PrettyInScarlett

A winter break in Ottawa visiting friends and old haunts included tickets to see Hey Rosetta! with Stars at the NAC . We were really excited to see Hey Rosetta! especially after a music buying spree at Compact Music (fortunate exchange rates). Southam Hall was completely full - combination of 2 different bands' worth of music fans - and whilst Hey Rosetta received slightly muted appreciation initially, this soon changed to lots of whooping. The set list (with help from Ottawa Citizen's review ) included: Soft Offering..., Gold Teeth, What Arrows, Young Glass, Neon Beyond, Harriet, Kintsukuroi, Welcome as well as older songs Yer Spring, Red Heart. Excellent performance, though with a bit less banter than I might have expected - and it was good to hear new songs as well as familiar songs (since our holiday apartment didn't have a turntable we went to the show without having heard new album Second Sight ).   Having never heard much of Stars before, we listened to a ...

Heading towards February and the variety of event choices has increased somewhat; M and I tried out the NAC English Theatre's production of Ovid's Metamorphoses and the inaugural Nature Nocturne at the Canadian Museum of Nature . I heard about Nature Nocturne via Apartment 613 and the concept immediately caught my eye. An adults-only cultural/nightlife event in an amazing building? Tickets bought. The attendees were a very diverse crowd, including a lot of smartly attired people giving the event something of a cocktail soirée vibe (perhaps this says something about the range of events, or lack of them, in Ottawa...). The refurbished tower held a very packed dancefloor and I especially recommend the current exhibition Fury: Portraits of turbulent skies by artist Stephen Hutching. We wandered around the Vale Earth Gallery having fun with the sedimentator, magmanator and metamorphicator machines (fantastic fun!) and trying out artist Greta Grip's kitted QR codes...

Courtesy of a Groupon offer last week, I went to see the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra (OSO) on 26th November in their performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony . This was my first OSO performance (as well as my first Mahler 9th performance) and I was suitably impressed both by the quality of the performance and by the turnout. In a related event, the Austrian Embassy had set up a small display about artist Gustav Klimt in the NAC foyer, introduced by incoming ambassador Arno Riedel. There were around 10 themed boards with information in English and German about various aspects of Klimt's life and career. Small but nonetheless a nice complimentary touch to the evening. In addition to the Klimt display, a very informative pre-concert chat by David Gardner provided an excellent introduction. I didn't really notice the length of the Symphony as the music was so intense and descriptive. Even just the first movement was like the telling of a story and it was clear how many sub...

The onset of winter's bitter evenings heralded The PepTides ' last show of 2012 at Irene's Pub on Saturday, 26th November. Interestingly, M and I arrived about 9pm to be told that the pub was at maximum capacity; by 9.45 or so there were about 10 people in this line. 4 or 5 of us were let in about this time, and to my eyes, the pub was about 60% full. To me, a full pub is one reminiscent of London's Circle line at rush hour; on Saturday there was definitely standing room for another 50 people. I imagine that capacity regulations are somehow linked to the alcohol licence but for the lineup still waiting outside at 10.30pm, well, organisation could have been better.   We heard some of The Pelts' support set from the bar -  seemed to be listenable, danceable fun music but not so memorable. Not so the main set. From their introductions, this was the last live show in the current format - with an EP based on Stuart McLean's The Vinyl Cafe just out and a new ...

Further to my post on 14th November about the ECM+ Generation 2012 concert in Ottawa, I received an email with competition results. Each attendee at the Generation 2012 series of concerts had a voting card to vote for their favourite piece, with the winner earning a $1500 prize and commission.  This year's winner is Riho Esko Maimets with his piece Beatitude . Further details from the press release below:

I bought tickets for last night's ECM+ Generation 2012 concert, featuring Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, at the NAC 4th Stage in an 'it'll be interesting' frame of mind, and interesting was just the start. A very full 4th Stage for a very entertaining and intruging evening. In order of performance, the four new works were: Animaris Currens Ventosa by Marielle Groven ; Ninavanjali by Gabriel Dharmoo ; Beatitude by Riho Esko Maimets ; and Jenny's last rock by Annesley Black . Each performance was preceded by a Q&A with host Nicholas Gilbert, who injected the whole evening with humour. In terms of immediate response, I most enjoyed Beatitude , a concise, intimate and very beautiful concerto for violin and ensemble. Following on from Maimets' explanation, his references to choral music and music of all different time periods were clear. This piece would easily sit alongside more 'traditional' chamber repertoire in a programme.  Maimets...

Following on from a successful 2012 festival, Music and Beyond held a Celebration Concert on Saturday, 29th September. The selection of works included repeats of festival favourites as well as a few new choices. One person commented to me that the sheer variety meant that the flow of the concert was a little disjointed (the stage had to be set for each individual performance), but the quality was superb. NAC Culture Days - contemporary dance Again I really enjoyed Howard Cable's The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff along with the evening's offerings from the 'Jewish Composers Through The Ages' concert: Popper's Hungarian Rhapsody and Glick's 'The Rabbi's Wedding at the Palmerston Street Shul' from The Old Toronto Klezmer Suite . Both of these fun party tunes received great applause, even more than Seventeen Voyces ' rendition of Java Jive . Yannick-Muriel Noah dazzled with 'Es gibt ein Reich' from Ariadne auf Naxos , whilst Julie Nes...

