For the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Quiet Please, There’s a Lady on Stage concert series, Cécile McLorin Salvant took advantage of Koerner Hall’s dynamic capacity. Her third time at the hall (having debuted in 2013 and returned in 2019) this performance follows two back-to-back albums released by Nonesuch Records: last year’s Ghost Song and last week’s Mélusine, as well as an eclectic mix of covers.

Starting with Ghost Song’s title track, a blues ballad ruminating on an undead relationship. Keeping the acapella intro, Salvant reinterpreted the intimate haunt on the album’s Rhodes-accompanied version as the third act of an exorcism, with rattling percussion by Keita Ogawa and Sullivan Fortner striking dissonant chords up and down the octaves of a grand piano. This intensity set the tone for the rest of the evening.