Westfest performers enjoy new stage
Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen
The sensuality of Taqralik Partridge’s piece Eskimo Chick, a poem of love and longing from one Inuit lesbian to another, set the stage for a celebration of alternative culture at Westfest on Friday and Saturday.
Partridge performed it early in the evening on Friday as part of Qaggiq, a showcase devoted to Inuit acts. Also on the bill that night were singers Lucie Idlout and Tanya Tagaq and the electro-fusion band Tumivut. Between them, the throatsinging was steamy, the energy was primal and the temperature of the planet shot up a few more degrees.
Despite the quirks, it’s a great site that looks like it will hold at least 10,000 fans. Approximately 3,000 attended the Inuit showcase on Friday, while Saturday’s mainstage crowd peaked around 5,000, with a big influx after the rain ended, just in time for Bif Naked.
Read full review: Westfest performers enjoy new stage
Stars of the City shine at annual celebration of customer service excellence
A total of 1,250 nominations were received from residents and visitors to the region over the past year, nominating front-line staff from 81 businesses for their real-life examples of excellence in customer service. Everyone who is nominated as a Star of the City will receive a gold “star” lapel pin, a symbol of customer service excellence here in Ottawa and Canada’s Capital Region.
An independent panel of judges comprised of industry leaders decided among 24 finalists to award the ultimate “Star of the City 2010” as well as winners in the following 8 categories.
A fresh face at Ottawa Folk Festival; New artistic director hails from Yukon
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
A music fan who says his tastes cover folk, roots, indie-rock, blues and jazz, the tall, Dylan Griffith was offered the job of artistic director of the Ottawa Folk Festival after a nationwide search that attracted more than a dozen qualified applicants.
Photograph by: Brigitte Bouvier, The Ottawa Citizen
On his first visit to Ottawa this week, Dylan Griffith, the new artistic director and producer of the Ottawa Folk Festival, was taken on a guided tour of the festival’s Britannia Park site.
The picturesque riverside setting was covered in snow, but for Griffith, who has been living in the Yukon for most of the past decade, winter is one thing that makes him feel at home. Everything else about Ottawa is new.
A 38-year-old native of Vancouver who looks a bit like Lyle Lovett, Griffith is moving himself and his cat to Ottawa this month to take over the festival’s top job, a recently created position combining artistic direction and management. He is replacing Chris White, the festival’s longtime artistic director and co-founder, who resigned in the fall to pursue other opportunities.
Read more: A fresh face at Ottawa Folk Festival; New artistic director hails from Yukon
New fiddle, 300-year-old sound
Exact copy of a 1693 Stradivari violin made in Ottawa debuts tonight
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Gatineau violinist Christian Vachon’s new violin, a copy of one made by famed Italian violinmaker Antonio Stradivari in 1693. Vachon’s instrument was made in Ottawa by Guy Harrison.
Photograph by: Bruno Schlumbeger, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Christian Vachon grins as he gently holds up his new violin, a burnished, richly grained fiddle that he says comes as close as a new instrument probably could to the sound and look of the 300-year-old Italian violin of his dreams.
The varnished wood gleams as the violinist holds it up to the sunlight in his Gatineau home. He starts to play one of the tangos he’ll perform tonight at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival with the group Norteno in the violin’s debut, and a sumptuous sound fills the living room, from lusciously dark lower notes to bright, sweetly penetrating high notes.
Read more: New fiddle, 300-year-old sound
Two venues, two stunning performances
Afiara Sting Quartet’s intonation beyond reproach
By Richard Todd, The Ottawa Citizen
Afiara String quartet
Photograph by: Handout photo
OTTAWA — As everyone must know by now, 2010 marks the bicentenary of the births of Schumann and Chopin. If you don’t care for the music of these composers, you might want to consider moving to Antarctica for the remainder of the year, or at least a cabin in the woods.
It would be a special ordeal for you at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, as there is a considerable amount of music by these composers to be heard. The 7 p.m. concert at Dominion-Chalmers was entitled Schumann, Poet of the Night. Pianist Hinrich Alpers played the Nachtstücke, op. 23 and the Humoresque, op. 20. Even Schumann-haters must have been taken aback by the beauty and elegance of the playing, but also by its power. Of course, it’s unlikely that any Schumann-haters would come to a concert of this description, but if any did they probably left with a revised opinion.
