Cowichan Classical Concerts

Tag: Saint-Saëns

  • 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.

  • The French Violin

    Victor Fournelle-Blain, violin; Jean-Sébastien Levesque, piano

    Sunday, June 16 at 2pm

    Victor Fournelle-Blain is the Principal Viola of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and enjoys an active career as orchestral and chamber musician, soloist and teacher. Also originally from Montreal, pianist Jean-Sébastien Levesque recently moved to Vancouver where he now serves as Artistic Director of Bach on the Rock, Salt Spring Island’s chamber orchestra and choir. Their program features the violin sonatas of French composers Debussy, Ravel and Saint-Saëns, demonstrating each composer’s unique style.

    Programme

    Sonata for Violin and Piano in G minor, L. 140 — Claude Debussy (1862 — 1918)              
    I. Allegro vivo

    II. Intermède: fantasque et léger

    III. Finale: très animé

    Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 2 in G major, M. 77 — Maurice Ravel (1875 — 1937)
    I. Allegretto (G major)

    II. Blues. Moderato (A♭ major)

    III. Perpetuum mobile. Allegro (G major)

    Sonata for Violin and Piano No. 1 in D minor, Op. 75 — Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 — 1921)
    Ia. Allegro agitato (attacca)

    Ib. Adagio

    IIa. Allegretto moderato (attacca)

    IIb. Allegro molto

         

    Biographies

    Violinist and violist Victor Fournelle-Blain is leading an active career as an orchestral and chamber musician, soloist and teacher. Currently Principal Viola of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, where he previously held Associate Principal, 2nd assistant and section positions, he was also Principal Viola of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (2019-2021). He has taught viola at the University of Toronto and Université de Montréal, and now teaches at McGill’s Schulich School of Music. In the summer season he attends festivals such as Concerts aux Îles du Bic, Orford Academy, Camp Musical des Laurentides and Formandi Festival (Guadalajara, Mexico). Victor first studied the violin at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Johanne Arel, then completed a Master of Music under Ani Kavafian at the Yale School of Music, after which he obtained an Artist Diploma at McGill’s Schulich School of Music, studying the viola with André Roy. He was awarded the 2014 Golden Violin Award (McGill), the 2012 Prix d’Europe, and the second prize of the 2010 OSM Standard Life Competition.

    Originally from Montreal, Jean-Sébastien Levesque recently moved to Vancouver where he now serves as Artistic Director of Bach on the Rock, Salt Spring Island’s chamber orchestra and choir. A graduate from Université de Montréal and from Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Jean-Sébastien has studied with renowned musicians and teachers such as André Laplante, Raffi Armenian, and Jean Saulnier. He has also participated in master classes with esteemed pianists including Jean-Philippe Collard, Jacques Rouvier, Louis Lortie, John Perry, and Marc Durand. Jean-Sébastien founded the Chœur du Brouhaha in 2010, a choir with over 60 singers that focuses on democratizing choral singing. He has also served as the founder and conductor of the choir at the Orchestre Philharmonique des Musiciens de Montréal, the children’s choir of Église Saint-Stanislas-de-Kostka, and as Artistic Director and Conductor of Ensemble Vocal Vivace and of Ensemble Choral Saint-Eustache. As a pianist, Jean-Sébastien has collaborated with numerous musicians and singers, and has been involved in various projects promoting classical music to a wider audience. He has also commissioned and premiered several works by Québécois composers.