Musical hybrid venture puts notes to poetry
In Art Song Project, guitarist David Occhipinti moves from jazz to classical compositions
Guitarist David Occhipinti views music as one would see the Earth from outer space.
“There are no borders, no walls,” the musician and composer says. “Just the Earth. I don’t think of music categories at all.”
Known as a jazz guitarist, he recently branched out into chamber music with his acclaimed album Camera. Now, he’s stretching himself even further with a classically flavoured concert Sunday at the Alliance Française, part of his Art Song Project.
For this latest venture he had to write music for bassoon, marimbas and the harp, the first time he has tackled that instrument. Violin, clarinet, vibraphone and bass are also onstage for the premiere of this project in which Occhipinti will also play guitar.
The art song is a musical hybrid: music is written for well-known poems, which are then sung.
Occhipinti admits he feels a bit pretentious using the term “art song,” but it is the most accurate way to describe the increasingly popular music presentation. Another term is “lieder.”
Four years ago, when working on Camera, he was inspired by the Emily Carr exhibit at the Art Gallery of Ontario, which included some of her written materials. The examples of her writing on display spurred him on to read the painter’s poems and put them to music.
In the end, he didn’t include the four songs on the album, which was otherwise an instrumental. But he went to bed each night with a stack of poetry books in search of other works that would suit music. He chose James Joyce, Dylan Thomas and T.S. Eliot, whose playful poems include “Lines to a Persian Cat,” “Lines to a Yorkshire Terrier” and “Lines to a Duck in the Park,” and whose feline works were used by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the musical Cats.
“I always loved his poetry,” Occhipinti says.
Three soloists Robin Dann, Alexandra Hetherington and Charlotte Mundy will be joined by the Cookie Choir: six 10-year-olds, including Occhipinti’s daughter Sofia.
They got their name from the cookies Occhipinti bakes for them every Saturday during practice at his home.
Occhipinti chose the concert venue after taking French lessons at the Alliance Française and hearing a concert in the 147-seat Spadina Theatre.
The concert is supported by a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.
Occhipinti, who teaches at Humber College and U of T, says he continuously works “to push my music for- ward” and isn’t afraid to try something new. He cites composer and pianist Igor Stravinsky, composer/ singer Joni Mitchell and composer/ trumpeter Miles Davis as artists who were “constantly pushing.” Art Song Project concert is at the Alliance Française Spadina Theatre, Sunday, 3 p.m. Tickets $12-$20, available at the door.