance at the University of Toronto as a student of Vladimir Orloff and Denis Brott. She furthered her studies on the cello with lessons with Martha Gerschefski in Atlanta Georgia. In the fall of 1988 Peggy began a year residency with a string quartet at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta. It was here that she first became interested in collaborating with artists from different mediums and in veering away from the classical path. This led to a decision to move away from the known and thus to her relocating to Vancouver, B.C. where she now makes her home. Peggy’s first forays into improvisation in Vancouver happened with dancers at the EDAM (experimental dance and music) studio at the Western Front and eventually led to her meeting and joining guitarists Ron Samworth and Tony Wilson in their respective bands; as well as becoming a member of the New Orchestra Workshop, which went on to have interesting and fruitful collaborations with Butch Morris, Wadada Leo Smith, René Lussier, Barry Guy and George Lewis. http://www.peggylee.net To support front line artists in this unprecedented time, and to foster reflections on that time from our musical community, Little Chamber Music has created the Isolation Commissions. For $200, commissioners got to choose an artist to film a 4min video of themselves performing at home, something that reflects the impact our extraordinary social situation is having on their artistic practice. It might be an improvisation, a favourite piece, a work that brings comfort, a work in progress….that was up to the artist. These videos are meant to be a snapshot of the lives of front-line artists who have been heavily impacted by our current crisis, and the hope is that, when we get through this, collectively they will form an artistic reflection of this unprecedented and difficult time.

Added 7 Oct 2026