Lots to listen to on lazy days, long nights
From sarod master to chamber music in Pender Harbour
Don’t sweat it, there is plenty of music to fill the lazy days and long evenings of summer.
Kerrisdale’ Ryerson United Church is ground central for choirs, which appreciate both its manageable size and fine acoustics. The focus this weekend is instrumental when the three-event Ryerson Summer Festival kicks off Friday evening with a celebration of Victorianera music for organ. Saturday sees a rare chance to hear from eight (count ’em, eight) cellos in the form of the Cellissima Cello Octet. Music for more conventional forces ends the series with the debut concert of the Vancouver Wind Quintet on Sunday.
The national Canadian Music Competition 2015 Gala Concert, a nationally significant event, is also on Saturday. The best of the best contestants from across the country will play with the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra in UBC’s Chan Centre.
There’s an important mid-month World Music concert, part of the Indian Summer Festival, when legendary sarod master Ustad Amjad Ali Khan plays with a small ensemble, including VSO violinist Jeanette Bernal-Singh, at the Orpheum.
The Blueridge International Chamber Music Festival gets underway in midJuly offering three different programs. BICF is a grassroots organization that has expanded beyond its home base on the North Shore to offer run-out concerts to the city. In Written in the Stars, soprano Dorothea Hayley and pianist Manuel Laufer offer an unusual blend of Schumann and Crumb. Circular Reasoning, a mixed ensembles program of Schubert, Duruflé (of special interest to those who only know his Requiem), and Schumann. The wrap concert From Here to Eternity, features a new work by composer in residence Jordan Nobles, with complementary pieces by Part, Weber, and Smetana. North Shore concerts take place at St. John the Evangelist Church, in Vancouver the venue is St. Mark’s Anglican in Kitsilano.
Mark your calendars for the latest West Coast performance by Canada’s impressive National Youth Orchestra in August. Though the orchestra will no doubt shine in big pieces like Strauss’ Don Juan and Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, the highlight will be a performance of Vancouver-based composer Alfredo Santa Ana’s new commissioned work, Ocaso. Michael Francis, Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival, conducts.
A traditional August music getaway is the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival. Pianist Alexander Tselyakov curates the shows, held in the tiny, perfect Performance Centre at Madeira Park. You don’t get settings more West Coast than this. Toronto’s Gryphon Trio and clarinetist James Campbell are festival guests this season, and there are half a dozen concerts, starting with a program including Brahms’s wonderful Horn Trio and Schubert’s big B-flat major Piano Trio. Other highlights include Messiaen’s Quartet For the End of Time, Hummel’s Piano Quintet, and a free concert that focuses on French repertoire.
Two other August events are out of town. Seattle Opera has two summer offerings: The big show is Verdi’s Nabucco with seven performances, and it’s paired with a new work, An American Dream, which tackles Second World War issues similar to those explored in Ramona Luengen’s Naomi’s Road.