Cowichan Classical Concerts

Tag: classical-music

  • Songs of Consolation for our Distracted Time

    Bruce Vogt, piano

    Sunday, November 2 at 2:30 pm

    Please note that this concert starts at 2:30

    “Now, as we find ourselves in a time of confusion, chaos and bitter enmity throughout the world, it seems all the more important to listen to music together.” ~ Bruce Vogt. It can be consoling to remind ourselves of our civilization’s many great cultural achievements – in music and in all the arts. 
    The music for this program was written in past ages of great turmoil –  the mid-17th century English Civil War period, the mid-19th century revolutionary period in Paris, the period of great political oppression in early 19th century Vienna. For Bruce, it is profoundly consoling to live among these works, and to have this opportunity to share them with others.

     

    Programme

    Two Early English Keyboard Works

    Goe From My Window — John Munday (c. 1560-1630)

    A sad pavan for these distracted times (1649)   — Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656)

    Three French Keyboard Works

    L’Enharmonique. (c. 1728) — Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

    Les Cyclopes – Rondeau (c. 1731)  — Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)

    Feuilles mortes (1911) — Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

    Three Works by Chopin

    Nocturne in G Major, opus 37 no. 2 (1839) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

    Mazurka in c# minor, opus 50 no. 3 (1842) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)

    Nocturne in B Major, opus 62 no. 1 (1846) — Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)


    Sonata in Bb Major, Opus post. D960 (1828) — Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

    i. Molto moderato

    ii. Andante sostenuto

    iii. Scherzo: Allegro vivace con delicatezza

    iv. Allegro, ma non troppo

    Background information

    Canadian pianist Bruce Vogt was born in southern Ontario but for the past 45 years has lived and worked in Victoria, BC where he has taught at the University of Victoria as Professor of Piano. As a soloist, he has appeared regularly in concerts within Canada and he tours yearly in many countries throughout Europe and Asia. His repertoire encompasses music from the sixteenth century to the present. In addition to having a special affinity for the music of Franz Liszt, he has performed on period instruments, and commissioned and premièred a number of new works.

    Because he sees teaching and working with young pianists and with piano teachers as an important commitment, he makes himself available as much as possible for master classes, workshops, festival adjudications, and lectures.

    In recent years, he has received many invitations in Canada and abroad to indulge another of his passions: improvising accompaniments to great films of the silent era. He has played for and lectured about films by Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Griffith, Murnau and others.

    “TECHNICAL PERFECTION PAIRED WITH EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVENESS … Compositions from Mozart, Chopin, Liszt resounded with seldom-heard perfection… What is apparent in his playing is the joy he takes in giving to others what he has so dazzlingly mastered…” – Usinger Anzeiger, ALTWEILNAU, GERMANY

    “RARE GRANDEUR … I have never heard [Liszt’s] Norma Fantasy played with such consummate largesse … I was mesmerized by Vogt’s sheer control. In Liszt’s Dante Sonata the structure of the work was never exposed and the final triumph of the piece rang from the piano with spine chilling inevitability.” – The Times, LONDON, ENGLAND

    “CONCERT OF THE YEAR … Splendidly subtle readings. Vogt made us listen to music that we might have missed, and some familiar items which we heard anew.” – Monday Magazine, VICTORIA, CANADA

    “A VIRTUOSO … the audience was literally enraptured.” – Le Républicain, PARIS, FRANCE

    ” … THOUGHTFUL AND THOUGHT-PROVOKING … The sophisticated yet ungimmicky presentation left the dry didacticism of lecture-recitals in the dust.” – The Globe and Mail, TORONTO, CANADA

    “MELANCHOLY MAGIC … Vogt’s concentrated pianistic command is to be respected along with his great empathy for poetic mood; he was able to draw from a great reserve of power without placing this power in the foreground.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, FRANKFURT, GERMANY

  • The Turning of the Leaves

    Simon Farintosh, guitar

    Sunday, October 5 at 2:30 pm

    Please note that this concert starts at 2:30

    An award-winning guitarist, composer, and educator, Simon Farintosh brings us a program of original music by Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Yoshimatsu, arrangements of pieces by Debussy and Albéniz, and a set of original Farintosh compositions. Named one of CBC’s “30 Under 30 Classical Musicians” in 2023, Simon regularly receives top honours in national and international competitions as performer and composer, and is currently completing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Toronto.
     