Lang Lang with Anita Pari Like many National Arts Centre regulars, the idea of a Lang Lang concert sounded fantastic... except that for me the Gala tickets are rather too expensive. As a result the turnout for today's masterclass with young artists Anita Pari (Ottawa), Alexander Malikov (Calgary), and Tina Chong (Banff) in Southam Hall was pretty good. No surprises that there were photographers and a TV camera all over the stage... so much so that during Lang's analysis of Malikov's rendition of  Transcendental Étude No 8 'Wild Hunt' (Liszt), someone shouted at the cameraman to move. To my mind they seemed a little intrusive on the performances, but none of the artists seemed to take any notice. Lang Lang with Tina Chong Up first and for me the best performance was Anita Pari with the captivating Ballade No 1 by Chopin. In comparison, Malikov's performance did not have anywhere near as much projection. Final performer Tina Chong seemed ...

As an addendum to my review of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - In Concert, local Ottawa blog Apartment 613 has a great review available here .

An evening off from Music and Beyond on Friday saw M and I at the NAC for the summer spectacular that is The Fellowship of The Ring - Live In Concert . A completely packed Southam Hall with a fair few concertgoers in some sort of fancy dress (I spotted at least one pair of Elf ears) taking advantage of the 'pub' set in the foyer. The performance was wonderful: in terms of the music, the percussion, brass and choral aspects were the most effective live. I'm sure we heard little bits here and there that I've never before noticed in the soundtrack. I had to keep reminding myself to look and listen to the NAC Orchestra - as usual, the film engrossed me. It was also interesting to see the theatrical version again, although being so used to the extended editions, the theatrical version did feel rather truncated. Very enjoyable and I hope the second and third films are also performed 'In Concert'.  

Starting this Wednesday I am blogging for Music and Beyond during their 2012 season. With 80 events there are lots of exciting concerts to come! I am particularly excited about the four-part series The Rivered Earth and An Equal Music , all featuring Vikram Seth. Furthermore, Rachel Barton Pine is back! This year's 'Heavy Metal Violin' concert features here full band, Earthen Grave . I listened to their 2012 album (self-titled) on Spotify the other day and it's pretty good! Posts during the festival are on the Music and Beyond blog . Also coming up this week is The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring live at the National Arts Centre . Something to keep film fans happy until The Hobbit, Part 1 comes out in December, the concert features the film on a 60ft screen with over 200 musicians providing the score. Fantastic!   

As a follow-on from last weekend's excellent Chopin concert, there is an afternoon of New Artists from the NAC's Summer Music Institute at Southminster United Church on 17th June. Entitled 'Dover Beach and other works for summertime', the concert features new artists Katarzyna Sadej , Emily Nenninger , Drew Santini, Hannah Min, Paul Casey , Karen Kang and Bryan Wagorn. I had the chance to hear Bryan Wagorn at one of University of Ottawa's Concerts at the NAC 4th Stage concerts back in February and thoroughly enjoyed his performance. The proposed programme is very enticing: MENDELSSOHN   String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 MONIUSZKO          Sen  (The Dream)                                       Prząśniczka (Spinner Girl) SZYMANOWSKI ...

I just received information from a friend about Angela Hewitt Week in Ottawa, 14th-20th May as declared by Mayor Jim Watson. Ms Hewitt is performing with Chamber Players of Canada on Friday 18th May; there will also be An Afternoon With Angela Hewitt on 20th May at the National Arts Centre hosted by the Canadian Friends of the Trasimeno Music Festival .

Classical JUNOs performers Something of a musical melange weekend but an excellent set of events! Eschewing some of the bands and artists we knew, we chose less familiar sounds for our JUNOfest experience. First up was the Classical JUNOs in Concert event at the National Arts Centre , featuring both nominated performers and composers. The mix of contemporary music was brilliantly played by Christina Petrowska Quilico , Susan Hoeppner , Heather Schmidt and the New Orford String Quartet . Quilico amazed the almost 100-strong audience with her performance of Derek Charke's Sepia Fragments   in a reduction for piano; I found this piece a really captivating mix of earthly and ethereal elements. Quilico's second performance was of Ann Southam's Glass Houses No. 5 , an hypnotic piece which sounded both fiendishly difficult to play but also very clean and unembellished. Susan Hoeppner's excellent performance of Eldin Burton's Sonatina for Flute and Piano got the po...

