A musical look back on 2017
Three short days and the good old year is with the past.
But before he shakes our hands and leaves us here — thank you William Cullen Bryant for those words — let us take but one last glance, picking and choosing through his months with an adaptation of Sara Coleridge’s “A Calendar” as our guide.
January brings the snow, makes our toes to tango so.
Nothing gets your toes a-tangoing like the Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo (guitarist Giampaolo Bandini and bandoneonist Cesare Chiacchiaretta) and their infectious tango arrangements played before a packed audience at the Hamilton Conservatory under the auspices of Emma Rush’s Guitar Hamilton series.
February brings the rain, and The Beatles back again.
Alas, not the real Beatles, but a raft of local musicians accompanied by the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra under Darcy Hepner in an evening of music by The Fab Four before a sold out FirstOntario Concert Hall. Lesson learned: never try to imitate The Fabs because you’ll come up pale every time. Highlight of the night: vocalist Hailee Rose in Hepner’s kick-butt funk arrangement of “We Can Work It Out.”
February was also when Canada Post launched five, opera-themed stamps. One of those paid homage to Burlington-raised soprano Adrianne Pieczonka whose internationally acclaimed career is still in its zenith. In January, Pieczonka brings her Floria Tosca to London’s Royal Opera House opposite the Baron Scarpia of bass-baritone Gerald Finley, another of Canada Post’s honourees. Their Feb. 7 performance will be screened on March 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Toronto’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
March brings breezes loud and shrill, and a boys’ choir that did thrill.
Jawohl, the Vienna Boys Choir returned to the Burlington Performing Arts Centre for an eclectic yet entertaining night of choral works spanning the centuries.
April brings the primrose sweet, scatters music at our feet.
Like Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Gemma New and the HPO, the Hamilton Children’s Choir, and students from Glendale Secondary in FirstOntario Concert Hall. Over at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Danel Quartet expertly performed works by Weinberg, Shostakovich, and Tishchenko for Chamber Music Hamilton audiences.
May brings flocks of pretty lambs, and more HPO programs.
Think there’s more corn than gold in Korngold’s “Violin Concerto”? Not after you heard Lara St. John with the HPO under New. In late May, the HPO’s What Next festival was dedicated in memory of Glenn Mallory, founder of the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and former music supervisor for the Hamilton Board of Education, who passed away on May 17.
Summer brings cooling showers, and the Brott Festival’s musical flowers.
The summer months belonged to Boris Brott and his eponymous festival, the 30th anniversary of which was celebrated triumphantly with performances by the National Academy Orchestra and guest artists throughout the region.
Warm September brings fruit, and much Puccini to boot.
You had to clone yourself to catch Sabatino Vacca’s Southern Ontario Lyric Opera company stage Puccini’s “La bohème” at the BPAC on the same night as BrottOpera’s presentation of “Passionate Puccini” in FO Concert Hall, the latter with some exceedingly fine singing by Mary Dunleavy, James Westman, and Luc Robert, accompanied by Brott and an NAO in tip-top form. But are we any closer to a fully staged opera in FO Concert Hall?
Fresh October brings the pheasants, and to hear Italian opera chestnuts was pleasant.
Particularly with Italian-born, St. Petersburg, Russia-based conductor Fabio Mastrangelo and the HPO plus American soprano Shelley Jackson and Lithuanian tenor Kristian Benedikt (a.k.a. Vaidas Vysniauskas) in FO Concert Hall. And to think that Mastrangelo — who arrived just in time for the dress rehearsal the day of his Oct. 21 concert thanks to a snafu over his former status as a landed immigrant that resulted in him not being allowed to board his Oct. 19 flight from Frankfurt to Toronto until the following day after a friend in a high place had interceded on his behalf — and his colleagues put on one of the year’s better concerts.
Dull November brings the blast, while musicians are whirling fast.
Like the Miro Quartet at the AGH for CMH, or David Braid’s jazz quartet “The North” at the Conservatory, or New and the HPO who proved that their Intimate and Interactive series at The Studio in FO Concert Hall sports a winning formula.
Chill December brings the sleet, blazing fire and Christmas treat.
Musical treats like “Shot,” HPO composer-in-residence Abby Richardson-Schulte and librettist Anna Chatterton’s chamber opera about the assassination of D’Arcy McGee, semi-staged by the HPO and Darryl Edwards’s Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, and jazz vocalist Heather Bambrick letting loose on “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” with the HPO under Lucas Waldin. Sadly, this month we lost flutist, educator and Mac music prof David Gerry, a gentleman in the fullest sense of the word.
Then away, 2017, for you give no more, but may 2018 have just as much in store.
Happy New Year to all.