This weekend, we begin to put the carefree summer days behind us and look towards the changing colours of fall, along with the autumn ritual in Niagara of the wine festival, which of course kicks off this weekend at Montebello Park.
But for those who love symphonic music, this weekend also marks the beginning of the new concert season for both our Niagara Symphony and the Hamilton Philharmonic. So let's take a few moments this weekend and preview the two respective seasons, both of which bring with them some notable events along with some great music.
Here in Niagara, the Niagara Symphony (NSO) kicks off their 67th season Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University, with the first of the season's Masterworks concerts. Maestro Bradley Thachuk leads the orchestra in a concert entitled "Fantastique!" featuring the appropriately-titled Fruits of the Harvest by gifted pianist and composer Stewart Goodyear, Berlioz' expansive Symphonie Fantastique, and Edvard Grieg's only piano concerto, featuring the 15-year-old Canadian pianist Anastasia Rizikov.
Other highlights of the upcoming season include one of my all-time favourite violin pieces, Vaughan Williams' evocative The Lark Ascending featuring violinist Atis Bankas at the January Masterworks concert, and vocalist Sarah Slean joining the orchestra for the final concert of the season in May, performing Lamento by Hatzis. That finale to the Masterworks series includes the Beethoven Fifth Symphony and his Egmont Overture.
The Pops! series kicks off in October with singer Patricia O'Callaghan joining the orchestra for a concert entitled A Night of Leonard Cohen. The annual Home for the Holidays concert takes up December, of course, and the Jeans 'n Classics Band join the NSO for a tribute to Abba in February. The Pops! season concludes in April with a tribute to the ever-popular Gilbert & Sullivan.
This is the final season at Centre for the Arts at Brock University, of course, and the NSO plans to go out with a bang with the Beethoven concert in May, as they prepare to head off next fall to the new Partridge Hall in the new Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines. As such, there will be much sponsor promoting going on this season prior to the big move, the result of which means I will not be present at NSO concerts this season, setting up in the lobby as in past years.
While I am disappointed with the turn of events, perhaps it is for the best, really, as next season a whole new dynamic will have taken shape for the arts in Niagara anyways, and there were no guarantees I would be able to do the same in the new location, either.
So while I won't be present at the concerts this season, that by no means suggests I will not be supporting the symphony throughout the season in this space as well as on my website. In fact, the entire NSO season is included on the Calendar page of my website at www.finemusic.ca as in past years.
For more information on the season, go to their website at www.thenso.ca, and for tickets, call the Brock box-office at 905-688-5550, ext. 3257.
Meantime, the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) kicks off their new season this weekend as well, Saturday evening at 7:30 pm in the Great Hall at Hamilton Place. The opening concert features Canadian pianist Andre Laplante performing Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, and the orchestra playing the Dvorak Symphony No. 7, and Torque's work known as Kulesha. The guest conductor for this concert will be Alastair Willis, one of the candidates auditioning for the position of Music Director now that James Sommerville has left the orchestra.
Jamie will be back, however, as both conductor and soloist for the season finale in May as the orchestra performs the Schubert Unfinished Symphony and the Brahms Symphony No. 4, while Sommerville both performs and conducts the Mozart Horn Concerto No. 4.
The rest of the season sees performances by 20-year old violin prodigy Blake Pouliot, cellist Yegor Dyachkov and violinist and mathematician Corey Cerovsek. Works include the Mendelssohn and Glazunov Violin Concertos for the Masterworks series.
The Pops series includes a Tribute to Ray Charles in October and the traditional Home for the Holidays concerts in December, as well as a Sci-Fi Spectacular concert featuring music from Star Trek, Twilight Zone and many more in March.
This will be a pivotal year for the HPO as they audition candidates for the position of Music Director, and you remember how much fun that was here in Niagara a few seasons back! But the guest-conductor lineup looks interesting, with 6 candidates vying for the top job, including the aforementioned Alastair Willis who leads off the parade for this season on the weekend, along with appearances throughout the season by Gregory Vajda, Stilian Kirov, Theodore Kuchar, and Alain Trudel.
The auditioning process actually began towards the end of last season with the lone female candidate, Gemma New conducting the April concert.
Trudel is the big name in this conductor's lottery, I would think, but all of the candidates are accomplished in their own right, and as we saw here in Niagara a few years back, the outcome can often be rather surprising. So I wish all the candidates best of luck this season, and we'll see who gets the most votes in the end.
Two other non-candidate conductors will also be appearing with the HPO this season along with, of course, James Sommerville returning in May. Martin MacDonald conducts Home for the Holidays in December and David Martin conducts the Sci-Fi Spectacular in March. If all this sounds rather confusing, not to worry; rest assured everything will work its way out and you will be enjoying some great concerts with the Hamilton Philharmonic this season!
For more on the HPO season, log on to their website at www.hpo.org, and you can also call the box office for tickets at 905-526-7756. I hope to have the entire Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra season listed on the Calendar page of my website shortly, at www.finemusic.ca.
So, let the symphony seasons begin!
September 19th, 2014.
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