Read more: Two venues, two stunning performances
As beautiful as ever
Frederica von Stade delights as always
By Richard Todd, The Ottawa Citizen
Frederica von Stade, shown here at an event for the 75th annual Metropolitan Opera Guild in April, 2010 in New York City, performed Saturday night at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival.
Photograph by: Astrid Stawiarz, Getty Images
Although the name Frederica von Stade sounds as German as German can be, the famous mezzo-soprano was born in New Jersey, and that all by itself makes her as American as American can be.
Along with her accompanist, pianist Jake Heggie, she gave the opening night concert of the 17th Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. It was part of her Farewell Tour; she is 65 and knows when to quit.
The audience at Dominion-Chalmers was large, though short of capacity
Read more: As beautiful as ever
A musical farewell: Acclaimed mezzo-soprano opens Chamberfest with one of her last concerts
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Frederica von Stade, 64, in the midst of a goodbye tour across North America, will perform at Dominion-Chalmers Church on the first evening concert of this year’s festival.
Photograph by: Astrid Stawiarz, Getty Images, The Ottawa Citizen
Opera lovers, get out your handkerchiefs. This year’s Ottawa Chamber Music Festival will open Saturday with a musical goodbye from one of the most acclaimed singers of her generation.
American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, who is winding down her career after more than 40 years on stage, has been presenting a series of farewell concerts across North America.
Read more: A musical farewell
Ottawa Chamber Music Festival Schedule
The Ottawa Citizen
Photo courtesy of Afiara String quartet
SATURDAY, JULY 24
1 p.m.: Gryphon Trio, mezzo Patricia O’Callaghan. Songs and tangos from the Americas. Grounds of Rideau Hall.
3 p.m.: Rising Stars. Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts. Young Ottawa-area musicians.
7 p.m.: Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in recital with pianist Jake Heggie. Music by Heggie, Copland, Poulenc, Mahler, Sondheim, others. Dominion-Chalmers Church.
10:30 p.m.: Broken Hearts and Mad Men. Gryphon Trio; mezzo Patricia O’Callaghan. Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, Kildare Room.
SUNDAY, JULY 25
11 a.m.: Improvisations and Interpretations with pianist Adam Gyorgy. Beechwood National Memorial Centre, Sacred Space.
1 p.m.: Afiara String Quartet. Grounds of Rideau Hall.
3 p.m.: Violinist Marc Djokic, cellist Denise Djokic. Music of Kodály, Martinu, others. St. Andrew’s Church.
3 p.m.: Tf3, Grounds of Rideau Hall. Free. Classical, country, gypsy and jazz.
7 p.m.: Pianist Alexander Tselyakov. Chopin recital, including complete Etudes. Dominion-Chalmers Church.
8 p.m.: Claudel-Canimex Quartet. Music of Ravel, Dohnányi, Mozetich. Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts.
10:30 p.m.: Late Night at Saint Brigid’s: Tf3. Saint Brigid’s Centre for the Arts.
Read more: Ottawa Chamber Music Festival Schedule
Drake, Great Big Sea draw waves of support
Who attracted more of the record-setting crowd to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest last night?
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen July 17, 2010
Great Big Sea and lead singer Alan Doyle entertained the crowd on the MBNA stage at the 2010 Bluesfest held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Friday July 16, 2010.
Photograph by: Ashley Fraser, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Who attracted more fans to Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest Friday night: Newfoundland’s favourite sons, Great Big Sea, or Drake, Canada’s hot new rap superstar?
It was a tough call. Drake, being the only big-name rapper on this year’s program, drew throngs of young concertgoers to his show on the Claridge stage, although the Great Big Sea army turned out by the tens of thousands, as they always do when their top band is on the main stage. Plus, it was Friday night.
In other words, it was a huge crowd, at least as big as the 35,000 estimated at Santana the other night.
Read more: Drake, Great Big Sea draw waves of support
Bluesfest’s newest stage ruins the music vibe
By Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Coolooloosh
Coolooloosh hit the Blacksheep tent at the 2010 Bluesfest Sunday July 11, 2010 held at the Canadian War Museum.
Swell Season singer Glen Hansard was not amused by the sound waves from the prog-rock trio Rush bombarding his band on the Hard Rock stage on Sunday night.
If only there was a tent, he mused at one point, where the quieter bands could play their shows in relative peace.
Well, as a matter of fact there is a tent at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest this year, a monstrosity of a structure just over the hill from the Hard Rock Café stage. Unfortunately, its purpose is not to cushion the soft and earnest acts from the main-stage onslaught of noise.
