There we all sat, and let the sounds of music creep in our ears, or so Shakespeare (almost) wrote. As part of the Flooding in the Garden Festival, Evan Lawson and his Forest Collective presented the small audience gathered at Abbotsford Convent with The Mingled Yarn: musings on and interpretations of the Bard, through music and spoken word. If anything can be learned from this ambitious undertaking it is that Lawson, the young polymath, certainly knows how to prepare an aural feast with limited means.

As with any concert, particularly one with theatrical elements such as this, there were spectacular successes alongside inconsistencies, however from the outset Lawson’s direction was strong, and his elegant conducting masterful. The opening instrumental arrangement of the Kyrie from Byrd’s Mass for 3 Voices was both beautifully delivered and atmospheric, especially within the surrounds of the convent. Extraneous noises, including birdcalls, the thump of the bass from the bar around the corner, and the distant chatter of its patrons, provided a pleasant accompaniment rather than a distraction.

The premier of Lawson’s Winter Canticle proved the highpoint of the evening. Violin and harp created the texture of feet treading lightly on the forest floor while voices, starting softly, gradually...