The entire season has been resplendent with firsts for both the Coast Symphony Orchestra and the Sunshine Coast Community Orchestra Association (SCCOA).
At Christmas, the SCCOA performed under the leadership of three female conductors for the first time in their history.
In February, the Coast Symphony Orchestra featured a concert with eight different soloists from the Sunshine Coast and the first ever horn duet played with the orchestra. To round out their season, CSO artistic director Edette Gagné decided it fitting to present an entire concert of “firsts.” In collaboration with the orchestra’s board of directors, Gagné has built an exciting program to be presented June 2 and 3.
Opening with Manuel da Falla’s First Spanish Dance from his opera La Vida Breve, the percussionists will steal the show with Val Anderson playing the castanet solo. This will be followed with Concertino for flute and orchestra by Cécile Chaminade.
Featuring Nina Haedrich as the solo flutist, this work marks the first time the Coast Symphony Orchestra has ever performed a work by a female composer — but hopefully not the last.
To round out the start of the program, the orchestra will perform the closing movements (Berceuse and Finale) from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite — the first of the famous Diagalev ballet commissions.
To round out the first half of the program, Adriana Lebedovich, one of the youngest members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, will join the CSO as guest violinist for Mozart’s rarely performed Violin Concerto no. 1.
This marks the first time the CSO has featured a soloist from outside the province and the first time the CSO has performed a Mozart violin concerto.
After intermission, the CSO will perform Kalin-nikov’s Symphony no. 1, a lush four-movement symphony filled with Russian romantic harmonies, memorable melodies and a wonderful duet for harp and English horn as the focal point of the slow movement.
To round out their show of firsts, the CSO will leave the audience tapping their toes with Schubert’s first March Militaire.
The concert will be presented on Saturday, June 2 at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons at 7 p.m. and Sunday, June 3 at the Raven’s Cry Theatre in Sechelt at 2:30 p.m. There will be a pre-concert chat 30 minutes before each performance.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for children under 12, available at Gaia’s Fair Trade, Laedeli, Strait Music or Bluewaters Books.
— Submitted
