Highlights of Chamberfest, Week 2
The Ottawa Citizen
Stewart Goodyear practices between performances at the Anglican Church of St. John the Evangelist on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. Goodyear is performing the complete Beethoven piano sonatas at this year’s Chamber Music Festival.
Photograph by: David Kawai, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — There are still dozens of concerts to come before the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival presents its final event Aug. 7, a performance by the Tokyo String Quartet.
If you haven’t bought a festival pass, you can get 10-concert passes or three-day passes for the second week. Among the notable programming in week two:
Finishing his Beethoven marathon
Canadian pianist Stewart Goodyear today presents the final two performances in his nine-concert marathon of the complete Beethoven sonatas.
Noon: At Church of St. John the Evangelist (Somerset at Elgin), Goodyear performs Sonatas 26, 27 and 28.
7 p.m.: At Dominion-Chalmers Church (O’Connor at Cooper), Goodyear performs the final four sonatas. If you’re looking for a souvenir of the cycle, Goodyear’s new recording of Beethoven sonatas is on sale at the churches.
Read more: Highlights of Chamberfest, Week 2
St. Lawrence Quartet opens fall-winter series
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Matthew White is in town Nov. 28.
Photograph by: Pat McGrath
If this year’s Ottawa Chamber Music Festival leaves you wanting more, you can look forward to performances by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and the Borodin String Quartet with mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah as part of the six-performance concert series the Chamber Music Society will present during the 2010-2011 season.
Other events include a performance of Bach’s St. John Passion by Les Voix Baroques and Orchestre Arion, a performance by the new-music group Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal and a production for family audiences of an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.
Read more: St. Lawrence Quartet opens fall-winter series
Showing off with Shostakovich
Pacifica Quartet presents program with lucidity, fire
By Richard Todd, The Ottawa Citizen
Pacifica Quartet performs during Chamberfest in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper St. @ O’Connor. The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival 2010 runs from July 24 to Aug. 7, 2010. The Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. Simin Ganatra (first violin), Sibbi Bernhardsson (second violin), Brandon Vamos (cello) and Musumi Per Rostad (viola/alto).
Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, the Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA-Three consecutive evenings, three top-notch string quartets: the Claudel-Canimex on Sunday, the Afiara on Monday and on Tuesday it was the Pacifica Quartet with an all-Shostakovich program.
Some people consider Shostakovich the Beethoven of the 20th century. Others think of him more as a musical Ingmar Bergman. Both views have merit. Shostakovich and Beethoven have many things in common in their output, and neither composer is difficult to understand. However, in place of Beethoven’s unquenchable optimism, Shostakovich’s music is often couched in gloom and irony.
Read more: Showing off with Shostakovich
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
A contemporary troubadour
Indie star Kristmanson joins string quartet for pop/classical collaboration
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Kyrie Kristmasnon, seen here on her research trip in France, will join the Afiara Quartet at Chamberfest Tuesday.
Photograph by: Julie Oliver, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — There are not many musicians who can boast of having played Ottawa’s blues, jazz and chamber music festivals, but fast-rising Ottawa singer-songwriter Kyrie Kristmanson will be able to add that accomplishment to her résumé Tuesday at Saint Brigid’s Centre, when she joins the Afiara String Quartet for the premiere of a new song cycle at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival.
It’s one of several collaborations at this year’s festival between the classical and pop worlds. Others include a performance July 30 by the Art of Time Ensemble, in which the musicians will perform a piece by Korngold and singer-songwriters who include Danny Michel will perform tunes inspired by Korngold’s music.
Read more: A contemporary troubadour
A scoop of Chopin, a scoop of mixed quartets — all delicious
By Richard Todd, Citizen Special
Pianist Alexander Tselyakov rehearses prior to his performance at the Chamber Music Festival , July 27, 2001.
Photograph by: Wayne Hiebert, The Ottawa Citizen
Spending your evening at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival is a little like having a double-scoop ice-cream cone with two flavours. One scoop might be a Chopin recital and, the other, the music of a string quartet.
At least that’s how it worked out for this listener on Sunday.
First came Alexander Tselyakov’s program of Chopin’s Opus 10 and Opus 25 études along with a nocturne, a barcarole and a scherzo. The Nocturnes are among Chopin’s most popular pieces, and the C-sharp Minor was one of the most appealing of Sunday’s renditions.
Read more: A scoop of Chopin, a scoop of mixed quartets — all delicious
Music will fill the chambers
Violinist Isabelle Faust is making her Chamberfest debut with pianist Alexander Melnikov Aug. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
TRACEY TONG, METRO OTTAWA
Ottawa’s classical music festival has just wrapped up, but the executive director of the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival isn’t worried about what that will mean for his festival.
“People are saying to me that you can never have too much good music,” said Glenn Hodgins.
“I think people have an appetite for great artists and the great masters of our time.”
In its 17th year, Chamberfest, which begins Saturday and runs through Aug. 7, is the biggest festival of its kind in the world, said Hodgins.
Read more: Music will fill the chambers
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
Leong Brothers Tread a Musical Path
By Pam McLennan, Epoch Times Staff
Stanley and Kerson Leong at their home (Pam McLennan/The Epoch Times)
OTTAWA—If it’s young people who will shape the world of the future, we are in good hands with Stanley and Kerson Leong. The brothers, 15 and 13 respectively, are classical musicians attending Ashbury College in Ottawa.
Theirs is a close family that supports each other, and the brothers frequently credit their parents with introducing them to classical music and encouraging them to learn to play musical instruments. From their father, Kin-Wai, an MIT alumnus and physicist, Stanley says he learned about the qualities of acoustic resonance and other scientific principles that he can apply to music, sports, and his studies.
Read more: Leong Brothers Tread a Musical Path
