Tag: Charles Richard-Hamelin

Charles Richard-Hamelin and Noah Wessels

Supernatural Concert from Two Talented Pianists!

by SillyGilly, posted in Review
Charles Richard-Hamelin and Noah Wessels
Charles Richard-Hamelin (right) and Noah Wessels (seated)

Review by Jim Leonard

The concert began with 17 yr. old Noah Wessels – a student at Vernon Christian School. He began the concert with 3 Chopin pieces; the most dazzling being the “Revolutionary” Etude by Chopin. The piece has a difficult passage for the left hand that surges up and down the keyboard while the right hand issues fanfare like chords. Noah was certainly up to the task even though he began studying piano in 2015!

After hearing Charles Richard-Hamelin play only the first few passages of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.13 in Eb major (In a fantasy style), I knew I was in the presence of one of the world’s great pianists. To quote Robert Harris of the Globe and Mail (January 17, 2016) “His sense of time, harmony, above all, his structural originalities, are immensely sophisticated and daring. He seemed to be aware of the total Chopin by exposing inner voices and harmonic twists in both left and right hands.” I agree whole heartedly with Robert. All these accomplishments at the age of 30! His virtuosity never got out of hand nor did his playing become grotesque during loud passages.

During the Moonlight Sonata ( which was named such after Beethoven’s death) opening Adagio, I heard the real intention of the music with the rising sounds of sadness and despair brought forward by Richard-Hamelin’s skill. A furious Presto ensued, possibly representing anger or despair. This man gets you thinking by the way he plays!

Before intermission, Richard-Hamelin played a little known Fantasia in F sharp minor by Mendelssohn. I know why the piece was not played often – it is so difficult. No problem for our soloist. He breezed through the 3 movements with total abandon. His playing was so steady and confident throughout the piece.

After intermission we were treated to 12 Preludes, from opus 28 by Chopin. There was lots of variation in the length and character of each. They were played close together like a Suite. To finish the program, Richard-Hamelin played Chopin’s Andante Spianato and Grande Polonaise op. 22. The latter of the two was a stunning close to the concert; with cascading octave runs played with great confidence and skill; giving the effect of two players. After a short encore (I couldn’t hear the title as it was announced off mic) and a second standing ovation, Charles Richard- Hamelin bid his audience adieu. What a wonderful evening indeed!

The next NOCCA concert will be on Saturday March 28, 2020 at 7:30 pm. It features a cellist, harpsichordist and archlutist. More information can be found at nocca.ca.

Review by Jim Leonard for the Vernon Morning Star.

Charles Richard-Hamelin – Saturday February 29, 2020

by SillyGilly, posted in Concert
Charles Richard-Hamelin
Charles Richard-Hamelin

Charles Richard-Hamelin
Saturday February 29, 2020 7:30 pm
BUY TICKETS

Charles Richard-Hamelin – Impressively credentialed, award winning Quebec-born pianist returns to Vernon, bringing the sheer beauty of his playing; mesmerizing audiences with passion, sensitivity and dynamic performances.

“Playing of this insight and maturity is rare. The pianist always displays sterling technique and agility.” Geoffrey Newman.

NOCCA is very pleased to welcome back Charles Richard-Hamelin to our Performing Arts stage on Saturday, February 29 at 7:30pm. Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman award of the best sonata at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, Charles Richard-Hamelin stands out as one of the most important pianists of his generation. He also won the second prize at the Montréal International Musical Competition and the third prize and special award for the best performance of a Beethoven sonata at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea. Charles was recently awarded the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec and the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

Originally from Lanaudière in Québec, Charles Richard-Hamelin studied with Paul Surdulescu, Sara Laimon, Boris Berman and André Laplante. He is a graduate from McGill University, the Yale School of Music, the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal and now works on a regular basis with pianist Jean Saulnier.

