Cowichan Classical Concerts

Tag: Beethoven

  • A Sunday of Sonatas

    Kevin Ayesh, piano

    Sunday, March 9 at 2pm

    Not many pianists can say that they’ve performed in all 50 states of the USA, playing as many as 50 recitals per season! Dr. Kevin Ayesh maintains a busy schedule as performer, clinician, and adjudicator, and is the recipient of a long list of prizes and awards. He is well-known for presenting lecture-recitals on the music of American composer Robert Starer. His program will include a sonata by Starer, in addition to Beethoven and Chopin sonatas.
     

    Programme

    Sonata no. 11 in B-flat Major, Op. 22 — Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

    I. Allegro con brio

    II. Adagio con molta espressione

    III. Menuetto

    IV. Rondo: Allegretto

    Sonata No. 1 (1950) — Robert Starer (1924-2001)

    I. Allegro

    II. Andante cantabile

    III. Allegro frivolo

    Sonata no. 3 in B Minor, Op. 58 — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

    I. Allegro maestoso

    II. Scherzo: Molto vivace

    III. Largo

    IV. Finale: Presto, non tanto

    Background information

    Pianist Kevin Ayesh has presented concerts and master classes throughout the United States (he has performed in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia), as well as in Canada, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Hong Kong.  As a North Carolina Visiting Artist for four years, he appeared before thousands across that state, performing as many as 50 recitals in a season. He has appeared as featured guest artist and clinician at the Lindlar International Piano Festival in Germany, the Star Valley Junior Music Festival in Wyoming, the Gene Marcus Piano Festival at Purdue University-Fort Wayne, the USA Piano Camp at the University of South Alabama, and the Dr. Sharyn Edwards Piano Festival in North Carolina. 

    Recent solo recitals include the Steinway Piano Galleries of Charlotte, NC, Greensboro, NC, and Greenville, SC, Silk Purse Arts Centre in West Vancouver, BC, Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Music Society in Waterloo, ON, St. Paul’s Concert Series in Yuma, AZ, Epiphany Tuesday Concert Series in Washington, DC, St. Paul’s Concert Series in Walnut Creek, CA, Candlelight Concert Series in Port Townsend, WA, Village Concert Series in Mount Pleasant, SC, Sundays at Four Concert Series in McCormick, SC, Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA, and the Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery Chamber Series in Lindsborg, KS.

    Ayesh has appeared three times as concerto soloist with the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra, twice with the Brevard Philharmonic Orchestra, twice with the Asheville Chamber Players, and also with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra, the Blue Ridge Orchestra, the 4 Seasons Chamber Orchestra, the Wichita Community Orchestra, and the Maryland Youth Symphony Orchestra, performing such concertos as Mozart’s K. 466, K. 467, and K. 488, Beethoven’s 2nd, 3rd, and Choral Fantasy, Brahms’ 1st, Rachmaninoff’s 2nd, Clara Schumann’s Op. 7, and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Ayesh has presented numerous lecture-recitals of the piano music of American composer Robert Starer, and was one of 25 pianists selected worldwide to perform on a video memorial tribute to the legendary pianist Leon Fleisher.

    Ayesh is the recipient of many prizes, including the Naftzger Piano Award, Baltimore Music Club Award, and Winner of both the JCC Baltimore Piano Competition and the Maryland State Music Teachers’ Elizabeth R. Davis Memorial Piano Competition.  He has been a finalist in several national and international competitions, was awarded Second Prize at the Wideman International Piano Competition, and captured both Third Prize and Composer’s Prize at the New Orleans International Piano Competition. Ayesh has adjudicated Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) auditions for the state conventions of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and has been a featured clinician at both the Georgia and South Carolina Music Educators Association state conventions. For 29 years, Ayesh served as head of the music department and Artistic Director of the Concert Series at Blue Ridge Community College in Flat Rock, NC (an All-Steinway School).  He currently teaches applied piano at Spartanburg Methodist College in South Carolina.  A native of Wichita, Kansas, Ayesh received his Bachelor of Music degree with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin; his master’s and doctorate degrees are from the University of Maryland.  His teachers were Elinor Aiken, William Race, and Nelita True.

  • Stars of the Future

    Artists of the Victoria Conservatory of Music’s Collegium Program

    Sunday, November 3 at 2pm

    The Victoria Conservatory’s Collegium Program provides ensemble opportunities and deep engagement for exceptional teenage musicians, supporting and challenging them to become the best they can be, in music and in life. The chamber music program is highly successful and rated among the best in the country. Its students perform with a maturity and skill well above their age level, winning top prizes in local, provincial, and national music festivals.

