Strings eternal

Everyone talks about Winnipeg as a choral city, with its strong Mennonite, Ukrainian, Filipino, Indigenous and other traditions of vocal music.

We sometimes take for granted that we’re also a contender for one of the country’s capital cello cities.

Zara Nelsova, arguably the greatest female cellist in the world of her day, was born in Winnipeg in 1918 and cut her musical teeth here before bouncing around to more cosmopolitan centres to nurture and show off her prodigious talents.

But even today the city, with Brandon, boasts a roster of very fine cellists, including names such as Yuri Hooker, Minna Rose Chung, Leanne Zacharias, Samuel Nadurak, Paul Marleyn and Elie Boissinot.

That musical culture finds expression at the International Cello Festival of Canada, which has its finale tonight at the Centennial Concert Hall.

“Winnipeg is really a place that never ceases to surprise me, every time since I came here more than 10 years ago now,” says Daniel Raiskin, conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, which co-hosts the finale with festival organizers Agassiz Music.

“And it really became a mecca for a lot of international cellists, but also cellists of younger generations that come here to rub shoulders with the people of great fame and knowledge.”

The WSO’s website reads: “What’s better than one cello? More cellos.”

In that spirit, tonight’s concert features three international cello soloists, eight or so in the orchestra’s cello section and 60 for its opening cello “mass.”

Known for its mellow sound and lower register, the cello can easily be swallowed by the orchestra, demanding especially smart writing and playing if the instrument is in the starring role.

This concert strives to offer both in generous helpings. After Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Preludio from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 — the cello mass in question — Denise Djokic takes the spotlight.

The Canadian cellist — The Strad praises her “arrestingly beautiful tone colour,” Gramophone, “her plush and beautifully moulded” sound — plays Richard Strauss’ Romanze, from early in the late romantic’s career.

“I’ve never worked with Denise, but very much looking forward. This is also a beautiful piece by Strauss … very special and lots of very, very colourful moments altogether,” Raiskin says.

Next up is Cello Concerto by Erich Korngold, a titanic figure in Hollywood film scores whose influence lives on in many of our favourite films today.

A Jewish Austrian who fled Nazism for America, Korngold is credited with introducing dense late- and post-romantic sounds to popcorn-eating, pop-loving Americans, peppering his work for swashbucklers and other films with influences such as Zemlinsky, Wagner, Strauss and Mahler.

“(The Cello Concerto) is derived from material that he so beautifully composed for (Bette Davis film noir) Deception, which was very popular in the late ’40s,” says Raiskin.

“This marks the return of (soloist) Bryan Cheng, who has been already few times with WSO and is very welcome here.”

Then we’re back to Strauss, with his later tone poem Don Quixote. Here, cellist Alban Gerhardt (whom The Guardian calls, “one of the finest cellists around”) takes on the leading role.

“We close the festival with one the most iconic representation of cellos repertoire: great, fantastic variations by Richard Strauss. It’s (Gerhardt’s) second time with Winnipeg Symphony. The first time was around 20 years ago, so it’s a welcome return for him too,” Raiskin says.

The cello fest’s finale is also a chance to reflect on the legacy of late Rita Menzies, to whom this concert is dedicated.

Best known as the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s first executive director, Menzies — who died in June at 83 — is credited by WSO concertmaster Karl Stobbe with “saving” the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra when she took over as interim executive director a little over 20 years ago.

Around that time, Menzies also helped to manage Agassiz for a period, and served as its board president until her death, playing a crucial role in shepherding this city’s classical (and cello) scenes.

“How fitting that Rita worked in the frontline of Winnipeg’s arts community until a few weeks before her passing — she was always keen to contribute and to help others,” said Agassiz artistic director Paul Marleyn in June.

“She developed (Agassiz) and she worked every day. Rita had extraordinary values, values about which she never preached.”

conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca