An all-star cast of Island musicians will present Hard Times Come Again on Sunday, July 9, at 3:00 pm at historic St. Mary's Church in Kensington. Featuring UPEI faculty members Morgan Saulnier, Sean Kemp, and Natalie Williams Calhoun, the Hard Times Orchestra also includes Cameron MacDuffee, Brielle Ansems, Adam Hill, Jeffrey Bazett-Jones, Chris Corrigan, and Andrew Murray. Tickets are available at Under The Spire Festival (902-836-4933) or online (https://underthespire.ca). 

Composed by Adam Hill, Hard Times Come Again is a concert-length chamber-folk suite that draws on oral history and connects the Great Depression to contemporary times through stories of hope and transformation. The piece is made up of seven songs with lyrics derived from historical interviews about the Great Depression. The interviewees represent a diverse demographic, young and old, from farmers and salespeople to artists and politicians. Complementing these songs are seven electroacoustic interludes that tell contemporary tales. Hill conducted his own set of interviews with Island artists and combined samples from those conversations with organic and synthetic sounds. The result is an emotionally evocative musical experience that sheds light on what we value and how we lead our lives in accordance with those values. 

Tickets are available at Under the Spire Festival.