    CCC proudly supports these young performers in their quest for excellence!
     

    Programme

    String Quartet no.1 in F major, Opus 18 no. 1 — Ludwig van Beethoven
    I Allegro con brio                             
    — Glengarry Quartet (Janou Boutilier, Isidora Uhlman, Walter Rees, Celina Holt)

    Woodwind Trio in C major, Opus 87 — Ludwig van Beethoven
    I Allegro         
    —     Queen Alexandra Trio (Judy Su, Celine Liu, Bella Zhang)

    Suite in D major for 3 violins, Opus 17 — Friederich Hermann
    I Grave: Energico ed appassionato, ma in tempo moderato
    —     Josef Hassid Trio (Jessie Wang, Michaela Yee, Owen Fitzgerald)

    Piano Trio No. 4 in E minor, Op. 90, B. 166 (Dumky — Antonín Leopold Dvořák
    I Lento maestoso — Allegro quasi doppio movimiento
      —     Mount St. Mary Piano Trio (Andrei Krasnov, Max Webster, Felicia Ma (subbing for Filbert Zhang))

    Creatures of the Enchanted Forest (Flute Quartet) — Anže Rozman
    II “The Bird…”
    III “The Evening Singer”
    —     Jubilee Flute Quartet (Tyler Evans-Knott, Daniel Sanabria, Miya Doak, Emilia Vozian)

    Piano Trio no. 1 in F major, opus 18 — Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns
    I Allegro vivace    
    —     Samson and Delilah Trio (Max Francis, Joanne Jiang, Felicia Ma)     

    Background information

    Founded in January 2006, the Young Artist Collegium Program provides colleagues and peers for exceptional young musicians, supporting and challenging them to become the best they can be, in music and in life.

    Delivered in an after-school format, the Collegium is an enriched program for talented young classical musicians playing piano, string, wind, and brass instruments, all brought together with outstanding teachers to create a lively, collaborative educational experience devoted to the pursuit of musical excellence.

    It provides the environment for students to develop and thrive both as soloists and as chamber musicians; and all the necessary tools needed to think critically and work as a team.

    The Collegium has been described as “likely one of the best, if not THE best, program for young musicians in BC”. Members of the Collegium are consistently winners of local, provincial and national music festivals, as well as scholarships to prestigious universities and postsecondary music schools such as Julliard, Glenn Gould School in Toronto, or Schulich Music at McGill; and our alumni are now members of symphonies in Montreal, Ottawa (National Arts Centre), Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.

  • Dance me to your beauty

    SOLD OUT

    Duo Concertante: Nancy Dahn, violin; Timothy Steeves, piano

    Sunday, February 18 at 2pm

    “Majesty, passion and excitement…… Inspiring!” —Wiener Zeitung (Vienna). Canada’s preeminent chamber music duo, Duo Concertante, explores the eternal theme of awakening to spring through music and love, with a program that includes cherished classics by Beethoven and Brahms, and beautiful new works by star composers Kelly-Marie Murphy and Dawn Avery.

    Programme

    Violin Sonata No. 5 in F major, Op. 24 “ Spring “ — Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827)

    Solveig’s Song, Op.55, No. 4, arranged by Clifford Crawley — Edvard Grieg (1843—1907)

    Dance me to your Beauty with a Burning violin — Kelly Marie Murphy (1964— )

    Love in the Time of COVID (Iotsistokwaron:ion) (2021) — Dawn Avery (1961— )

    Violin Sonata No. 3 in d minor, Op. 108 — Johannes Brahms (1833—1897)

         

    Biographies

    For twenty-four years through live performances and acclaimed recordings, violinist Nancy Dahn and pianist Timothy Steeves have built an international career in the Canadian chamber ensemble Duo Concertante. Their name comes from the inscription over Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” sonata, “in stilo molto concertante,” which implies the two performers are equal, dynamic voices. This defines their unique artistic relationship and the “deeply integrated performances that flow naturally as if the music were being created on the spot” (Gramophone). Outstanding musicians, champions of new Canadian music, visionary artistic directors, and inspiring mentors, Duo Concertante have forged a musical legacy and strive to provoke thought and engagement through music in innovative ways.

