Well it appears that Brunswick isn’t the only Annex street to have benefited recently from the wealth of professional musicians who live in the ‘hood.  Last Saturday evening some 60 residents on Howland were treated to an hour-and-a-half long concert headlined by its very own Stéphanie Martin.

An Annexonian for the past 20 years, Stéphanie has been in front of the footlights on stages in Montreal, Paris, and London’s West End where she famously sang the role of Éponine in Les Misérables – in both French andEnglish. Since then she has had an eclectic career, not only as a chanteuse with her own band but also as a songwriter and music producer. In fact, she was the artistic director behind the “Bikestock” festival held at Nathan Philip’s Square in 2014 for an audience of some 1500 people.

This coming year, Stephanie was scheduled to tour with Jeans ‘n Classics to over 40 cities in North America. But when COVID struck and darkened theatres, her entire slate of performances was cancelled. She and her eponymous band have continued to rehearse regularly over the intervening months but felt shadowed by an enormous emptiness that only a live performance could vanquish. And so it was they quietly spread the word on the street about Saturday’s concert – Stéphanie accompanied by musicians on bass guitar, drums, and keyboard.

Those who were lucky enough to experience the performance have reported it as “uplifting” and “magical” – a moment wrested from the worries of this plague-ridden world. Stephanie herself appreciated the feeling of intimacy on the street. “One of the silver linings of COVID is that I’ve gotten to know some of my neighbours a lot better. People are turning to the village way of doing things. There’s reciprocity and mutual support on a local level. And that’s a beautiful thing.”

Certainly her concert did much to bolster this community spirit — as did her work this summer to create an 8-week day camp in her back yard for kids on the street. But that’s a whole other story for a whole other newsletter. What a great neighbour!