SUMMER SYMPHONY
Free, fresh air performances planned for Burnaby’s Deer Lake Park, Whistler’s Olympic Plaza
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra hits the road for a summer series taking it all the way to Whistler
This month marks an expanded phase of summer activity for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra outside the grand old Orpheum Theatre.
Kicking off Sunday at Deer Lake and ending July 25, a flurry of events, mostly free, makes for inviting summertime listening.
First up this Sunday is the tried- andtrue Symphony in the Park! at 7: 30 p. m. on the great lawn of Burnaby’s Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, looking out over the cool waters of Deer Lake.
Burnaby and the VSO are marking a quarter of a century of this popular event, which invariably draws thousands to one of the best outdoor music venues in Metro Vancouver. ( A word of warning: get there good and early to stake out your territory.)
Programming consists of summertime favourites, usually ending up with a figurative and literal bang in the form of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
This year, VSO assistant conductor Gordon Gerrard includes another Russian favourite, showcasing pianist Avan Yu in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini ( neatly foreshadowing the VSO’s Rachmaninov Fest to come in 2014).
It’s a nice, sentimental gesture to include Yu, whose worldwide career is taking off. According to the VSO’s Alan Gove, Yu’s first orchestral gig was when he won the Burnaby Clef Society’s Concerto Competition back in 2002, and played at Deer Lake that summer.
If you know the Rachmaninov, you know it’s crammed with keyboard pyrotechnics.
As it turns out, this 25th- anniversary concert will conclude with pyrotechnics of the other kind.
“The City of Burnaby is really proud of this and celebrating it, so there will be fireworks after the concert,” Gove said.
Almost immediately afterward, the orchestra takes to the hills in the form of a significantly expanded Whistler mini- residency, in part because of successes last year.
Though the weather wasn’t prime in 2012, according to Gove, “it cleared up enough to present ( our) concerts, and, despite the cold, thousands of people were just enraptured.”
This year there will be two evening concerts, July 19 and 20. Friday night is a collection of lighter summer pops, while Saturday features the standard overture/ concerto/ symphony format.
For this masterpieces- in- the- mountains program, the playlist includes Mozart’s Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto ( with soloist Mayuko Kamio, who also offers some lightweight sparklers on Friday’s program), and Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
Both concerts are under the baton of Sean Newhouse, who first came to the fore through the classic “lastminute substitute” route, stepping in for the incomparable James Levine in 2011 with the Boston Symphony ( in Mahler’s dark and demanding Ninth Symphony, no less). He makes his VSO debut with this pair of Whistler concerts.
Then on the afternoon of July 21 there’s a presentation specially designed for family listening, a VSO Kids Koncert, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, conducted by Gordon Gerrard. There are also some smaller chamber music add- ons in the days leading up to the orchestral residency, performed by a VSO string quartet and brass ensemble.
All Whistler events are free. VIP packages ( which include accommodation, reserved seats and a reception) are available at whistler. com.
The final event of the month takes place back in town July 25 at the Italian Cultural Centre, on the East Side, just off Grandview Highway at Slocan Street. An Italian Rhapsody will highlight orchestral and operatic favourites such as selections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a trio of lively Rossini overtures, some Verdi in honour of that operatic master’s 200th anniversary year, and even music in the Italian mode by Berlioz and Mendelssohn.
This special has an admission price, but with the added blandishments of available food and drink, it promises to be a relaxed midsummer fiesta.