    After their first concert in 1997, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald called Duo Concertante “two packages of musical dynamite that would credit any stage on the planet.” Since then, they have performed in more than 700 concerts across North America, Europe, Central America and China. Their recitals have received numerous accolades including the following critical quotes from national and international press:

    Grace and fire… fury and repose…a triumphant mass of non-stop energy – Wholenote
    Majesty, passion and excitement. Inspiring! – Wiener Zeitung (Vienna)
    Artistry, poetry and impeccable technique – La scena musicale


    Duo Concertante’s recordings have set the benchmarks for musicians around the world. Of their epic recording Beethoven: Complete Sonatas for Violin and Piano (a 3 CD album), preeminent critic John Terauds stated “…these beautiful interpretations are so good right down to the tiniest of details that they deserve to be called a reference in… contemporary performance”. Gramophone writes that Dahn and Steeves “do Atlantic Canada proud in this splendid new set” and describes their interpretation as a “miracle of… knowledge and poetry”. The album received critical praise in German, Austrian, British and Canadian media; it was featured for months on Air Canada’s entertainment system and is heard on CBC radio almost weekly.

    Duo Concertante have twelve other acclaimed recordings on top Canadian labels ATMA, Centrediscs, and Marquis, many of which have won awards and special recognitions. The all-Canadian works CD Wild Bird includes Murray Schafer’s Duo for Violin and Piano which won a 2011 Juno Award (Classical Composition of the Year). A two-disc set of J.S. Bach’s Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard, received the first of three consecutive ECMAs for Classical Recording of the Year, followed by Incarnation in 2018 and Perfect Light in 2019. Their Franz Schubert: Music for Violin and Piano was selected by CBC Music as one of “Canada’s Top 20 Classical Albums of 2020.” Ecology of Being, released in 2022, features music written especially for Duo Concertante and inspired by the climate emergency. It has been praised as “a powerful and deeply moving album performed with world-class expressiveness and musicality …. This release is a stunning collection of highly personal works wonderfully performed by the duo.” (The Wholenote)

    Duo Concertante are the founders and artistic directors of the Tuckamore Festival – an internationally acclaimed chamber musical festival held for two weeks each August. For 22 years, Tuckamore – a major contributor to the cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador – has put the province on the map by welcoming leading artists and emerging musicians worldwide to St. John’s. The Tuckamore Festival has presented more than 140 outstanding guest artists; mentored more than 400 young musicians and composers representing 10 countries around the globe; travelled to more than two dozen communities for school tours and performances; and produced more than 500 performances and events. In addition to Tuckamore, Duo Concertante regularly perform and collaborate with other artists of international stature at summer music festivals throughout North America, including the Ottawa International Chamberfest, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Festival of the Sound, Indian River Festival, Domaine Forget and Music Niagara.

    As champions of Canadian music, Duo Concertante have few equals, and their lasting impact will be a legacy of new works created through their unprecedented commitment to commissioning new works. To date the duo has been responsible for sixty-nine new works and original arrangements for violin and piano by leading composers. This includes works by Andrew P. MacDonald (Double Concerto for violin and piano, Op. 51), Alice Ho (Capriccio Ballo, Cœur à cœur), Chan Ka Nin (Cool Mountain Water, Late in a Slow Time, Incarnation), Denis Gougeon (Chants du cœur), Omar Daniel (Wild Honey), Jean Lesage (Portrait of a Sentimental Musician in a Distorting Mirror), Kelly-Marie Murphy (Dance Me to Your Beauty with a Burning Violin), Brian Current (Faster Still with string quartet), Linda Bouchard (Spill Out), Kati Agócs (Supernatural Love), Andrew Staniland (The River within Us…, The Ocean is Full of its Own Collapse) and Jocelyn Morlock (Petrichor, Asylum). The Duo regularly includes new Canadian pieces alongside standard repertoire in such prestigious venues as Wigmore Hall (London), Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall (New York City), Shanghai City Theatre, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Roy Thomson Hall and the Four Seasons Performing Arts Centre (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), among others.

    Duo Concertante uses music as a means of drawing attention to issues of historical and social importance, often in collaboration with composers, writers, dancers, and actors. They also enjoy performing for children; their Ecology of Being and What life Throws at You programs have been shared with over 1500 students across Newfoundland and Labrador. Since 2020, Duo Concertante has been active creating unique music videos. Melissa Hui’s piece from the Ecology of Being project was made into a 21-minute film and won Best Experimental Film and Best Original Score at the 2020 IndieX Filmfest (Los Angeles). In 2022, the Duo created SOLACE – four films with music by Dawn Avery, Alice Ho, Jessie Montgomery and Cesar Franck. The Jessie Montgomery film, End of the Line, was an award winner at the Los Angeles Women’s Independent Film Festival.

