Violin - my/maSCENA

James Ehnes with his accompanist Andrew Armstrong, Photo: Ben Ealovega

James Ehnes @40

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 September 2016 Chamber Music, Interviews, Violin

Age may be but a number, but its influence is broad. For celebrated Canadian violinist James Ehnes, turning 40 earlier this year has led to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour his homeland in a series celebrating family, community, and (of course) great music. Though he is no doubt still fielding quips about being over the hill, Ehnes’s bustling performance schedule certainly erases any doubts about him slowing down any time soon. Ehnes, a Brandon, Manitoba native, began playing the violin at the age of 4 and studied with renowned violinist and pedagogue Francis Chaplin at 9. From 1993 to 1997…

Review – Alfred Schnittke: Works for Violin and Piano (Quartz)

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 September 2016 CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Contemporary, Violin

Alfred Schnittke is a name we often shy away from on this side of the Atlantic. His style of unabashed dissonance is not solely reliant on serialism, but rather an understanding of the latent dramatic potential of atonality, an understanding that is made possible by his awareness and appreciation of the music that preceded him. Instead of breaking with the past, Schnittke aimed to show the connections between past and present in his so-called “polystylism”; this is no more evident than in his chamber output for the violin. The two-CD set opens with the late Third Sonata (1994), darkly opulent…

Lara St. John, Photo: Martin Kennedy

La Rentrée Musicale: Orchestral & Solo

By Caroline Rodgers on 1 September 2016 La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral, Piano, Strings, Violin

Lupo plays the LMMC Much loved in Quebec, Italian pianist Bedenetto Lupo will once more grace the Ladies’ Morning Musical Club for its first concert of the season. Upcoming artists include the Pacifica Quartet (October 2), Quatuor Hermès (October 23), cellist Pieter Wispelwey (November 13), and soprano Karina Gauvin (December 4). Lupo will play works by Chopin, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. September 11, Pollack Hall 3:30PM. www.lmmc.ca Souvenir de Florence Six MSO musicians – Richard Roberts, Jean-Sébastien Roy, Victor Fournelle-Blain, Sofia Gentile, Gary Russell and Sylvain Murray – will come together for this recital of chamber music devoted to Tchaikovsky. String…

Photo: Andy Bullock

Music and Sports: Finding the Right Balance for a Happy Child

By Jeanne Hourez on 1 September 2016 Education, Interviews, Violin

Anne-Sophie is nine years old. Behind her natural reserve and sometimes dreamy demeanour lies a determined, enthusiastic child eager to learn new things. Her busy days are divided into school work and her two passions, gymnastics and the violin. Since the age of three she has been doing gymnastics at the Gymnix club at Centre Claude-Robillard, and the sport now takes up 18 hours of her week. In September she will begin a sport studies program to specialize in the discipline. Her mother says, “I was surprised and glad that Anne-Sophie made this decision by herself. A few years ago…

The 39th Festival de Lanaudière – Time to Take Stock!

By Newswire on 9 August 2016 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Newswire, Orchestral, Piano, Violin

Joliette, August 8, 2016 – For its 39th season, le Festival de Lanaudière invited music lovers to discover some of the works that its founder, Father Fernand Lindsay, liked to hear and teach. Between July 9 and August 7, 2016, fourteen concerts were presented at the Amphithéâtre Fernand-Lindsay, eight in churches throughout the region, and two at the Musée d’art de Joliette. In addition, there were four cinema evenings and five morning yoga sessions held outdoors. Nearly 53,000 people attended Festival events – a significant increase over the figure for 2015. The piano takes center stage This year, the…

View on the mountains from the Combins terrace, Photo: Nicolas Brodard

Review: The Verbier Festival (July 26–29, 2016)

By Xenia Hanusiak on 8 August 2016 Chamber Music, Classical, Concert Reviews, Piano, Romantic, Violin

Verbier, Switzerland July 22 – August 7, 2016 For 23 years, Artistic Director Martin T:son Engstroem has curated the Verbier Festival with a dedicated commitment to intergenerational music making, encouraging the precocious energy of youth to collaborate alongside the cultivated gravitas of the some of the most respected musicians on the roster today. The famed Academy hosts young musicians and singers from across the globe assembling for orchestral, chamber music, and opera performances with the A-list. In the case of the 2016 edition the long-list red carpet roll out includes conductors Charles Dutoit and Gabor Takács-Nagy, pianist András Schiff, violinist…

Video of the Day – Lara St. John

By Weiyu Dang on 27 July 2016 Canadian Music, Folk, Video of the day, Violin

At La Scena, we rather enjoy NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts because they’re always well curated and quite often line up with what goes on in the festival circuit. Today’s video of the day features Canadian violinist Lara St. John who will be performing later tonight at the Ottawa Chamberfest. Born in London to two educators, St. John began violin at age two and made her orchestral debut two years later. Something of a precocious talent, it could be said. Now forty-years into her career, St. John is now a powerful virtuoso performer and “owner of Ancalagon record label and the…

Daily News Roundup: 21 July 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 21 July 2016 Canadian Music, Daily News Roundup, Mainstream Jazz, Musical Theatre, Popular Music, Scena Jazz, Violin

Today’s Daily News Roundup is heading to Broadway. Plus Aretha Franklin and Polaris Music Prize news. + Aretha Franklin will headline a New City Winery Festival in Queens in September. + Video of the Day – Eric Dolphy. + The big Franco snub: Polaris Music Prize voters aren’t showing much love for francophone albums. + This Day in Music – 1920: Isaac Stern was born. + Come from Away, the Canadian musical focusing on the 38 planes and their occupants who were redirected to Gander, Nfld., on Sept. 11, 2001, will be performed at a Shubert theatre on Broadway in February.

Isaac Stern

This Day in Music – 1920: Isaac Stern was born

By Weiyu Dang on 21 July 2016 This Day in Music, Violin

Born in what is now Ukraine, violinist Isaac Stern would immigrate to America at the age of one and go on to become one of the greatest instrumentalists of the twentieth century. His dedication to the arts showed through his dedication of Carnegie Hall as its president and his wide repertoire of recordings. Known for his powerful tone and directness of emotion, Stern proved that virtuosity is not the only way to musicality. As a pedagogue and advocate, Stern fought ardently for arts funding and notably discovered Yo-Yo Ma. Isaac Stern – Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor Op. 64

Lebrecht Weekly – Polish Violin Concertos (Naxos)

By Norman Lebrecht on 15 July 2016 Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Violin

There used to be a truth, universally acknowledged across the record industry, that you could put out unfamiliar music with a famous artist or popular music with an unheralded performer but never attempt what Donald Rumsfeld might have called the unknown unknowns. That fundamental truth was well and truly overturned by the rise of Naxos, which built its fortune on a catholic blend of neglected artists and untapped catalogue, often with salutary results. The present release is a case in point. None of these four concertos is much performed, even in Poland where there might be a streak of national…

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