    Programme

    Prelude in D Major, op. 39, no. 2 — Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), arr. Simon Farintosh

    Pavane pour une infante défunte — Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), arr. Roland Dyens

    La sérénade interrompue — Claude Debussy (1862-1918), arr. Simon Farintosh

    Los Caprichos de Goya, op. 195 — Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)
    VII. Están calientes (They are hot)
    IX. Bien tirada está (It is nicely stretched)
    XI. Y se le quema la casa (And the house is on fire)

    Tableaux para Guitarra — Liova Bueno (b. 1979)

    I. Balada
    II. Siciliana
    III. Sarabanda
    IV. Burlesca
    V. Promenade

    Sunlit Shallows — Simon Farintosh (b. 1995)

    The turning of the leaves — Ralph Towner (b. 1940)

    Sky Color Tensor — Takashi Yoshimatsu (b. 1953)
    I. Noon
    II. Twilight
    III. Night
    IV. Midnight
    V. Dawn

    Background information

    Simon Farintosh is an award-winning guitarist, composer, and educator based in Victoria,
    BC. Named one of CBC’s ‘30 Under 30 Classical Musicians’ in 2023, he is known for his
    unconventional programming choices, connecting with audiences by integrating the classical guitar
    with more contemporary musical forms such as electronica and jazz. Simon is currently a music
    performance instructor at the University of Victoria, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate
    guitar students.
    Simon studied with Dr. Alexander Dunn at the University of Victoria, where he earned his Bachelor
    of Music Degree in 2018. Simon’s musical pursuits later took him to Milwaukee, WI, where he
    completed a Master’s Degree at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2020. Here, he was a
    student and teaching assistant to Rene Izquierdo, a renowned Cuban virtuoso and revered
    pedagogue. Currently, Simon is in the finishing stages of a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the
    University of Toronto, where he is a student of Jorge Caballero and Dr. Jeffrey McFadden.
    Simon’s performances have garnered him top awards in various national and international
    competitions, including 1st Prize at the 2018 Northwest Guitar Festival in Spokane, WA. As a
    composer, he was recently awarded First Prize in the 2022 Ottawa Guitar Society Composition
    Competition for his original piece ‘Distant Light.’ He is a six-time recipient of the British Columbia
    Arts Council Award, and has been a featured performer for organizations such as the Vancouver
    Classical Guitar Festival, Victoria Conservatory of Music Summer Guitar Intensive, The Classical
    Guitar Society of Tri-Cities, Madison Classical Guitar Society, Victoria Guitar Society, Ottawa
    Guitar Society, Guitar Society of Toronto, and Higher Ground Music Festival.

  • Belonging

    CANCELLATION

    Due to serious illness, the Bose-Pastor Duo has had to cancel their concert on Sunday.

    Our sincerest apologies to all ticket holders.

    Please phone 250-748-8383 with any questions.

    Bose-Pastor Duo: Antonio Pastor and Pia Bose

    Sunday, June 8 at 2pm

    Two pianists “who are in perfect harmony and complement one another ideally”, Pia Bose and Antonio Pastor have garnered warm critical acclaim for their “remarkable dexterity and subtlety” (Versoix Région). Pia and Antonio currently serve as piano faculty members at the École Internationale de Genève and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, respectively. Their program explores the human-nature connection through works by Debussy, Carl Vine, Liszt and Fazil Say.
     

