Do you know what it feels like when a dream become reality? Canadian vocal superstar Julie Nesrallah does.

“If you dream it, Mark might show up and make it happen.”

Julie Nesrallah recorded the album with the SSO in 2022. (Julie Isaac Photography)

“I’ve always had a twinkling idea of this project in my head to create and album of jazz and cabaret tunes that I love,” says Nesrallah. “But, a project like that, you just can’t do it on your own. You need a huge support system around you. Then one day, out of the blue, Mark Turner called me and said he had a weird dream of us performing torch songs together. If you dream it, Mark might show up and make it happen.”

“Julie is such an incredible storyteller and this music spans the decades.”

When Turner, the CEO and Creative Producer of the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, found out Nesrallah was interested, the rest was just details. He set to work arranging the SSO players and in September 2022 they entered the studio to record Too Good To Talk About.

“Julie is such an incredible storyteller and this music spans the decades. Peel Me A Grape, The Lies of Handsome Men, these are songs that were written for big voices, not the breathy pop singers of today.” says Turner. “This record is all about the music as it was intended to be sung, with power. It’s a really cool project.”

“We all have this little corner of our souls where torch songs live.”

Conductor Janna Sailor will join Nesrallah and the SSO for this concert. (Julie Isaac Photography)

Nesrallah hand-picked her favourite tunes for the album. Fever is one of her mother’s favourites and others like The Man That Got Away speak to her on a personal level.

“We all have this little corner of our souls where torch songs live,” she says. “That piece of real estate that remembers what we once longed for, the what ifs. These songs are all about the push and pull of our heart’s desire.”

The album is set for release later this summer and to celebrate its creation, Nesrallah is coming to Saskatoon to perform it live with the SSO. In Torch Songs at the Remai Arts Centre Nesrallah and the orchestra will take the stage under the direction of conductor Janna Sailor for an intimate evening of music and stories behind the album.

“We made a baby, it’s a reflection of who I am,” she says. “I put my dream and trust in the hands of people who are at the top of their game. Saskatoon has become a second home for me and I can’t wait to share this album with the audience.”