August 19, 2010
By George Laverock
Well, our 10th anniversary festival has come and gone, and for me it has left a lot of pleasant memories as well as deep friendships. I managed to attend 28 of the 42 events (for some reason, I can only be in one place at a time!)... and was not once disappointed with what I heard. I guess one of the yardsticks for our success is how “festive” it felt... and judging from the number of people who told me that they had to make difficult choices about what to attend on certain nights, we appear to have created a festival “buzz”.
I am loath to choose favourite concerts, since I thoroughly enjoyed
so many.... but amongst those that left a deep impression were: a) the unbelievably creative improvising of pianist Joe Chindamo and guitarist Doug Devries at the Cellar Jazz Club on August 8; b) the opening bars of Richard Strauss’ Don Juan with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada; c) the première of Stephen Chatman’s Love Songs, with the effervescent Tyler Duncan and the Freshwater Trio from Melbourne; d) the combined voices of 180 singers from 6 choirs singing together at the Chan Centre... and e) the finely crafted and thoroughly entertaining concerts by The Idea of North. Their principal arranger and mezzo-soprano Naomi Crellin should be designated a “National Treasure” in Australia.More than once
during the festival, I was joyously reminded about the reasons that one works for an entire year or more to plan a festival of this nature. I think the importance of live music has also been very eloquently expressed by Professor Karl Paulnack in a speech that he made a few years ago to the incoming freshmen at the Boston Conservatory of Music. I invite you to read what he said: http://www.bostonconservatory.edu/s/940/Bio.aspx?sid=940&gid=1&pgid=1241 Our MusicFest dates next year are going to be August 5 – 14. I hope you will join us again to hear some of the great musical talents in the world.