    Programme

    In times of turmoil, we often retreat to Nature in search of simplicity, to rejuvenate the body and soul; yet our inner forces as human beings rarely allow this repose to be long-lasting. The four-hand piano program they have selected highlights this duality through its extra-musical associations — from the atmospheric, contemplative refuge from the outside world to the overt, traumatic expression of it — and is an exploration of context through four groundbreaking works: Maurice Ravel’s arrangement of Claude Debussy’s Prelude to an Afternoon of a Faun, Carl Vine’s Sonata for Piano Four Hands, Liszt’s arrangement of Les Preludes, and Fazil Say’s Night. Unlike the three other works, Vine’s Sonata has links to tradition in form and genre and is meant to have “no specific accompanying narrative or poetic allusion”; but its section titles (such as “Meditation”) make us question context-based interpretation, within the piece and in this program as a whole. The musical illustration of Nature — and the human struggle to simultaneously connect with it and beyond it — is central to the program. This is especially relevant in the world today, in which music can serve as a bridge to understanding our common sense of belonging.

    Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun (1894), Arranged for piano four hands by Maurice Ravel — Achille Claude Debussy (1862 -1918)

    Sonata for Piano Four Hands (2009) — Carl Edward Vine (1954 – )
    I.Prelude
    II.Waltz
    III.Deuces
    IV.Meditation
    V.Toccata

    Les Préludes (1854), Transcription for piano four hands by F. Liszt — Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)

    Night, Op. 68 (2016) — Fazil Say (1970 – )

    Background information

    Since forming the Bose-Pastor Duo in 2012, pianists Pia Bose and Antonio Pastor have garnered widespread acclaim for their “sensitive, alluring, and exhilarating performances.” Praised for their “remarkable dexterity and subtlety” and their intimate connection on stage, the pianists have distinct personalities yet share their instrument and musical sensibilities “in perfect harmony, ideally complementing one another” (Versoix Région).

    The husband-and-wife duo has received numerous honors and awards, including Second Prize in the 18th International Piano Duo Competition in Tokyo, Japan, interviews for Magma-Espace 2 (Radio Télévision Suisse) and Luxembourg’s Radio 100.7, and a featured article in Scènes Magazine. The pianists have appeared in major cities such as London, Paris, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Lisbon, Edinburgh, Luxembourg, Milan, Geneva, and throughout Switzerland. Notable venues where they have performed together or as soloists include the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Embassy Series, St. James’s Piccadilly, the Palais de l’Athénée, and Preston Bradley Hall, during WMFT radio’s live broadcast of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts. In September of 2023, the Bose-Pastor Duo was invited to perform the inaugural concert of the Roser Piano and Keyboard Alumni Concert Series at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with “Dancing out of the Past,” a program they also performed for enthusiastic audiences at the San Francisco Noontime Concerts, and PianoFest Moudon and Schubertiade Sion in Switzerland. Audiences repeatedly lauded the duo’s charming rapport and its breathtaking, deeply moving performances.

    Hailing from different cultural backgrounds (Indian-American and Andalusian) and having followed divergent paths, the pianists met in Switzerland, their shared country of citizenship. They each completed early studies in their native countries of the United States and Spain and later obtained the Diplôme de Soliste from the former Conservatoire Supérieur et Académie de Musique Tibor Varga, where they worked intensively with the late pianist Dominique Weber.

    Pia Bose holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, and her former teachers include Andrew Cooperstock, Marian Hahn, Joseph Schwartz, and J.Y. Song. She completed further study at the Universität Mozarteum Sommerakademie in Austria with Boris Bloch and also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in biopsychology from Oberlin College. Antonio Pastor holds the Diplôme d’Enseignement from the Haute École de Musique de Genève and the Profesor Superior de Piano degree from the Real Conservatorio de Música de Madrid, and his former teachers include Andrew Cooperstock, Sébastien Risler, and Fernando Puchol. Pia Bose and Antonio Pastor attended festivals such as the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, the Gijón International Piano Festival in Spain, and Rencontres Internationales Harmoniques Lausanne in Switzerland, and they were privileged to receive musical guidance from renowned artists such as Paul Badura-Skoda, Julian Martin, Robert McDonald, Boris Slutsky, Ana Guijarro, Alexei Nasedkin, John O’Connor, Bruno Canino, Blanca Uribe, Yoheved Kaplinsky, Marc Durand, Ann Schein, and Leon Fleisher.

