SoundBites

From my seat… why I enjoyed the New York Polyphony

Last month, one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles landed on our stage in the Leacock Theatre. The New York Polyphony shared a program of sacred and secular music, most of it either written in the 15th century.

Dr. Kenneth DeLong, noted musicologist and reviewer for the Calgary Herald, was in attendance and shared his thoughts on the performance. Dr. DeLong has a strong affinity for polyphonic music, and he notes that it’s a special and small group who will be drawn to and properly appreciate this “special niche.”

Stephania Romaniuk, BMus, Vocal Performance, Eastman School of Music, and administrative assistant to the Director here at the Conservatory, was in the audience as well. I asked what she thought. Continue reading

A month of Concerts

It’s a month of concerts…

It’s a month of concerts, beginning with the New Music concert performed last Sunday night, featuring the Calgary Youth Orchestra, the Conservatory Strings and Elasticus, John Abram’s new music group. The concert was very well attended, including composer John Burge, who came to Calgary to work with the CYO who performed his piece, Four Violins Concerto.

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Summer at the Conservatory…

Summer at the Conservatory…

Each summer the Conservatory is a hub of activity, with classes, workshops and programs filling our studios and rehearsal spaces, as well as our theatres. This year’s line-up of summer classes is growing and we’re very excited to present it to you.

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Andres Diaz returns – Dec 7 – 10, 2012

He’s one of our favourite visiting cello faculty – and he’s back for 4 packed days of private lessons and masterclasses with our Academy students.

The last time he was here for the Academy, he was our Wyatt Artist in Residence, and brought the house down with his performance of Tan Dun’s Elegy: Snow in June, along with local percussionists Brent Van Dusen, Rob Maciak, Eric Bumstead and Bob Senske.

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The art of fugue

SP DirstMatthew Dirst, Bach Art of Fugue, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012
Calgary Organ Festival
Eckardt-Gramatté Hall

One of the highlights of this year’s Calgary Organ Festival was the programming of Bach’s final masterpiece, The Art of Fugue.

American organist Matthew Dirst gave a wonderful display of the Ronald B. Bond Bach Organ (Ahrend Orgelbau) as part of the series of recitals held throughout the city as is customary for this annual festival. This was an event not to be missed, as Bach’s last work, including the final fugue left incomplete at his death, was also performed here in its posthumously completed form.

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Conservatory student Phoebe Powell to perform at ProArts

ProArts presents

Joined by Edward Powell (violin) and Karen Neary (piano), Phoebe Powell showcases the harp’s capacity to depict musical character, structure, and emotion with melodious eloquence and incisive contrapuntal clarity.
Along with her guests, Phoebe invites you to meet the five composers represented in this Neo-classically inspired programme:

-the delicately-ornamented conversation of C.Ph. E. Bach‘s Sonata in G for solo harp,
-the refined lyric passion of Massenet‘s Meditation from Thais for violin and harp,
-the witty, melancholic joie-de-vivre of Tailleferre‘s Sonate for solo harp,
-the bold percussiveness of John Weinzweig‘s Quarks for solo harp,
-and the alternately lush and puckish moods of Debussy‘s seductive Danses sacrées et profanes for harp and piano!

This concert is the final performance in a series of six performances this season by Emerging Young Artists presented with the generous support of the Harry and Martha Cohen Foundation.