A Bunch Of Reviews
By John Swartz
A combination of unplanned events disrupted time management for writing reviews of some things, so this is a catch up column.
Orillia Concert Association
They opened their 2024/25 season with the Stratton Soloists playing at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The ensemble of nine players did a program split in two. The first half was arrangements of pop tunes and the second half was entirely Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings.
They opened with a medley of bits and pieces from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That was the 7th installment of the series, but it contained many of the themes from the original movie. About half the music of the first half were three tunes by Taylor Swift.
One of the things many don’t realize about classical music is a good deal of it, even though written a long time ago, was based on popular music of the day. Can you imagine the copyright lawsuits? Heck, Antonín Dvořák would be penniless. So the idea of hearing a classical ensemble tackle current music isn’t as foreign as it sounds.
Of course the arrangements matter. The group played the Swift tunes from arrangements they bought, and the rest were written by the group’s first violinist Sharon Lee.
The Octet is a fast paced piece of music. The last movement, a presto, starts with a motif in the bass, which is passed to the cellos, then violas, and violins and sets the stage for what must be a physically challenging ending to the thing.
Of course they got a standing ovation. The next OCA event is January 25 at the Opera House with the Elmer Iseler Singers. Next are Michael Bridge (accordion) and Kornel Wolak (clarinet) who are actually a comedy team; they will be at St. Andrew’s March 23. Last is Lance Anderson with John Johnson (saxophone) and Russ Boswell (bass) at the Opera House May 4 to play Basie and Ellington.
Season tickets are $90 and even with one concert down that’s still a great deal. You can get them by emailing orilliaconcert@gmail.com or calling 705-325-3532. Or you o can get tickets to individual shows at the Opera House box office.
OMAH Opening
The Orillia Museum of Art and History opened three shows at the end of October. First up was an exhibit called Teachers and Their Enduring Impact, The Legacy of Jose Salas, which included works by Salas and work by and his students (which include Meg Leslie, Bewoban Shilling, Tanya Cunnington, and several others.
Salas was the art teacher at Park Street Collegiate for many years and it’s interesting how different his old European styled portraits are in style from the work of his students. Of course, the student’s work (they are no longer students per se) is different from each other too, but those differences I would characterize as by degree, while Salas’s stuff is radically different.
Downstairs in the main room the annual Carmichael Landscape Show opened. This year’s show may be the best, in that the ratio between realism and impressionism is on favour of the former.
The Juror’s Prize ($1500) was awarded to Andrew Wang for his piece, Metropolis. The Kevin J. Batchelor Emerging Artist Award ($1000) was given to Steph Schofield for her piece, Shivering Segwun. The new Norma Duggan Award went to Julie Desmarais for, Vieux Saule au Soleil Couchant.
The third exhibit opened was Gillian Lowry’s Owl Pen Revisited, which is a series of prints based illustrations in on the book, The Owl Pen,by Kenneth Wells.
Also happening is the annual winter gala at Hawk Ridge Golf Club. This event often sells out and this year the keynote speaker is adventurer Adam Shoalts. It’s January 18 and you can get tickets online. The musical entertainment is by The Jazz Byrds.
Orillia Silver Band
The Orillia Silver Band had their fall concert November 2 at St. Paul’s Centre. Their guest for the evening was Alex Teske, who sang a number of tunes.
They opened with Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri. This opera overture is not an easy piece to start a concert with. The OSB tends to come out of the gate blazing, rather than setting up the players with something easier to get the focus going.
On the other hand, it sure gets the audience’s attention when you smack them around with some fast, complex and dynamic music.
They didn’t waste time bringing Alex out. Usually the host band will do two or three pieces before introducing guest performers. She sang Sondheim’s No One Is Alone from the Tony Award winning musical Into The Woods. Alex has a thin timbre to her voice, almost no overtone. This allows her to pierce through any musical accompaniment.
The OSB played a couple more tunes, one of which was the march, Winsford, which they really excel at playing. Come to think of it, most brass bands do marches well, but this group seems to think they can do a march on cruise control at 100, which they can.
Alex was back before halftime to sing another Sondheim piece, Being Alive, from the musical Company.
This concert came right in the middle of Lightfoot Days, so my plan was to stay until they did the first piece of the second half. If you know Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral, you’d say I made a good choice to wait though the intermission. Wagner wrote a lot of memorable music, but this one is magical to hear done properly. It just carries you along, growing in intensity and beauty until the lower voices land near the end. Then you want to jump out of your seat and shout, yeah baby. I’ve heard it live many times and the OSB didn’t disappoint. Not at all.
Their next gig is December 15 at the Opera House for their annual Christmas concert. It’s always a 2 p.m. afternoon gig and you can get tickets online.
One That Got Away
I missed The Orillia Concert Band and the Orillia Big Band’s benefit concert for The Sharing Place Food Bank at St. Paul’s Centre October 19 because of the Jazz Festival. If you did too, you can watch and listen to it here. The concert raised $6,440.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Opening day for OMAH’s annual Carmichael Landscape Show