Charles Richard-Hamelin’s 2018 -2019 season was marked by three tours in Asia (Japan, Korea and China), the recording of the second volume of Beethoven’s complete sonatas for piano and violin with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal concertmaster Andrew Wan, the recording of Chopin’s two concertos with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Kent Nagano, a solo recording of Chopin’s Ballades and Impromptus and over 75 concerts in Canada, Asia, Europe and the United States. In 2019 both the 2018 Beethoven sonata and the 2019 Chopin concerto recordings were awarded ADISQ (Quebec Association for the Recording, Concert and Video Industries) Felixes. The 2019 Chopin concerto recordings is listed at #2 and the Ballades and Impromptus recording at #6 on the CBC’s 20 favorite classical music albums for 2019.

For a young pianist (he turned 30 in July), Richard-Hamelin already has deep experience with Chopin’s Ballades and Impromptus, having played them the world over since winning the silver medal and Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition. “It’s really a blessing,” he explained to CBC Music when this album appeared. “This way I get to continue my lifelong exploration of his music, which still fascinates me so much. Chopin is usually all about grey areas.” His engagement — intellectual and emotional — with these pieces is palpable, and while he covers a huge dynamic range, his interpretation is never exaggerated or flamboyant. Some of the credit goes to producer/recording engineer Carl Talbot, who found the perfect balance between proximity and space to allow Richard-Hamelin’s pristine, bell-like tone to ring out. www.charlesrichardhamelin.com

Opening the performance is pianist Noah Wessels, a 17 year old grade 11 student who attends Vernon Christian School. He started playing piano in November 2015 after watching virtuosic music performance videos online. Noah studies piano with Daisy Penner at VCMS where he also takes violin lessons with Imant Raminsh, and he plays second violin in the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Click on the image/link below to view a video of Charles Richard-Hamelin:

SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $40  Under 18 – $20
Students on the 8to12 program – $5

Purchase tickets at:

TICKET SELLER
Phone: (250) 549-SHOW (7469)
E-mail: boxoffice@ticketseller.ca

– or –

Visit The Performing Arts Centre Foyer
3800-34th Street, Vernon
All concerts are held in the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre.

Sords-Severn-Duvall Trio

Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth

by SillyGilly, posted in Review
Sords-Severn-Duvall Trio
The Sords – Severn – Duvall Trio

Review by Matt Arnott

The Sords – Severn – Duvall Trio: A concert celebrating the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.

The Audience attending the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre on Sunday December 1st was treated to a riveting variety of chamber works (including some well beyond Beethoven’s era) performed by the Violin, Cello, and Piano trio comprised of Andrew Sords of Ohio, Luke Severn of Australia, and Canada’s own Cheryl Duvall (Toronto).

Opening the evening was young artist Craig Matterson with two piano solo selections, the great Nocturne in C minor Opus 48 No. 1 by Chopin, and the favorite “Bells of Moscow” Prelude in C# minor by Rachmaninoff. The 20-year-old pianist, no stranger to both classical and jazz performance, enraptured the audience with his finely-honed dynamics and (especially in the Rach) carefully poised yet punctuated moments of surprise drama. The NOCCA Steinway concert piano responded perfectly to his ultra-sensitive touch.

First on the Sords – Severn – Duvall Trio programme was Brahm’s 6th Hungarian Dance in Db, in which we were immediately struck with the flair and ease that these musicians could portray the energetic jauntiness, quirky nature, and warmly personal characteristic of the third musical B’s happier of peasant dances.

Smoothly hosted by Sords, the listeners were next introduced to a selection from Beethoven’s earlier and easier period of life, his Trio in C minor, the key in which Ludwig “always meant business”. The rendering was clean, tight, and dramatic – the trio movement especially being darkly playful, giving the sense that the Grumpy L.van B. may have often had a twinkle in his baleful eye. The Finale prestissimo was slick, syncopated, satisfying. Overall a superior performance.

