Brannon Cho, cello, in recital with Chiharu Iinuma, piano, West Vancouver United Church Saturday, Sept. 22. Doors open at 7 p.m., concert 7:30 p.m. For more information visit vancouverchambermusic.com.
Traditional performance will occur alongside a contemporary approach and international artistry will meet local talent during the Vancouver Chamber Music Society’s upcoming season, according to artistic director Kevin Park.
“I wanted to display the full variety in this season,” says Park, who is gearing up for the society’s 2018/2019 slate of shows which will feature a five-concert evening series, commencing this weekend, and a five-concert matinee series of performances kicking off next month.
The North Shore is home to the Vancouver Chamber Music Society, adds Park, with intimate evening series shows taking place at West Vancouver United Church and matinee series shows being held at Highlands United Church in North Vancouver.
“It all started from my passion and love for chamber music,” he explains, when asked what prompted him to found the VCMS back in 2012. “Chamber music puts together some talented and dedicated musicians in a small ensemble. It all comes to fruition when each individual musician comes into the rehearsal with their own ideas and they blend it altogether to make it into one performance.”
Park, who went to school in North Vancouver, describes chamber music as: “A small concert in a small room for a small audience for an intimate experience.”
With North Shore traffic what it is nowadays, he adds, it’s a good thing be able to offer North and West Vancouver residents far-reaching musical talent at a short travel distance. “I believe there needs to be more exposure for local professionals,” he says.
And while this season will feature a lion’s share of local talent, Park is excited to present an international sensation in cellist Brannon Cho, who will be performing in recital alongside pianist Chiharu Iinuma tomorrow evening (Sept. 22) at West Vancouver United Church, to kick off the season.
“Brannon is definitely a sensation in the classical world and I wanted to start with a rising star,” says Park. “I was watching his progress. Every year he was winning all the major competitions here and there. I was hoping to invite him to play chamber music together, or even just to introduce him at a solo recital at some point.”
Born in 1994, Cho has recently won top performance prizes at the Queen Elisabeth, Naumburg, Cassadó and Johansen International Cello competitions, notes Park, in addition to performing as a soloist with many of the world’s top orchestras.
Cho’s program with VCMS will feature five pieces, including Edward Elgar’s “Cello Concerto in E minor, Op.85,” to close out the performance, a move that’s particularly unusual in a chamber music context, says Park.
“Usually concerto is written to be performed with an orchestra behind the soloist. It’s composed and written for a large audience,” he says. “Concerto is very exhausting for the soloist as well because you don’t get to rest at all. It’s a technical, let’s say, show throughout the entire 30-40 minutes. To do this over one hour, almost a two-hour program, it’s quite crazy. … But Brannon is willing to do that.”
Park is also particularly excited for Charles Yang and Peter Dugan, who are performing a violin and piano duet in November.
Yang, described by the Boston Globe as one who “plays classical violin with the charisma of a rock star,” is a Juilliard graduate who merges classical and modern music with fiery, impassioned performance.
“When he’s in the concert he’ll bring out the normal traditional violin and the bow,” says Park. “He will eventually take the entire audience through his own world of improvisation and singing. … You can’t not know him if you went to Juilliard!”
The Vancouver Cello Quartet, who Park plays with, will also be performing a pair of shows this season, a matinee show in October and an evening performance slated for March.
“This quartet was the audience favourite from our last season. The programming is also very inviting for the general public, it’s not an all-the-way classical repertoire. We’d rather perform starting from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, we go into tangos, and some of the Beatles’ arrangements. And then this year we’re also presenting some Latin arrangements,” says Park.
As he preps for the upcoming season he shows a determination to expose people to chamber music’s stunning traditional past as well as showcase its modern potential, insisting music played on classical instruments doesn’t have to be relegated solely to Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms.
“We are still within the tradition of chamber music concerts but providing new arrangements, or music of our time, performed on historic instruments, like cellos or violin,” says Park. “People open up their mind and they have a new attitude about chamber music. They find it interesting and they eventually want to explore more about historical composers.”
The schedule for the Vancouver Chamber Music Society’s 2018/2019 season is:
Evening series
- Brannon Cho and
Chiharu Iinuma (Sept. 22)
- Charles Yang and
Peter Dugan (Nov. 25)
- Stefan Jackiw and
Conrad Tao (Jan. 12)
- Vancouver Cello Quartet (March 29)
- Colin Carr (May 19)
Matinee series
- Vancouver Cello Quartet (Oct. 17)
- Clarinet Trio, featuring Christopher Lee, Lixia Li and Lee Duckles (Dec. 5)
- Piano Trio, featuring Sergei Saratovsky, Boson Mo and Kevin Park (Feb. 20)
- Piano Quartet, featuring Carter Johnson, Jae-Won Bang, Tegen Davidge and Luke Kim (April 17)
- Fedorova & Takser Piano Duo (May 1).
Visit vancouverchambermusic.com for showtimes and more information.