    Passionate educators, Pia Bose and Antonio Pastor serve as piano faculty members at the École Internationale de Genève and the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, respectively.

  • Once upon a Harp

    Josh Layne, harp

    Sunday, May 4 at 2pm

    Harpist/composer Josh Layne started studying the harp at age 13, and soon excelled at the instrument. Praised for his virtuosity and the sensitivity of his playing, he has recorded several CD’s, and has performed across North and South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Layne’s concert of solo harp music will include some of his original compositions, and will culminate in a stunning arrangement of Smetana’s “The Moldau”, telling the story of the river’s journey through the Czech Republic.

    Programme

    Baroque Flamenco  — Deborah Henson-Conant (1953- ) 
                                            
    Concierto de Aranjuez — Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999), arr. Josh Layne
    2nd Movement: Adagio

    Uncharted Shores (2020) — Josh Layne (1977— )     

    Légende — inspired by Les Elfes by Leconte de Lisle — Henriette Renié (1875-1956)

    Winter — Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678-1741), arr. Josh Layne   

    Allegro non molto   
    Largo
    Allegro

    The Lark — Mikhail Glinka/Mily Balakirev (1804-1857/1837-1910), arr. Josh Layne

    The Moldau — Bedřich Smetana (1824-1888), arr. Hans Trneček

    Background information

    Harpist and composer Josh Layne is well-known as a consummate musician and has even been called a “harp genius”. He has performed extensively across Canada, USA, Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand, and has been praised for both his virtuosity and the sensitivity of his playing.

    Josh has recorded 4 albums of solo harp music, including his 2013 CD  which features three of his original compositions for harp. Recent projects include a revival of Bochsa’s long dormant “Concerto No. 1 in
    D minor” with a performance at the World Harp Congress in Wales in July 2022.

    Josh’s biweekly YouTube series “It’s Tuesday… It’s Harp Tuesday!” was born out of a passion for teaching, and launched in 2010. The series covers all aspects of playing the harp, from the first lesson to in-depth looks at advanced music. With 250+ episodes and over 2 million views, Harp Tuesday is an amazing resource for harpists all over the world.

    Josh’s most recent YouTube project is “Harpist in the Wild”, a new video series combining his love of music and the outdoors.

  • Resonance

    Arthur Arnold, cello; Moira Hopfe-Ostensen, piano

    Sunday, February 9 at 2pm

    Culturally rich Powell River is home to Arthur Arnold and Moira Hopfe-Ostensen. Arthur directs the PRISMA Festival and Academy, Moira is Artist-in-Residence at the Powell River Academy of Music, and together they have a huge impact on the musical community. Both known as dynamic and sensitive musicians, they bring a beautifully balanced program of works by R. Strauss, Vaughan-Williams, Romberg and Shostakovich.

    Programme

    Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 6, TrV 115 — Richard Georg Strauss (1864—1949)
    Allegro con brio
    Andante ma non troppo
    Finale – Allegro vivo

    Six Studies in English Folk Songs (1926) — Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872—1958)
    1. Adagio (‘Lovely on the Water’) in E modal minor
    2. Andante sostenuto (‘Spurn Point’) in Eb
    3 Larghetto (‘Van Diemen’s Land’) in D modal minor
    4. Lento (‘She Borrowed Some of Her Mother’s Gold’) in D
    5. Andante tranquillo (‘The Lady and the Dragoon’) in G
    6. Allegro vivace (‘As I walked over London Bridge’) in A modal minor

    Divertimento on Austrian Folk Songs, Op.46 — Bernhard Heinrich Romberg (1767—1841)

    Cello Sonata in D minor, Op. 40 — Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (1906—1975)
    1. Allegro non troppo
    2. Allegro
    3. Largo
    4. Allegro