A radical change in compositional era followed with Severn’s own “…when the world was young” for cello and piano. In a word, stunning. The drama between a piano played (and masterfully so by Duvall) to its fullest emotive extent, and a cello being nothing short of a personal extension of its owner’s body, carried the audience on a tonal ozone expedition like no other. It wailed, it danced, it whispered from the heart of an 11-year-old child … yet it also proclaimed truth from the soul of an adult who sees things from a new and passionate viewpoint.

Finishing the first half was a suitably passionate display of Romany Freneticism with Ravel’s Tzigane for violin and piano. Pulled off with aplomb and panache by Sords’ and his dramatic posture, the music caught the whole audience up in a trance of drama and delight. The incredible pianistic skills of Duvall left the listeners still panting as the house lights came up for intermission.

The entire second half consisted of an incredibly mature and engaging performance of Beethoven’s Archduke Trio – in Sords’ own words: “If one were to attend church, musically speaking, then let the slow (third) movement be your entrance into worship.” And indeed, it was a long, heartfelt, and deeply transcendent moment of musical reverence. The skill required to play through this whole four-movement masterwork and maintain, to the last chord, its grace, strength, and depth of human portent was not lost on the listeners as they were carried into the very heart of Beethoven’s musical self.

Ending on a splashy note, the Trio elected to give an encore of the Scherzo (musical joke) by Shostakovich. Indeed, a virtuosically fun and fantastic way to end a full-bodied evening of chamber music from the best.

The next NOCCA concert is on Sunday February 29, 2020 at 7:30 pm and will feature the marvellously talented, award winning Quebec-born pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin – more information at nocca.ca.

Tickets are now available from ticketseller.ca for the NOYSE concert showcasing North Okanagan’s young musicians (this is not part of the regular NOCCA subscription series). Audition applications are welcome until January 4th. Auditions will take place at the Vernon Community Music School on Saturday January 11th. For more information please go to the NOYSE page of our website. The Gala Performance will take place at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre on Saturday February 1, 2020 at 2:00 pm.

Review by Matt Arnott for the Vernon Morning Star.

CRH rehearsing

Review: Pianist gives highly refined concert

by SillyGilly, posted in Review
CRH rehearsing
Acclaimed pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin rehearsing before the NOCCA concert

By Jim Leonard

The program began with a tribute to longtime NOCCA board member and past president Paul Maynes. Board member Cathie Stewart presented Maynes with a beautiful painting of an Okanagan valley scene.

Then, as is the custom, a young musician is featured onstage. For this concert, Jenny Sutherland, a student at Seaton Secondary, sang three beautiful songs with her mother at the piano. She had a lovely clear voice for someone who is only 16-years-old. I didn’t catch the titles because no mic was used to announce the songs.

Finally, after much preamble, albeit necessary preamble by NOCCA’S board, we were subjected to a long introduction by the soft-spoken pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin regarding the program. He had chosen the music of two contrasting composers — Robert Schumann in the first half of the program followed by Chopin in the second half.

He began with the Arabesque of Schumann; beginning very quietly, and showing his ultimate control over the piano’s tone. There were many moods in the work, which were deftly and neatly handled by Richard-Hamelin. There were sudden outbursts in the music alternating with quiet contemplative parts. Every note was in it’s place; the runs controlled and clean.

As is the custom with concert pianists, the performance was from memory. How the artist remembered the Fantasie Opus 17 (also by Schumann) was a miracle, as the piece was a good 20 minutes long. As before, there was beautiful contemplative playing; the pianist being careful to not make harsh sounds in the loud, celebratory parts.

For the second half, Richard-Hamelin chose four Chopin Ballades. They were arranged in the program according to the age the composer was at the time of their composition, young to mature. The choice of these works showed the differences in approach, regarding writing for piano, of the two composers. Chopin used extensive melodies with less interruptions in the flow of the harmonies. Of the four Ballades, only the third one was in a major key. It was a refreshing Waltz.

