Have you been longing for more classical music in town? If so, the Whistler Chamber Music Society (WCMS) has you covered.
The next WCMS offering is titled "Flute and Friends," and it stars a quintet from West Coast Chamber Music that will make its way up from Vancouver. On the program are three trios: two featuring a combination of flute, cello and piano by Josef Hadyn and Louise Farrenc, and a Ludwig van Beethoven arrangement that swaps out the flute for a violin.
Bringing the music to life are pianists Alan Crane and Holly Duff, flutist Brenda Fedoruk, veteran violinist Angela Cavadas and Clara Shandler on cello. None have performed in Whistler before.
"It's wonderful going out to other communities and bringing our music to them," says Duff. "We've taken our concerts to different smaller communities throughout the region over the many years that we've been doing this. I always really liked [going on the road] because we get a chance to meet and interact with new people.
"Vancouver is a very big city, and there is a lot of competition for that entertainment dollar. Just in the classical music genre alone, there's a whole lot of things happening in the city on any given weekend, whereas in a small place it's a little more special. It feels wonderful to bring something to a community that maybe wouldn't otherwise have an opportunity to see [your act] without driving a long way."
Crane and Duff are spouses who both earned their bachelor's degrees at Western University (formerly known as the University of Western Ontario). After discovering their mutual interests, they decided to build a platform for themselves and other musicians to gather and grow an audience. Thus in 1993, they founded West Coast Chamber Music.
'Elegant and charming'
Sea to Sky fans will be in for a treat when "Flute and Friends" gets into town.
Most everyone's heard of Beethoven, but don't overlook the other two in the showcase. Crane notes that Hadyn was essentially the father of the modern piano trio and one of the first composers to write music in a way that featured equally-prominent parts for keyboards and string instruments.
Farrenc, meanwhile, is one of several highly talented but underrepresented female composers within the classical world. She was an accomplished French virtuoso pianist who lived during the 19th century's Romantic period.
"Haydn was such a good-humored composer. Everything he writes is elegant and charming, and you go away with a smile on your face," remarks Duff. "[As for Farrenc], one of our mandates is to have works by women composers in our season and promote their material, some of which has been lost and shuffled away in history. Louise Farrenc is wonderful, and I think audiences will really like her beautiful work."
The addition of a flute gives classical music a different timbre (or perceived sound quality) compared to string-and-piano trios. Flute notes carry very well acoustically and sound distinct compared to the lower octaves where cellos and pianos reside. On the other hand, violins and cellos blend harmoniously to offer a more homogenous listening experience.
An experienced lineup
Crane and Duff have handpicked a gifted roster for their maiden partnership with the WCMS.
Fedoruk is Principal Flute for the Vancouver Opera and has toured with both the National Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She's been involved in numerous musical theatre productions such as Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast and Wicked in addition to her work recording for TV and radio. Duff describes her as "one of the nicest people in the world."
Shandler is a concert manager for West Coast Chamber Music. For the past two years, the University of British Columbia (UBC) alum has overseen the group's Vancouver-based shows in addition to her own varied performing, teaching and music-writing exploits.
The group's elder stateswoman is Cavadas. She won First Prize in the CBC Young Artists Competition at 19 years of age before participating in many nationally-broadcast concerts over the years: including opera, ballet, musical theatre, film recording, and folk dance troupes. Today she's Associate Concertmaster for the Vancouver Opera Orchestra (VOO) after serving as its Acting Concertmaster for the 2017-18 campaign.
"Angela is one of the busiest violinists in Vancouver and has been for a long time," says Crane. "She does everything. [My wife and I] taught at the same music school as she did way back when, so she seemed like an obvious person to [recruit] 30 years ago. We've just kept on having her."
"Flute and Friends" will take place Oct. 27 at the Maury Young Arts Centre, with doors opening at 4:30 p.m. Buy tickets at whistlerchambermusic.ca/concert/west-coast-chamber-music/.
