Franz Joseph Haydn Quartet in B at major Op. 50 No. 1 The art music of Western Europe underwent a period of transition in the mid- 18th century as the thickly embroiled scores of the Baroque, with their long spun-out … Continue reading
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In this week's e-news we share a fascinating conversation — courtesy of Ottawa Chamberfest — in which Eric Friesen and Robert Harris discuss Beethoven. Plus, we're still coming to terms with our disappointment regarding the cancellation of our fall season, which should have kicked off last Sunday with a performance by Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci. 😞 bit.ly/3mriKb6
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts has just announced its new Dot Com Series. There are six performances including one from South African cellist Abel Selaocoe. Check it out!
In this week's e-news, Leila chats with Zsolt Bognár pianist, author, and host of Living the Classical Life, an award-winning series of conversations with musicians from around the world. Plus, we share more of the music we're listening to right now: bit.ly/2Rbp5Ji
A change to our first concert in the 2017-18 Season
Posted onThe Simón Bolívar String Quartet’s scheduled performance at the Vancouver Playhouse on September 17 has been postponed to a future season. The current volatile and violent situation in Venezuela, which has heightened following last week’s election, has made it almost impossible … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: BENJAMIN GROSVENOR
Posted onRobert Schumann Arabesque, Op. 18 In the autumn of 1838 Robert Schumann made a career decision. He would move from his native Leipzig to Vienna to find a publisher and a sympathetic public for his piano compositions. The public he … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: JAVIER PERIANES
Posted onFranz Schubert Piano Sonata in A Major D 664 The salubrious effects of country air on the mind and spirits of the vacationing composer are well known. Witness Schubert’s wonderfully relaxed and lyrical Sonata in A Major D 664 composed … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: MURRAY PERAHIA
Posted onJohann Sebastian Bach French Suite No. 6 in E Major BWV 817 The spirit of the dance can be felt across a wide range of Bach’s works, from the fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier to the Mass in B minor. … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: PAUL LEWIS
Posted onJohann Sebastian Bach Partita No. 1 in B flat major BWV 825 The partita, in late Baroque parlance, was just another name for a dance suite, a multi-movement work made up of the four canonical dance forms—allemande, courante, sarabande & … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: FLORIAN BOESCH AND MIAH PERSSON
Posted onThe Songs of Robert Schumann Robert Schumann was a composer steeped in literature. His compositions bear the dual imprint of both German musical and literary Romanticism. Literature was the family business, one might say, as his father, August Schumann, was … Continue reading
PROGRAM NOTES: HARRIET KRIJGH, CELLO & MAGDA AMARA, PIANO
Posted onFelix Mendelssohn Cello Sonata No. 2 Op. 58 Mendelssohn’s second sonata for cello and piano reveals him as the Classical-Romantic hybrid that he was. An effortless practitioner of Classical etiquette in the construction of symmetrically balanced phrases, he eagerly took … Continue reading
Program Notes: Benjamin Beilman, violin with Yekwon Sunwoo, piano
Posted onFranz Schubert Sonata in A major D574 The adolescent Schubert was a busy young man indeed. Fresh from single-handedly inventing the 19th-century German art song (the Lied) at the tender age of 17, he subsequently developed a teenage crush on … Continue reading
Program Notes: Dover Quartet with Avi Avital
Posted onSulkhan Tsintsadze Six Miniatures for String Quartet and Mandolin (arr. Ohan Ben-Ari) The Soviets promoted the ideal of music rooted in the traditions of their native soil and in this regard it would be hard to find a composer more … Continue reading