During the playing of the four Ballades, Richard-Hamelin showed tremendous concentration and extreme virtuosity on the keyboard. Again, not a note out of place, seamless runs and brilliant chord patterns abounded. The 12-minute fourth Ballade seemed to sum up Chopin’s total experience as a composer/pianist. Again, brilliantly executed and bringing the audience to their feet.

Their enthusiasm was rewarded with a quiet encore: the slow movement from Bach’s Keyboard Concerto in F minor. Beautiful playing on NOCCA’S wonderful new Hamburg Steinway piano.

The next NOCCA concert is 7:30 pm Saturday April 14, 2018, featuring Vancouver’s EnChor choir. Click here for more information.

Review By Jim Leonard For The Vernon Morning Star

Charles Richard-Hamelin

Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano – Thursday March 15, 2018

by SillyGilly, posted in Concert

Charles Richard-Hamelin

Charles Richard-Hamelin
Thursday March 15, 2018 7:30 pm
BUY TICKETS

Silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman award of the best sonata at the International Chopin Piano Competition in 2015, Charles Richard-Hamelin stands out as one of the most important pianists of his generation. Also winning second prize at the Montreal International Musical Competition and third prize and special award for the best performance of a Beethoven sonata at the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea, Charles was recently awarded the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec, and the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

I had been waiting for such a performance since the beginning of the Competition. The man is every inch an artist, an extraordinarily mature musician who focuses on the beauty of Chopin’s works, which he performs with a high degree of consciousness. He is one of the few who can find a wise balance between the spirit of Chopin and his own individuality, which he demonstrated, for instance, in his masterful interpretation of the Ballade in A-flat major.

Róża Światczyńska, Polish Radio 2 (October 7, 2015)

He has appeared in various prestigious festivals including La Roque d’Anthéron in France, the Prague Spring Festival, the “Chopin and his Europe” Festival in Warsaw and the Lanaudière Festival in Canada. As a soloist, he has performed with various ensembles including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Singapour Symphony Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Quebec Symphony Orchestra, OFUNAM (Mexico City), Orchestre Métropolitain, National Arts Center Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Violons du Roy, I Musici de Montréal, Sinfonia Varsovia and the Poznań Philharmonic.

Originally from Lanaudière in Québec, Charles studied with Paul Surdulescu, Sara Laimon, Boris Berman and André Laplante. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in performance from McGill University in 2011 and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music in 2013 and received full scholarships in both institutions. He also completed an Artist Diploma program at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal in 2016 and currently works on a regular basis with pianist Jean Saulnier.

Charles Richard-Hamelin’s first solo CD, which features late works by Chopin, was released on the Analekta label in September 2015 and received widespread acclaim from critics throughout the world (Diapason, BBC Music Magazine, Le Devoir). A second album, presenting works of Chopin, Beethoven and Enescu was recorded at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec City and released in September 2016 under the same label.

Charles Richard-Hamelin’s 2017-2018 season highlights include three tours in Japan, the recording of the first volume of the complete Beethoven violin sonatas with Montreal Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Andrew Wan as well as over 60 concerts in Canada, Asia, Europe and the USA. www.charlesrichardhamelin.com

Concert Program:

Robert Schumann  (1810-1856) Arabeske opus 18
Fantaisie opus 17
Intermission
Frederic Chopin  (1810-1849) Four Ballades:
No. 1 in G Minor opus 23
No. 2 in F Major opus 38
No. 3 in A Flat Major opus 47
No. 4 in F Minor opus 52

Click on the images/links below to view a couple of short videos of Charles Richard-Hamelin from the 2015 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Poland.

SINGLE CONCERT TICKETS
Adults – $40  Under 18 – $20
Students on the 8to12 program – $5

Purchase tickets at:

TICKET SELLER
Phone: (250) 549-SHOW (7469)
E-mail: boxoffice@ticketseller.ca

– or –

Visit The Performing Arts Centre Foyer
3800-34th Street, Vernon
All concerts are held in the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre.