An exceptional ensemble of performances

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/06/2018 (3039 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the blink of an eye, the classical music season winds down for another year with so many fine concerts fading to distant memory. It’s good to take stock of those performances that have particularly resonated.

Here is my top-10 list of personal favourites, with a few reasons why — and this is by no means an exhaustive list (listed in chronological order):

● One of the most poignant moments this year belonged to Victor Feldbrill leading the WSO during its pair of Happy 70th WSO! concerts on Sept. 13 and 14. The 94-year-old maestro, who helmed the WSO between 1958 and 68, and led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra the following weekend — brought a tear to many an eye — mine included.

● Who will ever forget seeing renowned American composer Philip Glass performing four of his own Piano Études during the 2018 Winnipeg New Music Festival? True, he performed the complete set single-handedly back here in February 2006, however his more advanced years — he’s 81, to be exact — infused his playing with the profound gravitas borne of a lifetime of experience on Jan. 29. Kudos, also, to Winnipeg’s Madeline Hildebrand, who easily held her own as one of the four guest pianists sharing the stage, with Glass listening attentively in the wings.

● What’s better than one world-class soprano hailing from Winnipeg, but two appearing together on the same stage? Internationally renowned opera star Tracy Dahl joined forces with her protégé Andriana Chuchman in an intimate program of solos and duets on March 21. The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra concert, led by Anne Manson, also notably marked both beloved singers’ sole Winnipeg performance this season.

● Polycoro Chamber Choir’s awe-inspiring performance of English composer Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, inspired by Spain’s Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail and held at the Winnipeg Art Gallery on March 24, proved the whole is much, much greater than the sum of parts. Winnipeg visual artist Deco Dawson’s swirling, abstract visuals, projected onto the 18 choristers’ simple, white cloaks and headpieces, magically turned them into a living, breathing canvas for his images — with the singers led by John Wiens even morphing into the movement of the road itself during the a cappella work’s climax.

● Winnipeg audiences were treated to the 2015 winner of Calgary’s Honens International Piano Competition, Italian pianist Luca Buratto, performing April 6 and 7 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra led by guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni. Buratto threw sparks with his interpretation of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 — and then without missing a beat performed a completely different, full solo recital for the Women’s Musical Club of Winnipeg the next day.

● In what could only be described as a scoop, Manitoba Opera presented the Canadian debut of rising American superstar soprano Angel Blue during its April 14-20 production of Verdi’s La Traviata, directed by Montreal’s Alain Gauthier. There often is a lot of hype around such occasions, but in this case, Blue — who also marked her Metropolitan Opera première in 2017 and headlines the Canadian Opera Company’s La Bohème next April — in the lead role of Violetta, proved she is a legend in the making.

● If there were “true grit” awards given this year, one would surely go to Winnipeg soprano Andrea Lett, who earned first place, plus a tidy $10,000 cash prize, in the biennial WMC McLellan Competition on April 15. All stage performers need nerves of steel. However, the fact this intrepid singer literally drove all night from Rochester, N.Y., to Ottawa after being grounded by a blizzard — yes, she also competed the night before in the U.S. — before catching a red-eye flight and arriving just in the nick of time to sing like a powerhouse with the full WSO, left me speechless.

● Maestro Bramwell Tovey brought his merry band of players, a.k.a. the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, to the Centennial Concert Hall on May 23 with his eclectic program featuring Brandon-born violin sensation James Ehnes. Hearing the wildly charismatic English conductor/composer, who served as the WSO’s music director between 1989 and 2001, perform Elgar’s Enigma Variations was matched only by his all-guns-blazing encore of Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G minor.

● Speaking of scoops, the Little Opera Company quietly presented Tracy Dahl’s directing debut with its recent production of Peter Brooks’ La Tragédie de Carmen at Théâtre Cercle Molière, June 7-10. Dahl is already highly regarded for her stellar singing and mentoring, including being appointed Order of Canada last year and named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women by the Women’s Executive Network in 2014. This latest development is being watched with keen eyes and ears.

● Hearing a relatively rare live performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written during his imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp in 1940, became a late-season highlight on June 13. Renowned British pianist Martin Roscoe, violinist Olivier Thouin, clarinetist James Campbell and Agassiz Chamber Music Festival artistic director/cellist Paul Marleyn made this harrowing work resonate across the ages. Also, a special shout-out to acclaimed Winnipeg violinist Karl Stobbe for his monumental feat of performing J. S. Bach’s Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin over two separate concerts that same week.

Honourable mention: I’ve always had a soft spot for pure, no-holds-barred patriotism. I’ve also admittedly developed a real taste for hockey this year. Hearing Winnipeg Jets anthem singer Stacey Nattrass belt out O Canada for all she’s worth during the recent Stanley Cup playoffs brought a lump to the throat. But better still, this local treasure even graciously allowed ardent hockey fans to take over and sing a cappella several times in the playoffs, inspiring national pride both in Manitoba and across the country. It even made us all forget about a certain cup for a few minutes (sort of).

That’s all, folks! This column now goes fallow until the fall. Thank you for reading, gentle readers, and get out there and support live music — it matters.

Holly.harris@shaw.ca