Blog
Inside Rideau Hall by Alexina Louie
The perfect September day in Ottawa – sunny and bright. It was so much fun to see so many extraordinary people pile onto the big bus which was parked outside our hotel. We were all on our way to Rideau Hall for the investiture of the newest appointments to the Order of Canada.
We arrived at Rideau Hall and eventually were seated in the main room along with the invited guests of all the honorees. The Governor General and the recipients were announced and all the guests stood and applauded them as they entered the room. If the very broad smiles were any indication, the honorees were very proud and happy to be named to the Order of Canada.
Each recipient came forward as his/her name was announced and stood facing us as the citation was read. The Governor General then rose to pin the magnificent medal on the jacket or dress in a ceremony that was both dignified and full of warmth. It occurred to me as I heard these citations that this was a brilliant group of extraordinary Canadians involved in wildly diverse fields.
From the delightful entomologist who was so tickled at being named to the Order for something that he just loves to do, to the surgeon who devised a totally new way of performing thoracic surgery, to our very own Alex who improbably started a new music orchestra thirty-three years ago (Esprit Orchestra, Toronto) at a time when Canadian composers had little if any possibility of hearing their orchestral music performed. Some of the recipients were serious when their citations were read, some looked quite shy, but Alex was beaming the entire time.
That evening the newly minted members of the Order of Canada were invited back for a black tie dinner with Their Excellencies. The Tent Room (that morning’s reception area) was transformed into a formal dining room complete with impeccable service. For those who are interested, the menu included a small but elegant hors-d’oeuvre plate of delectable seafood from the East Coast and the West Coast (British Columbia Crab, Acadian Remoulade etc.) with a main of Turkey Breast Enrobed with a Stuffing of Wellington County Muscovy Duck, Sharbot Lake Tasso Ham and Wild Rice Fricassee. Following that were Ontario Hearty Greens accompanied by five outstanding cheeses from New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario. Finally dessert was served – Ottawa Valley Pumpkin-spiced Sponge Cake layered with Milk Chocolate with Niagara Escarpment Poached Pear. All dishes were accompanied by beautiful Canadian wines.
It was a truly remarkable all-Canadian menu.
After dinner the Governor General, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, invited everyone to stay long into the night to enjoy fine Scotch and brandy. It gave us the opportunity to continue to meet more of the recipients.
I spoke with the criminologist (fascinating), the water conservation specialist (lively and engaging), the children’s author (who was shocked that he was selected), the architectural heritage conservationist (thrilled) and the entomologist (completely charming and very funny. After the morning investiture, he told our family that he is actually allergic to insects as he pointed out the insect devouring pitcher plants that hung in the Rideau Hall greenhouse.
If he touches his eyes after handling an insect, he is decidedly uncomfortable for at least an hour afterward. If he ingests one he will be quite ill – so ironic!). Roaming around toward the close of the evening, Alex and I continued to bump into the most interesting people. We had a wonderful time getting acquainted with these remarkable individuals whose country had just marked their achievements by admitting them into the Order of Canada.
We were among the last to leave Rideau Hall, wanting to savour every moment. Late at night, we joined several others on the last bus from Rideau Hall to our hotel.
What an absolutely stunning day of celebration!
– Alexina Louie
Almost Impossible To Play
Esprit’s season is rushing up on me, almost creating a sense of breathlessness – not just because of the time frame and amount of energy it takes to get the season off the ground, but also because of the anticipation that comes with the exciting pieces we have in store. Not only that, but exceptional things are going on with Esprit’s musicians.
At our next concert on October 4th, Mark Duggan is required to play the featured timpani part in Jörg Widmann’s Con Brio in extraordinary ways. Purposely written to be almost impossible to play (creating excitement - especially for the player), the part has an ever-changing set of special instructions for the player on how, in rapid succession, to use non-ordinary techniques to make sound:
- beat on the counterhoop of timp with rattan drumstick;
- rub the rattan handles on the rods on the outside of the bowl of the drum;
- play a tremolo between the bowl and the rod with a knitting needle;
- press rattan shaft on rod and allow to snap on bowl while flexed;
- tune the timps differently from the tuning at the beginning;
- play glissandos (sliding pitches) by changing the pedal tension;
- beat two drum sticks against each other (crossed over) in the air.
