Solo trumpet to herald orchestra's new season
Composition by principal trumpeter commemorates three occasions
The National Arts Centre Orchestra will launch its new season on Friday with the call of a solo trumpet, an instrument traditionally employed to herald a celebration or sound a cry of mourning.
In this case, it's a bit of both, rolled into a fanfare composed and performed by principal trumpeter Karen Donnelly, a 55-year-old Saskatchewan-born musician who's in her 26th season with the NAC Orchestra. Friday's NACO In a New Light concert marks the debut of the short piece.
It's Donnelly's first composition to be performed on stage, and the assignment was a challenge. She was asked to come up with something for a concert that would not only kick off the orchestra's season and celebrate the return of an in-person audience, but also commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
“It's not something I've ever really done, except in school,” Donnelly said, “but I often have these little unknown melodies going on in my head. And, of course, when you're writing for your own instrument, there's a high level of comfort.”
One of those melodies popped into her head the moment she received the assignment. She describes it as a loose reworking of Taps with a nod to The Last Post and, because of the New York City context, a smattering of jazz.
“When I think of New York, I think of a place where I always go to hear some music when I'm there,” Donnelly said, “so I have a little jazz-influenced cascading line that came out of that.”
Music director Alexander Shelley calls it a “profound and dignified” way to open a concert that will take listeners on a journey from darkness to light with a program that ranges from Ashes, a haunting a cappella expression of sorrow written shortly after 9/11 by African-American composer Trevor Weston, to Tchaikovsky's stirring Symphony No. 4.
The Weston piece, to be performed by the choir of Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, also illustrates the orchestra's ongoing commitment to feature under-recognized composers and performers.
“It's picking up our model from last year, when we really celebrated a lot of diverse composers who traditionally have not regularly appeared on stage with symphony orchestras,” Shelley said. “We went all-in this year to embrace it all season.”
Other gems on the program are Prayer, written last year by Edmonton-born composer Vivian Fung and made into a CBC Music video featuring musicians from 28 Canadian orchestras, and Ninaivanjali, a piece by Montreal's Gabriel Dharmoo that pays tribute to his Indian rhythm teacher.
It's the first collaboration of the season with Dharmoo, a vocalist, composer and drag queen who is one of a new group of artists to partner with the orchestra. Others include Adrian Anantawan, a virtuoso Canadian violinist with one hand who advocates for accessibility in music; Venezuelan-born pianist, composer and activist Gabriela Montero; Indigenous singer-songwriter Shawnee Kish, conductor Bernard Labadie, Indigenous composer Barbara Croall, and Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir.
“They form a set of superheroes with different skills, like cultural avengers,” Shelley said of the group. “They 're personalities with the artistry and skill sets that lead us to think about exploring different areas. This will be a multi-year endeavour with them, and something that I think will definitely be enriching.”
Friday's opening concert will have an audience of about 350 in Southam Hall, a far cry from its almost-2,000 capacity, and will be streamed online for free. Upcoming performances follow a similar hybrid model, though some of the streams will be ticketed.
Highlights of the first half of the orchestra's season include artist-in-residence James Ehnes playing Beethoven (Sept. 18), a Holiday Cirque performance with Troupe Vertigo (Dec. 9-11), and another holiday concert with Carly Rae Jepsen joining the orchestra (Dec. 22-23). The 2022 half of the season will be announced this fall. Go to nac-cna.ca for details.
“When I look at the first three months, we're doing something which is very important to me,” Shelley said. “We're emphasizing that a symphony orchestra is so many different things. It's not just Mozart and Beethoven and great classical stars coming in and playing virtuoso pieces, it's also about intimate chamber-music settings, backing pop stars and working with a circus. I hope audiences can dig into what we have on offer and find what speaks to them.”