Yannick-Muriel Noah, architect of a blossoming career
July 26, 2010
By George Laverock

On August 12 at 5:30pm, we’re proud to be presenting a recital by one of Canada’s most promising young singers, Yannick-Muriel Noah, who will be collaborating for the first time with pianist Rena Sharon. It should be a recital to remember... and I hope that Ms. Noah will remember us when she becomes a world renowned artist, which I believe is her destiny.

Ms. Noah has a past connection with Vancouver since she won a $6000 Career Development Grant from the Vancouver Opera Guild in 2009 – and she is indeed developing her career in a big way. She has been winning prizes all around the world, and has now settled in Toronto, where she has been working with the Ensemble Studio of the Canadian Opera Company. Some other illustrious singers who are alumni of this program include Ben Heppner, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Joseph Kaiser and Kristina Szabo.

Somehow, along the way between Madagascar (the French-speaking country where she was born) and Toronto, Noah earned a degree in architecture at Ottawa’s Carleton University, and also racked up a minor in Italian (which will no doubt be useful in her operatic career).

She came across our radar screen in May, 2009 when she won the prize as the top Canadian singer in the Montreal International Music Competition. MusicFest Vancouver has been collaborating with the Montreal competition for many years now... and we basically have an agreement that we will bring one of their winners to our festival in the year following the competition. They alternate between voice, piano and violin... so in our 2011 festival, you will have a chance to hear one of the amazing young violinists that became laureates in May, 2010.

But I digress... it is Yannick-Muriel Noah that we are so excited about introducing to Vancouver music lovers on August 12. With the incomparable Rena Sharon at the piano, Ms. Noah will present a mixed program of songs and opera excerpts, showing off her artistic versatility as well as her technical strengths. She’ll perform everything from Kurt Weill songs to arias by Puccini, Verdi and Erich Korngold. Audience advisory: You may cry when you hear the beauty of her voice.

Bench Strength

July 5, 2010

By George Laverock

The other day I was thinking about how the piano, a powerful communicating instrument, permeates our festival this year. I then realized that we will be presenting some 13 different pianists over the 10-days of the festival. They include:

David Torres - with Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band on August 6

Adrián Iaies (Argentina) - with his Trio on August 6

André Carrasquero - with Zapato Negro on August 6

Lou Mastroianni - with Orquesta Goma Dura on August 6

Rita Reichman (Australia) – Chopin recital on August 10

Eidit Golder (Australia) – with the Freshwater Trio on August 10 and 11

Rena Sharon – in recital with Yannick-Muriel Noah on August 12

Allen Stiles – in Joe Trio for Supernatural Noir August 12, 13 and 14

Joe Chindamo (Australia) with his Quartet August 7, and in a Duo August 8

Tilden Webb - with Jodi Proznick August 10

Miles Black – with René Worst August 13

Dawn Clement (USA) with Ingrid Jensen Quartet August 14

Ross Taggart – with Darren Radtke August 15

You may check out the details of these performances by clicking the on the dates above or by going to our website.

As you can see, three of these ivory ticklers are from Australia, and have never played in Vancouver before. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to hear all three, and it would be difficult to choose a favourite... but you may make your own decisions by listening to a few samples:

Sample one:

Rita Reichman playing Chopin's “Grande Waltz Brilliante”

Sample two:

Joe Chindamo (Live at the Umbria Jazz Festival – 2005)- "It's Alright with Me"

Sample three:

Eidit Golder (and the Freshwater Trio, playing Mozart) - click on the picture below to see this video

I'll be back next week to tell you about our special event: Supernatural Noir.
Until then, enjoy!

Rita Reichman - Distinguished Chopin Interpreter

June 29, 2010

By George Laverock

“The piano bard, the piano rhapsodist, the piano mind, the piano soul is Chopin. Tragic, romantic, lyric, heroic, dramatic, fantastic, soulful, sweet, dreamy, brilliant, grand, simple: all possible expressions are found in his compositions, and all are sung by him upon his instrument.” Anton Rubinstein, pianist, composer and conductor (1829-94)

Last year, I had the pleasure of spending two months in Melbourne, Australia... a city that has much in common with Vancouver. I was very impressed with the vibrancy of the cultural life there, and more specifically the music scene (with several jazz festivals, chamber music and other classical events, two orchestras, excellent opera, and several fine institutions offering advanced musical training).

I was lucky to arrive in Melbourne only months after the opening of the splendid new Melbourne Recital Centre, an 1100-seat hall that any city would be proud of. As part of its first season, the distinguished Australian pianist Rita Reichman presented a recital of works by Haydn, Schubert, Debussy and Brahms. For our festival concert (August 10 at Christ Church Cathedral), her all-Chopin program will be anchored by the great Sonata No. 3 in B minor. She will also perform this famous sonata at the Hornby Island Festival on August 7, as one of our outreach concerts in the Windsor Plywood Spectacular Music B.C. series.

I can’t wait to hear this all-Chopin program. What I heard in Melbourne was a powerful and poised performance by an artist who really excels in classical and romantic music. It’s not surprising that she plays this music with such authority, as her principal teachers came from a lineage directly connected with Chopin himself (Rudolph Serkin, Mieczyslaw Horszowski and George Bolet). Her CD recording “The Chopin Collection” is a must for lovers of romantic piano music.

Reichman was somewhat of a child prodigy, and after studying at the famous Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia (where she was the youngest-ever graduate), she pursued a major career in the USA and the UK. Since returning to her native Australia over 10 years ago, she has focused her efforts on mentoring and teaching younger talents Down Under. She’s been the Head of Piano at the Australian National Academy of Music for some years, the founder of the Australian Young Musicians Academy and a guest lecturer at Monash University – an Australian school with a strong musical tradition.

When friends ask me what they should not miss at our 10^th anniversary festival, I encourage them to put a circle around August 10 in their diaries so they can enjoy one of the best interpreters of Chopin on the planet!

P.S. If you want to hear Rita Reichman’s personal insights into Chopin’s music, be sure to attend her free “Inside the Music” talk/demonstration the day before her concert. That’s Monday afternoon, August 9 at 2pm at Christ Church.