    Background information

    Dutch-born conductor Arthur Arnold is the co-founder and Artistic Director of the Pacific Region International Summer Music Association (PRISMA Festival & Academy) on Canada’s West Coast. This annual event attracts world-renowned musicians and international music students from top universities. Since 2016, Arthur Arnold has led a pioneering musical collaboration with the Tla’amin Nation. Partnering with the Tla’amin Singers and Drummers, the PRISMA Festival Orchestra annually performs traditional Tla’amin songs, featuring solo performances by the nation’s singers and drummers — a meaningful fusion of cultures. From January 2012 until his resignation in March 2022, Arnold served as the Music Director of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra (MSO). He resigned in protest of the war in Ukraine and the regime responsible, taking a principled stand against the conflict. Arnold is the driving force behind The Mosolov Project, discovering lost manuscripts of the repressed composer Alexander Mosolov in Russian libraries. He performed and recorded Mosolov’s Fifth Symphony (1965) and Harp Concerto (1939) in the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. The resulting CD, released by Naxos, received the second prize in the prestigious Russian competition Pure Sound. Dedicated to music education, Arnold has mentored over 25 upcoming conductors at the PRISMA Festival and through conducting masterclasses with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Arnold served as the Music Director of the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific from 2004 to 2011 and as Principal Guest Conductor of the Seoul National Symphony Orchestra in South Korea from 1997 to 2001. He has collaborated with orchestras and festivals throughout Europe, Canada, the USA, and Asia. Arthur and his wife Kim divide their time between the rugged West Coast of Canada and The Netherlands.


    Praised for her expressive playing and engaged teaching, pianist and pedagogue Moira Hopfe-Ostensen is an artist who displays prowess and makes music from the heart, touching her audience with her wonderful communication and sensitivity. Dr Hopfe-Ostensen holds Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Piano Performance and Literature from the University of Alberta, Canada. She most recently held the position of Chair of the Keyboard Department at SWBTS where she was Professor in Piano Performance and Pedagogy to Bachelor, Master and Doctoral students. Dr. Hopfe-Ostensen has appeared as a solo and collaborative pianist throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe; and she continues to be an active pianist, adjudicator, examiner, and clinician. She is committed to the pursuit of excellence in piano pedagogy. She has been certified by the Royal Conservatory of Music as an Advanced Specialist and is a member of the College of Examiners for the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada, and the United States. The appointment from the Royal Conservatory places her among over 300 distinguished professional teachers and performers from across North America who are committed to the development of human potential through leadership in music and arts education. Many of her students have gained national and international recognition. She has received numerous awards, including a Professional Distinction Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts from the Peace Hills Arts Council, Canada. Currently, Dr. Hopfe-Ostensen is the Artist in Residence at the Powell River Academy of Music.

  • Post-Romantic Palette

    Catherine Ordronneau, piano; Kai Gleusteen, violin

    Sunday, January 12 at 2pm

    First working together in 1999, Kai and Catherine have established themselves as one of the most important duos in the interpretation of sonatas for violin and piano. Having performed more than 100 recitals in Europe, Canada and USA, they are praised for their unique partnership and the emotional power of their interpretations, and are described as playing as if under the control of a single intelligence. 

    Programme

    Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56  — Béla Viktor János Bartók (1881—1945)        
    Joc cu bâtǎ. Allegro moderato
    Brâul. Allegro
    Pê-loc. Andante
    Buciumeana. Moderato
    Poargǎ româneascǎ. Allegro
    Mǎrunţel. L’istesso
    Mǎrunţel. Allegro vivace


    Violin Sonata No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 25 — George Enescu (1881—1955)

    Moderato malinconico
    Andante sostenuto e misterioso
    Allegro con brio, ma non troppo mosso

    Sonata in A major for piano and violin — César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (1822—1890)

    Allegretto ben moderato
    Allegro
    Ben moderato: Recitativo-Fantasía
    Allegretto poco mosso

    Three Preludes — George Gershwin (1898—1937)  

    Allegro ben ritmato e deciso
    Andante con moto e poco rubato
    Allegro ben ritmato e deciso

    Background information

    Since 1999 when they first began to work together, Kai Gleusteen and Catherine Ordronneau have established themselves as one of the most important duos in the interpretation of sonatas for violin and piano. Having performed more than 100 recitals in Europe, Canada and USA, they are praised for their unique partnership, “playing under the control of a single intelligence”, and for the emotional power of their interpretations.

