VSO delivers sounds of summer
JULY: Whirlwind tour mixes less conventional and traditional performances
You might think that the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, fresh from Canada Day events in Whistler, would be ready for a bit of a break. Well, not yet.
The next 10 days will be jam-packed with performances.
It begins back at the Orpheum on Friday with Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions. Even though it’s not on the radar for many conventional symphony patrons, music for gamers is a very big deal — symphonic music in particular — and you can be sure that Vancouver Pokémoniacs will be out in force. (Note the early start time of 7 p.m.)
Two days later, the VSO makes a short road trip to Burnaby for the annual free outdoor program on Sunday.
Most orchestras envy the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s summer home at the Hollywood Bowl, an enormous outdoor space that accommodates 18,000 listeners. Well, let’s be frank. Vancouver’s unpredictable summer weather means that a full outdoor season would be courting meteorological disaster. Even so, a muchloved July event is the VSO’s annual free Deer Lake concert, an extravaganza that delights thousands. The gently sloping lawn at the Shadbolt Centre is a bring-your-own-seating proposition, but the outdoor venue is hard to beat. A word to the wise: arrive early to stake your claim.
For his playlist, VSO assistant conductor William Rowson will offer a tasting menu of short orchestral sparklers, including violinist Matthew Yip as soloist in Saint-Saëns’s delectable (and sexy) Havanaise.
Still al fresco (but protected from the worst of the elements) is VSO@ Bard the next day, once again with Rowson on the podium. Here the idea is a classical repertoire, including Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, featuring VSO principal clarinetist Jeanette Jonquil, with some post-classical written-in encores.
There’s only one Bard program, on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the big Bard tent at Vanier Park.
Then for a grand finale to a soundfilled July, the VSO’s latest Harry Potter film-and-music concerts: three performances of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban from July 13-15 — especially appropriate this summer given the hoopla around the 20th anniversary of J.K. Rowling’s boy wizard saga. The addictive magic of the books notwithstanding, the movies have particular appeal for fans of orchestral wizardry: great symphonic scores by John Williams.
Here the VSO demonstrates that it’s well ahead of a trend. These days, film/live music events are a part of any savvy orchestra’s bag of tricks, an increasingly popular alternative to old-school pops concerts. Many of us believe that grandiose scores like those of Williams predispose younger listeners to the glories of the big, late-romantic/early modern works.
Of course, it’s way too early to tell, but the enthusiastic turnout for Holst’s The Planets earlier this season during the VSO’s Britfest suggests that this gateway strategy has merit.
And, of course, who isn’t wild about Harry?