Sounds of summer
The rousing sounds of music have filled the Museum this July! Enjoy more amazing performances in the "Music and Nature" series, a unique online experience offered in partnership with the Music & Beyond Festival. Learn more.
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Nature Scoop
Poison Ivy
How do you identify Poison Ivy? Join our Curator of Botany, Jennifer Doubt, in the National Herbarium of Canada for a close-up look at preserved specimens. Then step outside with her for a look at the live plant.
A special serenade
Harpsichord amidst the birds
The delightful sounds of the harpsichord fill the Bird Gallery as Marie Bouchard brings to life two musical movements from French composer Louis-Antoine Dornel’s Suite no. 3 in G minor for harpsichord.
Music and water
Soothing sounds of the harp
Join world-class harpist Caroline Léonardelli among the fish in the Museum's Water Gallery for an exquisite performance of Canadian composer Marjan Mozetich’s piece, Reflection.
Inspired by Earth's elements
Lehár's Gold and Silver Waltz
Enjoy a beautiful Gold and Silver waltz from the Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. Combined with images of spectacular minerals and rocks in our Earth Gallery, this timeless classic is performed in the Museum's rotunda by Pascale Margely on flute, Jonathan Crow on violin, Sara Mastrangelo on violin, Julian Armour on cello, and Frédéric Lacroix on piano as part of this year's Music and Beyond Festival.
Behind the scenes
Schizolite
This interesting-looking specimen, with divergent, bladed crystals, is schizolite (the black spots are the mineral aegirine). It was collected in 1981 at a “pocket” in the mineral-rich locality of Mont Saint-Hilaire, Quebec (the pocket was a void in the rock where the minerals crystalized). Schizolite itself has an interesting history. It was described as a species in 1901, unofficially discredited as one in 1955 (assumed to be serandite or pectolite), and then eventually reinstated as a species, thanks to analyses by Canadian Museum of Nature mineralogists Joel Grice, Ph.D., and Aaron Lussier, Ph.D.
Editor: Laura Sutin
Questions or comments can be sent to lsutin@nature.ca
Photos:
Loon: Doug Smith from Pixabay
Music and Nature images: Music and Beyond Festival
Gold and Silver waltz: Pierre Poirier
Schizolite mineral: Erika Anderson
