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
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
A pianist who prizes the unusual
By Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Peter Serkin in recital
When and Where: Today, 8 p.m., NAC Southam Hall
Tickets: $22 to $52, for those with Music and Beyond passes. Single tickets are also available.
Info: www.musicandbeyond.ca
There are some classical musicians who are content to travel the world, performing the same warhorses by dead composers again and again and rarely bothering to look beyond the mainstream or at music that is being created by composers of our own time.
Grammy-winning American pianist Peter Serkin, though highly praised in performances of standard repertoire with leading orchestras, is not one of those musicians.
Read more: A pianist who prizes the unusual