There's a fair degree of excitement in the Ottawa media about the 2012 Juno Awards , running this year from 26th March-1st April, culminating in the awards show at Scotiabank Place. As well as the official site, the Ottawa Citizen has a special webpage with all sorts of information. JUNOfest, running 30th-31st March, celebrates the breadth and depth of Canadian artists will a huge variety of small shows in venues across Ottawa. The full list of artists is available here , with regular updates via Twitter . Co-presenters Specrasonic have a more detailed 'who's playing where' list on their site ; many events also have specific Facebook pages. For classical music fans, the National Arts Centre is hosting an afternoon event on 30th March entitled ' Classical JUNOs in concert ': Christina Petrowska Quilico and New Orford String Quartet, amongst others, will perform in a 1 hour concert in the NAC foyer, free and unticketed. The other JUNOfest events are door-ticket...

After having read Steven Mazey 's column, a free Monday lunchtime on 27th February and I headed to the NAC Fourth Stage to see University of Ottawa music alumnus Bryan Wagorn . Mr Wagorn, who is currently New York-based (at the Metropolitan Opera), gave a recital as part of the 'UOttawa on the NAC Fourth Stage' series. On a sunny day it was slightly strange sitting in a very dark space, but for the 25 or so attendees that soon ceased to matter. Wagorn's programme consisted of: J. S Bach's Partita No. 1 in B flat Major, BWV 825 ; Ravel's Valses nobles et sentimentales ; and the suite Mana by 20th century French composer André Jolivet. After the measured-ness of the Bach Partita , the first of Ravel's Valses came as a sharp wake-up! Of the three suites performed the varied and fun Valses were to me most appealing. Jolivet's Mana , as introduced by Wagorn, is a suite of six pieces written for six copper wire dolls. These were all rather different fr...

Two concerts in short succession to help see off the winter blues, both very satisfying. First up was Jean-Philippe Collard's solo performance on 7th February as a replacement for an injured Louis Lortie. A sizeable amount of Liszt remained on the programme in the form of the B minor Sonata , however the first half of the performance was dedicated to Debussy ( Six Preludes from Book 1 ) and Chopin. I was acquainted with 2 of the 6 Debussy pieces, La Sérénade interrompue and La Cathédrale engloutie , but less so with the other 4. Collard, to my eyes, played with a very measured seated position - the emotive textures of the Debussy Preludes weren't reflected in his gestures - although I still found the 6 Preludes very interesting. The first Chopin piece, Scherzo No. 3 in C sharp minor, Op 39 , came as something of a wake-up call after La Cathédrale engloutie ! The three Chopin pieces clearly engaged the audience, who eagerly applauded after the Scherzo. There was no such gap b...

The combined efforts of Ottawa Xpress and the National Arts Centre Facebook feed took us out on a wintry Tuesday night to the 'pay what you can' showing of 2 Pianos 4 Hands , currently at the NAC English Theatre and being performed by creators Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt. In spite of the show's 15-year history, this has somehow managed to stay off my radar until now. No matter - it's brilliant. 2 Pianos 4 Hands is the story of a dream, maybe elusive, maybe achievable, told through the experiences of two boys growing up with the piano. A good crowd had turned up for the evening, and were hooked straight away with Dykstra and Greenblatt's silent humour opener and the incredibly funny series of impersonations, all illustrated with a wide range of classical and pop repertoire, from Liszt's Mephisto Waltz and Great Balls of Fire to J. S. Bach's Schafe können sicher weiden (Sheep may safely graze). Experience in music not required - the story is u...

Two very contrasting concerts to continue December's music madness. First, another U Ottawa School of Music concert, 'Piano Duets and Duos' on 7th December. 17 performers under the direction of Frédéric Lacroix presented a variety of well-known and lesser known pieces arranged for four, six, eight and twelve hands on 1 or 2 pianos. Whilst Rheinberger's transcriptions of J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations were the headline pieces, I preferred some of the other pieces, such as Rachmaninoff's Romance and the comedy of Lacroix's arrangement Für Malcolm in homage to Beethoven's Für Elise . A fun festive treat for the  appreciative crowd in Tabaret Hall.  Having missed their last few shows (including the 360 show at the Elmdale that won Best Live Show 2011 in Ottawa Xpress ), it was interesting to see The PepTides again and in a different venue. Whilst atmospheric, the stage area at Mercury Lounge seemed a bit cramped. In the support slot, the excellent D...

After Karkwa's excellent show on Thursday, we were eagerly awaiting the triple bill of Austra , Young Galaxy and Tasseomancy on Saturday 3rd... not to mention Feist! We first saw Tasseomancy in April supporting Timber Timbre ; I was impressed by them then. This time, the songs were still excellent (I've since listened to their new album Ulalume , which is superb) but their dreaminess seemed a tiny bit lost in Ritual.  They had a reasonable reception but I'm not sure how many concertgoers were familiar with their stuff. Young Galaxy In my mind Young Galaxy were equally as big a draw as Austra. Definitely an eagerly awaited set after muptiple spins of Shapeshifting ! Like Tasseomancy, Young Galaxy were limited to 30 minutes of performance; starting with 'Blowminded' and 'Long Live The Fallen World' certainly charged up the crowd! The rest of the set included songs like 'Peripheral Visionaries', 'We Have Everything' and 'Cover Y...