These instructions continue to be varied and changing at high speed throughout the piece.
When we played the work on tour in China, the composer was there and was thrilled at how brilliantly Mark performed, achieving the intended results beyond Widmann’s expectations.
I hope you can be at Koerner Hall to hear Mark perform the work again with us.
- Alex Pauk
A Few Words From Esprit's New Operations Manager, Rachel Gauntlett
It’s been almost two months since starting my full time role at Esprit as Operations Manager. Time has gone by so fast, as it always does in the summer months, and I can’t believe it’s the end of August already!
photography by greg locke
It’s been almost two months since starting my full time role at Esprit as Operations Manager. Time has gone by so fast, as it always does in the summer months, and I can’t believe it’s the end of August already!
You may remember me from Esprit’s concerts last season. I was fortunate enough to assist with marketing and production for each of the four season concerts, as well as help facilitate some of Esprit’s outreach programming and audience access programs.
I first became familiar with the orchestra through Esprit’s principal cellist, Paul Widner – he was my cello teacher for a portion of my undergraduate degree, and I continued taking lessons from him at the Glenn Gould School, before completing my graduate degree in cello performance.
Like many of Esprit’s musicians, Paul has been playing with the orchestra from the very beginning. I remember being mesmerized at the first Esprit concert I ever attended, Penderecki Plus, in January 2010. Paul was one of three cello soloists in this concert, and the orchestra’s performance was electrifying. I’ll never forget it.
That leads me to now, where I’m behind the scenes and busy preparing for our fast approaching upcoming season. A typical week of mine at the office includes ordering and receiving music scores, e-mailing composers and soloists to confirm details for their performance/commission, and corresponding with the staff at Koerner Hall to discuss ticketing and production details.
I’m excited for you to see Esprit’s new Season Brochure, which announces the full line-up of music at each concert. I’m tempted to tell you what I’m most eager to hear this season, but that could be a whole blog post of its own! Stay tuned…
Until then,
Rachel
China Tour Blog #11: Last Call -- Beijing Airport
4 AM. A rude awakening after a boisterously successful final concert of Esprit’s first tour to China. Most of the orchestra had had two hours of sleep, but there was a 5 AM bus call which means you have to be checked out and on the bus by that time.
Our volunteer translator/PA’s were waiting in the lobby for us, even though they had also been part of the lobby party two hours previously. They wanted to accompany the orchestra to the Nanning Airport to say goodbye. Sally, leader of the volunteers, asked me how to say goodbye, but meaning ‘see you again’ rather than a final farewell, so I suggested “à la prochaine”. It was a little tricky for her (her first language being Chinese) and she kept repeating it over and over until she remembered it. Each PA was so sad to be joining us in the lobby for the last time.
On the bus, it was an unusually subdued bunch as almost everyone was too tired to talk. Maria Pelletier, personnel manager of the orchestra on this tour did a roll call for the final time. The musicians yawned their responses and the bus took off.
There were many hugs and some tears and final photos taken with our PA’s when we stood in line to check our luggage. Some final goodbye gifts were exchanged as we made our way through Nanning Airport Security. Everyone slept on the plane.
At the Beijing Airport, we circled the baggage claim conveyer belt, taking photos of each other. Alex and I were on our way to Pingyao (a 2,800 year a preserved ancient walled-city southwest of Beijing) while most of the orchestra was on its way back to Toronto. It was a very happy group of musicians knowing that they had performed really well, had been recognized as such, and they had had a great time to boot!
By then, everyone was awake and chatting excitedly about the tour, recalling favourite stories with each other. There were big smiles all around. We had eaten Chinese food several times a day (heaven help you if you didn’t like Chinese food!) and several of us had even chosen Chinese breakfasts on the road, although I have to admit eating Chinese food with achaser of coffee was a little weird! We had performed energetically and enthusiastically under the very strange twelve hour time difference (jet lag at its worst?) and we had learned to navigate the very dangerous road crossings in Beijing and Nanning! We had even eaten street food together at the night market!
Each of our concerts in China was wildly successful, with cheering packed houses, including that opening concert in Beijing even given the percussion snafu! (see Blog #3: Esprit’s Heroes). Yes, most of the percussion had arrived intime for the baton drop on that first concert (we were all quite nervous) and in fact, the last instrument to arrive that night was the glockenspiel, which was handed to Alex exactly ONE MINUTE before he was to walk on stage. The final handover happened right there onstage with Alex thrusting the errant glockenspiel into the waiting hands of our percussionist just as he walked on stage for our first ever performance in China! An indelible memory!
