In some ways, the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival is a history lesson in the evolution of music. From Aug. 17 to 19, at the lovely School of Music in Madeira Park, audience members will be treated to a harmonious series of concerts featuring everything from the enchanting melodies of John Dowland, a composer who straddled the late 16th and early 17th centuries, to the lively modern tangos of Astor Piazzolla. Those music lessons will be fun as well as enlightening – and you won’t need to practise!
The Festival opens with the popular (and free) Rising Tide concert, “Til the stars fade from above,” on the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 17. Coast musicians David Poon and Sarah Poon, playing harpsichord, piano, cello and viola da gamba, join soprano Lucy Smith and bass Jacob Gramit. From Dowland to Stephen Sondheim, this event showcases these young and talented musicians.
On Friday evening, audiences will aspire to A Higher Revelation. The celebrated Lafayette String Quartet will explore Beethoven in a late lyrical string quartet, followed by Brahms – the luminous and beautiful Piano Quartet in G Minor – with pianist Alexander Tselyakov (artistic director), violinist David Gillham, violist Yariv Aloni and cellist Brian Yoon.
Saturday afternoon will be lively. “Shall We Dance?” guides listeners across dance-floors, from the gracious court salons of Haydn’s Austria to Argentinian Astor Piazzolla’s fine tangos to Americans George Gershwin and Artie Shaw (with Jenny Jonquil on clarinet). Audience will be treated to Two Views of Sunset on Saturday evening with a programme of Bruch, Menotti and two glorious string quartets, by Schubert and Shostakovich. Expect fire – and gorgeous colour!
All good things come to an end, even musical adventures of the best sort, and the musicians will Make a Joyful Sound on Sunday afternoon, beginning with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 3 in C major, lingering on a passage from Crusell’s Quartet in D major No. 3, op.7, and concluding with a stunning piano quintet by Ernst von Dohnanyi.
The Festival is made possible by a generous group of Friends as well as a supportive community. The audience comes from far and near, year after year, eager to see what artistic director Alexander Tselyakov has curated for the weekend. Tickets go on sale to Friends on June 1 and then general sales commence on June 15. Watch the website www.penderharbourmusic.ca for programme details and to buy tickets online. Call 604-989-3995 to order tickets by phone.
– Theresa Kishkan, for the Pender Harbour Chamber Music Festival
