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| July 19, 2012 Shimmering Beauty: Music to Delight |
Dear friend of MusicFest Vancouver,
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Renowned Gryphon Trio to Shine in Mini-Residency at MusicFest Vancouver
 Two-time JUNO® Award winners the Gryphon Trio are performing next weekend at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. Cellist Roman Borys is the festival's Artistic Director and the Trio plays a significant role in the festival itself.
You might think that after such a prestigious and all-consuming engagement (in addition to running the festival) the Gryphon Trio would want a summer vacation, but these artists are happy to assume a sort of "mini-residency" at MusicFest Vancouver.
(We suspect it may have something to do with pianist James Parker being a hometown Burnaby boy!)
They will be featured in three spectacular and very different programs. On August 15 they present the "Ghost" Piano Trio , Op.70, No.1 and "Archduke" Piano Trio, Op.97 in a program called Beethoven's Best. The Largo of Op.70 contains shimmering piano tremolos and a ghoulish atmosphere that Beethoven's star pupil Carl Czerny called "an appearance from the underworld," hence the nickname "The Ghost". The "Archduke" trio is not only Beethoven's masterpiece in the genre but also one of his finest lyrical achievements.
Gryphon Trio: Beethoven's Best
10:30am Christ Church Cathedral ____________________________________________ The next evening (August 16) they are joined by vocalist Patricia O'Callaghan for their acclaimed Broken Hearts & Madmen program. This engaging cabaret program includes songs by Nick Drake, Leonard Cohen, Lhasa de Sela, Laurie Anderson, Elvis Costello, Astor Piazzolla and more, and showcases the Gryphon Trio at its adventurous and groundbreaking best. O'Callaghan, hailed by Billboard Magazine as "the most promising cabaret performer of her generation," spent her teenage years in Mexico and is completely fluent in several languages. Expect a summery, sultry, and multilingual performance in an intimate setting.
Gryphon Trio with Patricia O'Callaghan:
Broken Hearts & Madmen
8pm Orpheum Annex
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On August 17 they turn their attention to the music the Czech Masters, where a Bohemian rhapsody of romantic music awaits you. Smetana and Dvořák were the musical father figures who gave voice to the folk music of their native country in the Romantic era. Smetana is best known for his set of picturesque tone poems Má Vlast ("My country"). The heartfelt Piano Trio in G minor was without question Smetana's first great masterpiece, and was much admired by Franz Liszt. In the 1860s, Smetana was also the director of the theatre orchestra in which the younger Dvořák dabbled as a violist. Thirty years later, Dvořák was an international celebrity, being wooed to teach in America. Before departing his homeland, he gave a forty-concert tour that featured his colourful Dumky Piano Trio, filled with "fleeting thoughts" of Czech folk songs and dances.
The Industrial Alliance Morning Chamber Music Concerts are supported by the family of the much-loved CBC broadcaster, Otto Lowy. We think that if you listen carefully you can almost hear the sound of The Transcontinental as it passes through Otto's Czech homeland.
Gryphon Trio: Czech Masters
10:30am Christ Church Cathedral
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"Heaven, ...I'm in heaven, ....and my heart beats so that I can hardly sleep...."
Fred Astaire may have found his Heaven dancing "Cheek to Cheek"...but you'll find a rich sampling of heavenly choral music by attending MusicFest Vancouver's presentation of Nordic Voices on Saturday August 11th at 8pm.
 Nordic Voices is a six-voice classical a cappella ensemble whose vast repertoire ranges from medieval to modern music. One of Norway's best-loved ensembles, Nordic Voices has garnered considerable acclaim through frequent radio and television appearances and international touring. They have visited Vancouver before under the auspices of our friend June Goldsmith at Music in the Morning, and she was wowed by their dynamic performances. We're delighted to showcase them in the glorious acoustic of the Chan Centre at UBC, where their voices can truly soar heavenwards. For our many choral music lovers this will be the concert you just can't miss! The program that the ensemble will sing is titled Ciels, (the French word for skies ), but the word also has a poetic association with heaven and paradise. All religions have an idea about a paradise, a better place to come to after an earthbound life. Paradise, or heaven, has been depicted in music throughout history. From the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Johannes Ciconia's Le Ray au soleil (The Ray of Sun) tells about the beams of the sun hitting us, while Pierre de Manchicourt's Reges Terrae tells about the kings of the earth going to Jerusalem to watch the heavenly-sent Saviour. Maurice Ravel's Trois beaux oiseaux... sings of a messenger from heaven in the figure of three birds of paradise, telling the story of a loved one going to the war.
