Beyond Music and Beyond
Aug. 15th, 2012 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blogcutterI found Chamberfest this year to be much more interesting and innovative than it was last year. And it seems that they do actually listen to feedback given by previous years' festival-goers. For example, there were many more concerts held at the air-conditioned Dominion Chalmers church, and fewer of them at the uncomfortable and difficult-to-get-to St. Brigid's. They introduced a P2 pass, general admission for two adults to all concerts except the Festival Plus ones (of which there were only a few), at a cost of $299 for the full two-week period. And they seemed, in many ways, to be trying to emulate Music and Beyond in highlighting the overlap between music and the other arts. In particular, there were several programmes held right in the galleries at the National Art Gallery - the highlight for me was the "Ave Maria" presentation by Rob Kapilow and the Ottawa Bach Choir, showcasing three specific paintings of the Virgin Mary at key points in her life. "Chamber Elements", with a choir in the garden court and trumpeters and trombonists who wandered through the galleries while the audience got to follow them, was a little more experimental and we didn't always quite know what to make of them, but I'm still definitely glad we went. Another interesting concert was held at Dominion Chalmers and featured (in the first half) Gordon Pinsent narrating Tennyson's Enoch Arden with the accompaniment of Richard Strauss' music and (in the second half) Pinsent reading Ogden Nash poetry with Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals as the accompanying music.
Most days we attended one or two concerts; some days none; there was one day, the first Wednesday, where (somewhat insanely) we decided to attend three concerts, at noon, 3PM and 7 PM (the last two each consisting of Colin Carr playing three of the six Bach cello suites). Midway through Chamberfest, we managed to acquire a second grandchild - but in between several visits to Gatineau, we still managed to attend an impressive number of concerts during the second week.
Music and Beyond and Chamberfest were not the only musical treats of the summer. In between the two festivals, I went to Montreal to attend the annual conference of the International Association of Music Librarians. In addition to librarian-stuff, there was plenty of good music to be enjoyed. A particular highlight for me was the "organ crawl" field trip led by organist and composer Gilles Leclerc in which we got to visit three church organs in the Montreal area: the Casavant organ at Eglise St-Jean Baptiste; the Beckerath organ at the St. Joseph Oratory; and the organs in the Chapelle du Grand Séminaire de Montréal, including the new Guilbault-Thérien one (based on French pipe organs from the classical period) commissioned in 1990 to celebrate their 150th anniversary. I also went to several concerts, my favourite being the one by the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, held at Notre-Dame de Bon Secours in Old Montreal.
Returning to Ottawa and the National Art Gallery, we've been enjoying the 40-part, 40-speaker Thomas Tallis motet (Spem in alium), arranged by Janet Cardiff and being played in the Rideau Chapel part of the Gallery; we went in to listen between Chamberfest concerts and went back today to hear it again, before it leaves for good on Aug. 25.
It's been a very music-filled summer so far!
Most days we attended one or two concerts; some days none; there was one day, the first Wednesday, where (somewhat insanely) we decided to attend three concerts, at noon, 3PM and 7 PM (the last two each consisting of Colin Carr playing three of the six Bach cello suites). Midway through Chamberfest, we managed to acquire a second grandchild - but in between several visits to Gatineau, we still managed to attend an impressive number of concerts during the second week.
Music and Beyond and Chamberfest were not the only musical treats of the summer. In between the two festivals, I went to Montreal to attend the annual conference of the International Association of Music Librarians. In addition to librarian-stuff, there was plenty of good music to be enjoyed. A particular highlight for me was the "organ crawl" field trip led by organist and composer Gilles Leclerc in which we got to visit three church organs in the Montreal area: the Casavant organ at Eglise St-Jean Baptiste; the Beckerath organ at the St. Joseph Oratory; and the organs in the Chapelle du Grand Séminaire de Montréal, including the new Guilbault-Thérien one (based on French pipe organs from the classical period) commissioned in 1990 to celebrate their 150th anniversary. I also went to several concerts, my favourite being the one by the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, held at Notre-Dame de Bon Secours in Old Montreal.
Returning to Ottawa and the National Art Gallery, we've been enjoying the 40-part, 40-speaker Thomas Tallis motet (Spem in alium), arranged by Janet Cardiff and being played in the Rideau Chapel part of the Gallery; we went in to listen between Chamberfest concerts and went back today to hear it again, before it leaves for good on Aug. 25.
It's been a very music-filled summer so far!
