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Sarah Slean and her influences

As a singer, songwriter, arranger, and conductor, Sarah Slean has established herself firmly as a musician. But she comes to Canada Reads 2009 -- defending Mercy Among the Children by David Adams Richards -- as much more than a musician. She is also an actor, photographer, painter, student of philosophy, classical pianist and poet.

At the time of this January 2007 interview, Slean had just returned from a seven-month stay in Paris, where she had been promoting the European release of her album Day One.

Seated casually at the piano, she chats briefly about her musical influences and her special involvement in the Joni Mitchell Project.

• Sarah Slean was born and grew up in Pickering, Ont.

• She has been a double nominee for both Juno and Gemini awards, with two indie and four major label releases.

• One critic describes Slean's music as, "Multilayered compositions that conjure up images of backstreet cafés populated by seedy radicals and idealistic revolutionaries who have had one-too-many drinks. If she wrote novels, Slean's stories would be epic accounts of love, loss and redemption." -Contemporary Canadian Biographies

• As a University of Toronto student, Slean studied philosophy and music.

• A four-month retreat to a cabin without running water in rural Ontario in 2003 provided the solace and inspiration needed for her album Day One.

• Slean has kept a connection with her classical roots, collaborating with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Orchestra and the CBC Radio Orchestra.

• Her second book of poetry, The Baroness, was released in 2008.

Medium: Television
Program: CBC News: Sunday
Broadcast Date: Jan. 21, 2007
Guest(s): Sarah Slean
Host: Carole MacNeil, Evan Solomon
Duration: 2:10

Last updated: March 28, 2012

Page consulted on April 3, 2013

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