    In 2004, they were featured in the television program Classical Now, a nationally broadcast show, as well as a two-hour program on CBC radio in Canada including a live recital . They also received critical acclaim for the release of their first recording for the AVIE records label, which includes a “standout performance of the Prokofiev sonata, one of the finest on records.” In May 2004, their second recording with sonatas by Grieg, Dvorak, and Franck was distributed world-wide.

    Their repertoire encompasses most of the great sonatas for violin and piano, as well as a myriad of short pieces representing the countries where they perform. Among recent projects was a tour in the USA with performances with the St Louis Symphony, recitals in Chicago as well as in the San Francisco area and gala concert in the prestigious Hotel de Ville of Paris.

    Canadian born violinist, Kai Gleusteen started at the age of five years old in his native city, Calgary. Early on, he met with success in national music competitions in addition to receiving top academic awards. Already at a young age, he had the opportunity to study with the most renowned violinists and teachers of his time, including Nathan Milstein, Ivan Galamian, Josef Gingold, Dorothy Delay, and Zakhar Bron. By the age of seventeen, Kai was awarded the top prize in the Commonwealth Concerto Competition in Australia, he had received the prestigious Skene Award in Scotland and had formed his first chamber orchestra: The Group of Twelve.

    A strong believer in the musician as a multi-dimensional human being, Kai chose to combine his musical studies with academic pursuits. At the University of Michigan, he studied anthropology, geophysics, and philosophy. He received a Master’s Degree from Rice University under the tutelage of the person who would become his greatest inspiration on both a personal and musical level, the violinist Camilla Wicks.

    In 1991, Kai moved to Europe to live in the heart of Western Culture. Paris and Prague were his bases for nine years, allowing him to develop and perform both as a soloist and leader of numerous orchestras. In the year 2000, he won the concertmaster position of the Orchestra ‘del Gran Teatre del Liceu’ and subsequently moved to Barcelona. In 2003, he created the Gran Teatre del Liceu Chamber Orchestra and was appointed professor at the Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya. He continues to perform extensively as a soloist and a recitalist throughout Europe and North America and has released numerous critically acclaimed recordings.

    Having performed her first recital at the age of twelve, it isn’t until the age of twenty, after two years of law school that Catherine Ordronneau decides to devote herself entirely to music.

    Taught by Colette Fernier, Monique Deschaussées, Sergio Perticaroli, and encouraged by François-René Duchâble, she receives the highest distinction at the Conservatory in Rouen and later the prestigious Concert Award at the Ecole Normale Alfred Cortot in Paris.

    Catherine is also awarded the Yvonne Lefébure Foundation Prize leading to television and radio broadcasts and concert engagements.

    Catherine chooses to avoid the international competition circuit in favour of taking the time to study repertoire in its historical context. Being a great lover of nature, a fan of Marcel Proust and having spent many years in Normandy, she explores in depth the composers who were inspired by this region, such as Roussel, Debussy, and Saint-Saëns. She deepens her understanding of Beethoven, Schumann and Brahms with numerous trips to Germany, her knowledge of the language and by reading Goethe and Heine. Her interpretation of Chopin is nourished by the time spent in Poland and a close examination of his letters. She delivers “mesmerising performances in which her ability to summon a myriad of colour is allied to a total artistic integrity”. (The Times)

    Catherine’s approach to music is very much appreciated not only by solo piano audiences throughout Europe and North America but also by various renowned chamber musicians. She is invited to perform in music festivals throughout these countries and devotes a large part of her time to the duo with Kai Gleusteen and the Trio Liceu.