Coming together through music on a day to remember
Remembrance Day concert reflects ‘who we are’ as a modern nation
Commemoration and celebration will stand side by side at the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra’s “Hamilton Remembers” concert in FirstOntario Concert Hall this Saturday evening, Remembrance Day.
The concert’s commemorative component comes in the second half and, aptly enough, that high honour falls to Mozart’s enduring “Requiem.” Music director Gemma New will step up to the podium to lead the HPO, soprano Shannon Mercer, mezzo Julie Nesrallah, tenor Lawrence Wiliford, baritone John Fanning, and a 130-voice chorus drawn from members of Alex Cann’s Bach Elgar Choir and Mark Vuorinen’s Kitchener-based Grand Philharmonic Choir.
Mozart’s “Requiem” needs no introduction. On the other hand, the first half ’s two celebratory Canadian compositions do. The 7:30 p.m. concert will open with the première of HPO composer-in-residence Abby Richardson-Schulte’s “Step Up,” one of 38 two-minute pieces commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in collaboration with partner orchestras across the country for Canada’s sesquicentennial.
“The piece reflects our potential to come together as a country in times of need,” wrote Richardson-Schulte in an email to The Spectator. “When there is a call for help, we respond. When (Prime Minister Justin) Trudeau sent hurricane relief to Texas recently, he said, ‘This is who we are.’ That sentiment is exactly the spirit of this piece. I think the theme of this piece works quite well on a Remembrance Day concert. Many of Canada’s national and international aid initiatives are carried out by the military. It’s a reminder that serving in the military today isn’t all about war. We as citizens also have to step up and support, be it through donations, spirit or our time.”
Following that brief work, Michael Fedyshyn will step to the front of the stage as the soloist in John Estacio’s “Trumpet Concerto,” a 25-minute work co-commissioned by a consortium of 19 Canadian orchestras, the HPO among that lot.
Premièred this past March by Larry Larson and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the concerto is in three movements starting with “Triton’s Trumpet,” moving on to the lyrical “Ballad,” and finishing with the quickpaced “Rondo.”
The following afternoon, Sunday, Nov. 12, at 2 p.m., David Braid brings one of his more recent projects, a jazz quartet called The North, to a venue where he’s had a long-running association, the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts, 126 James St. S.
“We’ve collaborated with him for around 20 years,” HCA artistic director Vitek Wincza said about Braid in a press release. “The HCA is happy to welcome him back again. We believe that Hamilton deserves to celebrate one of our own — a pianist and com-
poser that has reached the top of Canada’s jazz scene.”
The North consists of the multi-award winning Braid on piano, Nova Scotia-born, Toronto-based Juno Award winning saxophonist Mike Murley, plus a Scandinavian rhythm section of Finnish-born, Swedenbased bassist Johnny Aaman, and Danish drummer Anders Mogensen.
The four met a decade ago when Braid and Murley were on one of their early tours to Denmark, though they only assembled as a quartet four years ago.
Since then, The North has performed in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Lithuania, and China. Their eponymous entitled debut album for the Addo label was recorded in Copenhagen in February 2016. They’re currently touring it across Canada, supported in part by the Canada Council, Jazz-Danmark, and the Danish Composers Association.
According to Braid, The North’s gig will pretty much follow the music on their album, which draws on the foursome’s experiences as composers-improvisers in northern lands. So, expect to hear Murley’s “The Split,” which aims to conjure up images of Nova Scotia’s Cape Split through the lens of the legendary John Coltrane, Braid’s “Lele’s Tune,” a jazz suite that revels in an interplay between folk dance and contemporary rhythms, as well as “Some Other Spring,” an Irene Kitchings-Arthur Herzog, Jr. 1939 standard. Tickets are $25, senior $20, student $15. Call 905-5284020.