    Upcoming projects and commissions for 2023-2024 include a 60-minute dramatic/musical piece by playwright Robert Chafe and composer Randolph Peters which addresses issues relating to ocean change and sustainability, a new sonata written for the Duo by German composer Stefan Heucke, and a 40-minute multimedia piece by composer Alice Ho and animator Duncan Major inspired by Tom Dawe’s Newfoundland ghost stories.

    Nancy Dahn and Timothy Steeves are Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, University Research Professors and John Lewis Paton Distinguished Professors at Memorial University. They are also the proud parents of Clara and Sasha.

  • Brilliance of Beethoven

    Grisha Krivchenia – Sunday, May 14th at 2pm

    Lauded as “the coolest classical musician around” (Santa Fe Reporter) and “presiding over outstanding technique” (Bergisches Zeitung), Grisha Krivchenia is a versatile artist whose performances and original compositions enthrall audiences throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Grisha will offer an all-Beethoven program including three iconic piano sonatas.

    Programme

    Piano sonata no 18 in E-flat major, opus 31 no 3 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
    1. Allegro
    2. Scherzo. Allegretto vivace
    3. Menuetto. Moderato e grazioso
    4. Presto con fuoco

    Piano sonata no 14 in C-sharp minor, opus 27 no 2 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
    1. Adagio sostenuto
    2. Allegretto
    3. Presto agitato


    Piano sonata no 14 in C minor, K 457 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791)
    1. Molto allegro

    Piano sonata no 31 in A-flat major, opus 110 – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
    1. Moderato cantabile molto espressivo
    2. Allegro molto
    3. Adagio ma non troppo – Allegro ma non troppo

    Biography

    Grisha Krivchenia is a versatile artist whose performances and original compositions enthrall audiences throughout the Northern Hemisphere. He enjoys a busy touring schedule, and his compositions are realized by professional ensembles worldwide. Recent premieres have taken place in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Bucharest.
    Grisha studied at Oberlin Conservatory and the University of Victoria School of Music. In 2007, Grisha founded the music program at Spring Street International School in Friday Harbor. His solo piano and chamber music is published by Abundant Silence Publishing and CCC Music Company.
    Grisha takes a special interest in using art to amplify voices that might otherwise go unheard. He writes music in collaboration with hospice patients, veterans, and recovering addicts and recently completed a song cycle based on interviews with Syrian refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.

  • May Ling Kwok: November 6th

    Grace Notes – Sunday, November 6th at 2pm

    May Ling Kwok teaches at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and the University of Victoria, and she is active as a teacher, adjudicator, and concert pianist. She has undertaken concert tours to many parts of the world and she is an audience favourite at Chemainus Classical Concerts.

    Programme

    Sonata in C major, K. 330 — W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)

    1. Allegro moderato

    2. Andante Cantabile

    3. Allegretto

    Sonata in F major, Op. 10 No. 2 — L. Van Beethoven (1770-1827)

    1. Allegro

    2. Allegretto

    3. Presto

    Barcarole Op.60 — F. Chopin (1810-1849)

    Sonata in A major, D. 664 — F. Schubert (1797-1828)

    1. Allegro moderato

    2. Andante

    3. Allegro

    Nocturne Op. 16, No. 41 — A. Paderewski (1860-1941)

    Ballade in G minor, Op. 23 — F. Chopin (1810-1849)

    Biography

    May Ling Kwok

    Graduating with distinction from the University of Victoria, May Ling Kwok first studied with Robin Wood at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and later continued her doctorate studies with the famed Hungarian pianist, György Sebők at Indiana University, USA, where she was awarded the distinguished Performer’s Certificate.

    She is very active as a performer, piano teacher and adjudicator. Concert tours have taken her to the United States, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia and Europe. She has appeared as soloist with the Victoria Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Moscow Philharmonic, Vladivostok Symphony Orchestra, the Slovakia Radio Orchestra and the Czech National Symphony.

    Also an accomplished chamber musician, she is a founding member of the McPherson Trio.

    May Ling Kwok’s discography to date are as follows:

    • Mozart Piano Concerti K. 466 and K. 595, Czech National Symphony Orchestra
    • Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra
    • Schumann Piano Concerto, Slovakia Radio Symphony Orchestra
    • Mozart Piano Concerti K. 467 and K. 491, Czech National Symphony Orchestra
    • Beethoven Sonatas for Piano and Violin: “Kreutzer” and “Spring”
    • Shostakovich and Arensky Piano Trio
    • Prokofiev Sonata for Violin and Piano