Caity Gyorgy With Strings Album Preview

Caity Gyorgy with Strings, arranged and conducted by Mark Limacher, has earned a nomination for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the 2026 JUNO Awards, recognizing it as one of the most  ambitious and emotionally resonant vocal jazz recordings in recent Canadian music. 

Featuring entirely original compositions by three-time JUNO Award winning vocalist and songwriter Caity  Gyorgy and JUNO-nominated composer, arranger, and pianist Mark Limacher, and fully orchestrated, arranged,  and conducted by Limacher, the album stands apart for its rare commitment to creating new orchestral vocal  jazz repertoire. At a time when orchestral jazz recordings often revisit established standards, Caity Gyorgy with  Strings, arranged and conducted by Mark Limacher presents an original song cycle grounded in contemporary  lived experience while honouring the lyrical and musical sensibilities of the mid-century vocal tradition. 

Recorded live with a full orchestra of more than forty musicians at Calgary’s National Music Centre, the album  represents an extraordinary independent artistic undertaking. Realized in collaboration with Calgary-based  musicians, engineers, and creative partners, the project reflects a level of orchestral ambition rarely developed outside traditional industry centres. The scale of the project required years of creative development, personal  investment, and an unwavering commitment to realizing a shared artistic vision. 

For Gyorgy, the album marks a defining moment in her evolution as a songwriter. 

“These songs came from a period of profound personal change,” said Gyorgy. “Writing them was a way of  understanding what I was experiencing in real time. To hear them realized on this scale, with Mark’s  orchestrations and this extraordinary group of musicians, has been one of the most meaningful experiences of  my life.”

Limacher, who arranged and conducted the album, describes the project as the culmination of a lifelong artistic  pursuit. 

“This is the project I had always hoped to make,” said Limacher. “The opportunity to bring together original  songs, orchestra, and voice in this way represents everything I value most about music. It required complete  trust between all of us, and I believe that trust is something you can hear in the recording.” 

The album traces a chronological emotional arc, written and recorded during a transformative year in Gyorgy’s  life. Rather than presenting nostalgia, the recording contributes new work to the vocal jazz tradition,  demonstrating its continued vitality and relevance. 

Gyorgy, whose previous releases have earned three JUNO Awards for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year, is widely  recognized for her singular ability to combine technical mastery with deeply personal songwriting. Limacher,  whose own compositional work has earned JUNO recognition, brings a rare fluency across classical and jazz  traditions, creating orchestrations that function not as accompaniment, but as an integral extension of the  narrative. 

Their creative partnership, first established through intimate duo recordings, reached its fullest realization in  this orchestral setting. 

A newly released behind-the-scenes film documenting the making of the album offers a rare window into the  scale and collaborative intensity of the recording process, capturing the human effort and artistic trust required  to bring the project to life. 

The JUNO nomination reflects not only the artistic strength of the recording itself, but its significance within  contemporary Canadian music. As one of the few recent vocal jazz albums built entirely on original orchestral  material, Caity Gyorgy with Strings, arranged and conducted by Mark Limacher represents a meaningful  expansion of the form. 

With its combination of emotional depth, compositional ambition, and orchestral scale, the album has emerged  as a strong contender in this year’s Vocal Jazz Album of the Year category.