Haydn 68 continues in Kitchener-Waterloo

I received an email a little while ago from Jan Narveson, the irrepressible driving force behind KWCMS, the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society, asking for a little publicity about their concert season up in the Waterloo Region, which is certainly one of my favourite areas to visit when I do leave lovely Niagara.

Although I have not made it up to any of the KWCMS concerts so far, there are plenty over the course of the season for anyone who does, and the line-up each season is quite frankly dazzling.  I often wonder how Jan does it, booking so many acts over the course of the season year in and year out.  I supposed that's his dirty little secret...

Seriously, though, I met Jan several years ago while helping out at the late, lamented Twelfth Night Music Shoppe in downtown Waterloo, and he is about as big a supporter of the local arts scene as you're likely to find anywhere.  How he manages to find time to handle all the details needed to pull each season off is beyond me.

One of the many ambitious projects Jan has on the go at the moment is programming all 68 of Haydn's complete string quartets, which will take about three years and 23 concerts to complete.  In most cases, three quartets per concert are programmed, with the schedule usually dependent on the availability of the busy Attacca Quartet, who originate in New York.  The quartet, made up of Amy Schroeder, first violin, Keiko Tokunago, second violin, Luke Fleming, viola and Andrew Yee, cello spend a lot of time on the road, and appear to be as excited about this project as Jan and his devoted audiences are.

This weekend will be the Fourth Haydn Weekend, running Friday evening through to Sunday afternoon, with performances Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 and Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2.  That's four Haydn quartet concerts per weekend, covering another dozen of the 68 Haydn composed.  Incidentally, there are pre-concert chats prior to the evening performances beginning at 7:15.

For the record, this weekend's line up looks like this:  Friday evening they perform Op. 17, No. 6 in D; Op. 55, No. 1 in A; Op. 74, No. 1 in C.  Saturday afternoon includes Op. 2, No. 2 in E; Op. 20, No. 5 in F; Op. 50, No. 2 in C.  Saturday evening sees the group perform Op. 54, No. 2 in C; Op. 9, No. 4 in D and Op. 71, No. 3 in Eb.  Finally, Sunday afternoon features Op. 1, No. 6 in C; Op. 64, No. 1 in C and Op. 33, No. 2 in Eb, subtitled "Joke", which Jan advises has the "funniest ending in the history of music."  With salesmanship like that, how can you go wrong?

The next two weekends have already been pencilled in for the ongoing series, with Weekend Five scheduled for October 30 to November 1 and Weekend Six scheduled for March 18 to 20 of next year.  All of the concerts take place at The Music Room at 57 Young Street West in Waterloo.  The room seats about 85 and is inside a large private home that also houses a Steinway piano, so it certainly is not your average concert venue.

Sound intriguing?  You can find out more by going to the KWCMS website at www.k-wcms.com.  You can also email them at kwcms@yahoo.ca.  A pass for the entire weekend will cost you $95, or $75 for a senior and only $50 for a student pass.  You can get a pass for the entire weekend at the door prior to the first concert Friday night.

There are many options available to patrons to support KWCMS in any number of ways, and you can find out more on their website.  But supporting this ambitious Haydn cycle would be a great place to start.

I will have to get up that way one of these days to attend a concert or two myself, but if you plan to make the trek this weekend, you will certainly be treated to some absolutely sublime chamber music performed by a group of young musicians accomplished beyond their years.

Enjoy the weekend!

March 26th, 2015.