Photo Credit: Bo Huang
The idea for “Foundation” struck Kevin Lau during an ordinary ride on the subway. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, his thesis composition had been preoccupying his subconscious. Suddenly, a novel idea struck him: his doctoral thesis would be a cello concerto, and Rachel Mercer was going to perform it.
It wasn’t a totally random thought, truth be told. In 2010, Rachel was looking for new music to perform and came upon a composition by Lau for cello and piano entitled “Starsail”, which was commissioned by Sarah Steeves in 2008. She emailed Lau for the score, and made first contact. When Lau was putting together a recital later that year, Rachel was one of the performers that he invited to perform his work. He recalls their first musical meeting:
“When I heard her rehearse ‘Starsail‘, I knew immediately that I wanted to collaborate with her on a major project.”
