MONTREAL GUITAR TRIO
Friday April 25, 2014 7:30 pm BUY TICKETS
“Back by popular demand” – without question! In January 2012, these three guitarists – Marc Morin, Sébastien Dufour and Glenn Lévesque, melted ice and won hearts in Vernon. Bubbling with unbridled energy and humour, they plucked, strummed and syncopated their way from jazz to classics, taking a delighted audience with them on their whirlwind trip. Like their music, their performance record is eclectic. They’ve appeared at BB King’s famous Blues Club at one end of the scale – and at the legendary Concertgebouw in Amsterdam at the other, winning awards all along the way. They may be the called the hottest jazz trio in Canada, but they play music of the world – around the world. http://mg3.ca
Concert Program:
MG3 will play a selection from the following pieces:
E. Morricone / S. Dufour /
G. Lévesque / F. Leclerc
El Paso
G. Lévesqe
Breizh Tango
S. Dufour / L. Bonfá
Tarantos /Manhã de Carnaval
G. Lévesque
Raggytown
Rush
Tom Sawyer
N. Naffin
Le Renard
E. Morriconne
Cinema Paradiso
S. Dufour
Samba Pipoca
G. Lévesque
Les Perles de Verre
G. Harrison
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
S. Dufour
Querido Moraito
G. Lévesque
The Pit And The Pendulum
S.Dufour / G. Lévesque
Le Peuple Des Glaces
S. Dufour
Garam Masala
SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $35 Under 18 – $17.50
Students on the eyeGo program – $5
Members of Van Django take to the stage at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre as part of the North Okanagan Community Concert Association’s current season. — image credit: Christine Pilgrim
Vancouver-based acoustic string quartet Van Django breathed fire into gypsy jazz and left the audience smokin’ at the North Okanagan Community Concert at the Performing Arts Centre.
Named in tribute to guitarist Django Reinhardt, Van Django is Vancouver’s answer to Paris’s Quintette du Hot Club de France, founded by Reinhardt and his equally inspiring violinist partner Stephane Grappelli in the 1930s. Yet the backgrounds of the two ensembles are very different.
Grappelli spent his early years starving in an orphanage and took his first lessons from street musicians, while Van Django’s violinist Cameron Wilson was classically trained and works as much with symphonic music as with jazz.
Django Reinhardt only used his first two fingers to play because his left hand was crippled as a result of the burns he sustained when his gypsy caravan caught fire. The tragic accident that cost him the use of his third and fourth fingers gave birth to a style now emulated by countless guitarists. Yet Van Django’s Budge Schachte’s four fingers danced along the neck of his expressive guitar like a dandy spider on steroids. “I’ve got them, so I might as well use them,” he smiled.
The quartet’s rhythm guitarist Finn Manniche is as accomplished as his counterpart, Reinhardt’s brother Joseph, who would step in for Django when he sometimes didn’t turn up for a gig. But Joseph Reinhardt didn’t compose whimsical waltzes like Finn Manniche’s Waltz in the Shape of a Tree, a tune that could charm the birds off that, or indeed any tree.
The Quintette du Hot Club de France boasted a second rhythm guitarist because Django felt the need for two guitars to back him when he played solo. But Cameron Wilson’s understated, sensitive rhythm accompaniment on violin worked just as well, if not better, for Van Django.
Bassist Brent Gubbels, a younger, leaner counterpart to the Hot Club’s Louis Vola, was the only Van Django member not to have his composition included in Friday’s program. Cameron Wilson’s Tea for Three cheekily juxtaposed the notes of its namesake Tea for Two to witty effect, while Schachte named his snappy Estaban for a man in a black hat selling guitars in a TV commercial.
Speaking of television, Van Django’s arrangement of TV themes such as Spiderman and the Flintstones, interspersed with glimpses of Take Five and I’ve Got Rhythm, tickled our toes and our funny bones. And when they invited us to hum Ode to Joy in their happy jazz tribute to Beethoven, we needed no second asking. We were at our most ecstatic when Van Django played, in every sense, with Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies, along with such classics as Dvorak’s Humoresque, and their encore: Reinhardt’s arrangement of Grieg’s Norwegian Dance No. 2.
Lennon and McCartney would have revelled in their rendition of Norwegian Wood. At moments, the fab four seemed to slip into the skins and spirit of that other Fab Four.