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Helsinki's Nordic Voices at Temppeliaukio Church
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Naturally, music of Norwegian traditions, past and present, also figures in this heavenly line-up of music. Lasse Thoresen's Himmelske Fader (Heavenly Father) and Solbøn (Sun Prayer) were written specifically for Nordic Voices, and are based on Norwegian folk songs that describe how heaven can give us comfort and watch over us. Norwegian folk songs can also be found in Bjarne Sløgedal's For Guds folk...(For God's People) and Herre Jesus...(O Lord). The music of Madeleine Isaksson has another way of looking at a heaven (or a sky) that doesn't always deliver an answer to our prayers. The text is written by Gérard Haller, and as he says in the first poem: Il pleut, c'est tout // Le ciel n'est pas pour nous (It rains, that's all // Heaven is not for us). Does anyone remember Vancouver's weather in May and June? Here's hoping that the skies remain sunny the week of August 10 - 19th! Nordic Voices: Ciels is presented in memory of long-time Vancouver Sun music critic Lloyd Dykk. 8pm Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC
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4 hands + 2 Pianos = Debussy Delight
 "There is no theory.
You have only to listen.
Pleasure is the law.
I love music passionately.
And because I love it, I try to free it from the barren traditions that stifle it." Claude Debussy
Lovers of piano music are in for a treat when acclaimed French pianists Philippe Cassard and François Chaplin take the stage at the Vancouver Playhouse on August 18. Their Hommage à Debussy concert includes a veritable banquet of glorious music ranging from the Première Suite d'orchestre, 1883, to Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune, 1894, and much more to mark the 150th anniversary of Debussy's birth. In this recital for four hands and two pianos, the artists celebrate a genre that Debussy took immense pleasure in playing with friends throughout his life.
The Artists
Philippe Cassard has established an international reputation as a concerto soloist, recitalist and chamber musician since giving a joint recital with Christa Ludwig in Paris in 1985. The same year he was finalist at the Clara Haskil Competition and in 1988 he won the First Prize at the Dublin International Piano Competition. His performance of the complete piano works of Debussy (four recitals in a single day) received extremely enthusiastic press and media coverage.
François Chaplin
"Discovered in the mid-80s with the release of his recording of Debussy's first book of Préludes, François Chaplin has continued to make his mark as one of the outstanding musicians of his time. Chaplin does not approach Debussy as a mandatory rite of passage for the pianist. His playing is sensuous and spirited, yet capable of melancholic abandon. He delivers Debussy with a truly French sound that is at once round and crisp, a far cry from the received idea of impressionism that is so prevalent today..." - Eric Dahan, Liberation
Deux Pianos: Hommage à Debussy
Saturday, August 18 purchase tickets
8pm Vancouver Playhouse
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Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune - Debussy
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The Insiders' Scoop
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2012 MusicFest staff
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Each issue of our newsletter will introduce a MusicFest Vancouver staff member who will share what concert they can't wait to hear. This week Box Office Assistant Kirsten Mellin share her pick for the "don't miss this!" concert of the festival.
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Kirsten
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"I was a traveler by trade (self proclaimed of course). And while having since bought furniture and created a home, I must now find other ways to go on those excursions around the world. Jayme Stone, a Torontonian with a banjo, invites you to join him on his journey around the globe, creating one of those escapes from the day to day that I so seek. A master of the banjo, he plays music inspired from the traditional folk sounds of far off lands which allow me to dance around the littlest world in my head with the biggest smile on my face. It's going to be a great show!!!" Jayme Stone: Bach to Africa and Back Wednesday, August 15 purchase tickets 5:30pm Christ Church Cathedral  | |
Jayme Stone: Allemande from the French Suite No. 6 by J.S. Bach
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Jayme Stone: Room of Wonders
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Music has always been a vehicle for exploration. Be it into the heavens, a quiet afternoon in a forest glade, African excursions, or on flights of fancy with mythological beasts, MusicFest Vancouver has concerts that will take you to unimagined and delightful places. Read on about the three concerts that feature the renowned Gryphon Trio, the heavenly sounds of Nordic Voices, the shimmering beauty of Debussy, and the musical curiosity of a Torontonian with a banjo!