In her review of the group’s 2007 appearance at the PAC, Lisa Talesnick quoted Vernon’s guitar maestro Neil Fraser, whom the North Okanagan Community Concert Association invited, along with several of his students, to sit in the front row once more.
So it seemed appropriate to leave the last word to him.
“I love it,” he said, “The gypsy rhythm is so infectious and direct that it gets to you right away.” I agree. Here’s to Van Django getting to us again and again!
The next NOCCA concert is with the Montreal Guitar Trio, Friday April 25th at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at the Ticket Seller in the Performing Arts Centre or ticketseller.ca.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Christine Pilgrim and
VAN DJANGO
Friday March 21, 2014 7:30 pm BUY TICKETS
Van Django is an acoustic string ensemble made up of four of Canada’s most talented and eclectic musicians; violinist Cameron Wilson, guitarist Budge Schachte, guitarist/cellist Finn Manniche and bassist Brent Gubbels. Their music is punchy, driving and rhythmically inventive, combining a wealth of musical influences while maintaining their roots in the gypsy jazz made famous by the 1930’s Quintet of the Hot Club of France.
They were such a hit in NOCCA’s 2007 season, last year’s audience survey securely placed them on the “back by popular demand” list. While versatility and variety makes them stand out from their European counterparts, they still cling to their gypsy jazz roots – music inspired by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. They are regulars at Canadian jazz festivals, and have also accompanied the Quiring Chamber Players, been guests of the Electra Women’s Choir, and appeared with the Vancouver Bach Choir. www.vandjango.com
Concert Program:
McHugh/ Fields
Exactly Like You
Cameron Wilson
Tea For Three
Birelli Lagrene
Made In France
Lulu Reinhardt
Lulu’s Swing
Antonin Dvořák
Humoresque
De Sylva/ Rose/ Jolson
Avalon
Lennon/ McCartney
Norwegian Wood
Arr. Van Django
Django TV
Lockhart/ Seitz
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
– Intermission –
Django Reinhardt
Vette
FInn Manniche
Waltz In The Shape Of A Tree
Bruce/ Brown/arr. Van Django
White Room
Mack/ Brown/ Dabney
Shine
Budge Schachte
Esteban
Beethoven/arr. Van Django
A Fist Of Beethoven
Django Reinhardt
Heavy Artillery
Django Reinhardt
Impromptu
SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $35 Under 18 – $17.50
Students on the eyeGo program – $5
Concert pianist Ian Parker was joined by Vernon violinist Colleen Venables during the North Okanagan Community Concert Association matinée Sunday February 2nd, 2014. Image credit: Christine Pilgrim photo
The stage lit up (if somewhat late on cue) with concert pianist Ian Parker’s ebullient entrance and immediate connection with a virtually full house — despite competition from the NFL Super Bowl — at the North Okanagan Community Concert Association’s only matinée in its diamond jubilee season.
Parker’s first of many anecdotes mentioned a message from his cousin Jamie Parker of Gryphon Trio fame. It read, “Call me before you start practising,” and introduced a tale of how Ian as a boy, having played “awfully” one evening for his piano teacher father, was commanded to practise the following morning at 8 a.m.
That following morning was Saturday and Ian knew his father left to teach at 6 a.m. Surely he wouldn’t notice if his son slept until 12 and started practising at 3 p.m. that afternoon … which was when Ian Parker saw his father’s note on the piano. It read, “Call me at my studio before you start practising.”
The story set a jovial tone that prevailed throughout the concert, although Parker’s relaxed approach informed as well as entertained when he spoke, and overwhelmed when he played.
He talked about the various sonatas in the program, beginning with Beethoven’s Opus 27 Nos. 1 and 2 sonatas quasi una fantasia which, as the titles suggest, are improvised and fantasy-like with no theme.
“They focus on emotion and harmony rather than form,” said Parker. “Loud passages often follow soft ones, perhaps because Beethoven wanted to test his hearing which was failing at the time.”
The second sonata, quasi una fantasia, apparently dubbed Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven’s publisher, established my love of classical music as a young girl when I took piano lessons. Strains of the mournful “stretched octave” trios in its first movement wafted through the hallways of the convent where I laboured over a mundane Grade 1 piece. I vowed then to play Moonlight Sonata myself some day, like so many before and after me. But I could never hope to achieve Parker’s prowess.
His fingers blurred when he played the faster movements, as they did throughout many allegros during the concert, yet they struck each note with precision and sensitivity.
Parker was joined by Vernon’s teenage prodigy, Colleen Venables, to play Igor Stravinsky’s Italian Suite for Violin and Piano. The Introduction, Serenata, Tarantella, Minuetto and Finale were taken from Stravinsky’s neoclassical ballet Pulcinella which the dancer Sergei Diaghilev had commissioned to be adapted from Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s original commedia dell’arte music.
Both musicians beamed in well-deserved triumph as they struck the final chords, and the audience beamed back, very loudly.
When he introduced George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Parker told how Gershwin had asked the Parisian, Maurice Ravel, for a lesson in orchestration as he didn’t feel adequate to the task. But when Ravel found out how much Gershwin earned in New York, he suggested Gershwin give him lessons instead. The audience needed no lesson to appreciate the brilliance of both composer and interpreter and rose to its feet when Parker brought the orchestration to life. In his words, the only sound he didn’t quite emulate was that sliding “Whaaa” from the clarinet.
Franz Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor had the same effect in the second half. “Magical!” sighed my audience neighbour, piano teacher Lucy Feldman, when Parker coaxed the final “B” from the lower register of NOCCA’s Steinway for which, incidentally, he is helping to find a replacement.
Feldman’s comment described the whole concert, played almost entirely from memory. It put a new slant on the word “awed”ience.
We’ll get a chance to enjoy an encore when Parker opens the Okanagan Symphony’s season this fall with Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
The next NOCCA concert is with the violin, bass and two guitar group “Van Dhjango”, Friday March 21st at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at the Ticket Seller in the Performing Arts Centre or ticketseller.ca.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Christine Pilgrim and
IAN PARKER – PIANO
Matinee Performance
Sunday February 2, 2014 at 2 pm BUY TICKETS
Back by popular request! Magnetic, easy-going and delightfully articulate, Canadian pianist Ian Parker captivates audiences wherever he goes. An enthusiastic recitalist, Ian has performed across the United States, Western Europe, Israel, and throughout Canada on tours with Debut Atlantic and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. He made his Lincoln Center recital debut at the Walter Reade Theater in 2004, and recorded a CD with the London Symphony Orchestra under Michael Francis (Ravel Concerto in G, Stravinsky Capriccio, and Gershwin Concerto in F) which was released by ATMA Classique in 2010.
Ian Parker is not just a brilliant Canadian pianist – he is also a gourmet cook. Take a generous cup of vitality, passion and talent, stir well with a few ounces of laughter, a sprinkle of spice and you have IAN PARKER. Music and food (and wine) go hand in hand with Ian. He started taking piano lessons from his father at age three. Now, with a Masters degree from Juilliard under his belt and a basketful of outstanding awards at his side, he winters in New York City and spends summers at home in Vancouver, teaching a few select students, helping in his father’s piano studio – and cooking. www.ianparker.ca
For part of this concert Ian will be joined by Colleen Venables, a talented young violinist from Armstrong, BC. Colleen has won many 1st prizes at BC Performing Arts Festivals and took 1st prize at the 2012 Canadian National Music Festival. She has worked with artists from around the world – such as Pinchas Zukerman, Leonidas Kavakos, Andres Cardenes, Ian Swensen, Tong Wei-Dong, Tadeusz Gadzina, Nicola Benedetti, Gerardo Ribeiro, members of Shanghai Quartet, members of Miro Quartet and pianist, Ian Parker. She enjoys dancing, singing, improvising and any form of art that allows her to express and share with other people.
Concert Program:
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Piano Sonata Op 27 no 1 in E Flat
Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
Piano Sonata Op 27 no 2 in C Sharp Minor (Moonlight)
Igor Stravinsky
(1882-1971)
Suite Italienne for violin and piano
(Colleen Venables – violin, Ian Parker – piano)
George Gershwin
(1898-1937)
Rhapsody in Blue
Intermission
Franz Liszt
(1811-1886)
Piano Sonata in B Minor
Here’s a little “teaser” of Ian’s playing for you to enjoy!
SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $35 Under 18 – $17.50
Students on the eyeGo program – $5
North Okanagan Community Concert Association 