Since many of the musicians had never before been to China, they had said they didn’t have a clue what was in store for them. The trip had greatly exceeded their expectations!
The musicians had all withstood the challenges of being on the road in China with good humour and a sense of adventure. Not a crabby musician in the bunch. They had really risen to the occasion, had performed dynamically, and had peaked at the performances. The audiences were raucously appreciative and the orchestra loved that.
A new bond had developed in Esprit given all these shared adventures in exotic China. Also, a bond had developed between our orchestra and its Chinese hosts. Nanning wants Alex back to help train its orchestra. Of course, they also want Esprit back for more high octane performances.
Our next high point will be the opening concert of Esprit’s THIRTY-THIRD season in Toronto in our fabulous Koerner Hall on October 4, 2015.
Come hear what all the noise was about!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #10: Esprit Sizzles! Alex Pauk, Rock Star!
The orchestra was feeling pretty pumped from an unbelievably successful tour. This final concert in the Guangxi Arts Institute Concert Hall was a highlight. It was the orchestra's night to put on its best (last) show and the musicians delivered!
The queue for the hall started an hour and a half before the concert was to start. It was a wild scene as people were desperate to get a seat. By the downbeat, unfortunately no more audience members were able to be squeezed in. The 'traffic directors' were putting them on the stairs. We were sorry that we had to disappoint so many people who could not get in.
Even Evan, my 'accidental' interpreter, could not get in. I asked Sally, our head volunteer, to call him to find out if he was going to get into the hall. Apparently he was somewhere in the line so I asked her to go out there and drag him in so he could have a seat. Evan had become the interpreter for my two hour lecture a few days earlier. He is a young composer studying in Nanning and I really wanted him to experience Esprit!
Esprit sizzled! Violist Doug Perry said that's what happens when the orchestra bonds. There is just something that happens through osmosis. No one says anything, they just know it. And that translates through the energy of the orchestra. The orchestra was in the 'zone' for that final concert as was Alex. Fireworks happened. The audience went wild. And for Canadian new music! – Daniel, Pauk, Louie and Schafer. By the last piece, Falcon's Trumpet by Schafer, the people that packed the hall were really wondering what to expect next from this Canadian orchestra. The distinguished guests, Festival delegates and general audience members were looking around and over their shoulders at the orchestra which was surrounding them in true Schafer fashion. Bob Venables soared as the trumpet soloist. It was wonderful to see the astonished faces in the crowd as they kept looking at the musicians surrounding them.
There were cheers at the last note of Murray's concerto. Then mayhem. Hundreds of people brought out their cell phones and were taking pictures of the orchestra. From the stage we were looking out at a sea of cell phones!
Then pandemonium on the stage! Audience members came up to take selfies with their favourite musicians! Our PA's were delirious! Our youngest orchestra member, Aleh Remezau, our oboist, being the youngest (and cutest?) musician was besieged by a line of girls who wanted their photo with him. But there was an equally long line of young women who all wanted their photos with Alex as well. Alex Pauk, rock star!
The orchestra arrived back at the hotel at midnight and most had run off to the convenience store to buy beer and snacks. We invaded the lobby of the hotel, taking over a whole section, pulling up chairs, and basically setting up a private party right there at midnight. Everyone was high over the great performance they had just given. They shared stories of their experiences during the tour, including the new friends they had made in even this short time.
The last ones straggled off at 2 AM. Bad move. We had to be up in a couple of hours to catch our 5 AM bus to the Nanning Airport. Wired, tired, and mostly not quite over the twelve hour jet lag (day for night!), a 4 AM wake up call sounded surreal.
That's life on the road with Esprit – a unique orchestra and a great group of people!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #9: Free Day – Finally!
After the successful Beijing concert and the opening night of the China-ASEAN Music Week in Nanning, the orchestra finally got a much deserved day off!
Some slept, some partied. On our one day off’ some of us participated in a three hour round table discussion followed by an extensive newspaper interview (me!). A small group took a day trip to the Vietnam border, a five hour bus ride! Sandy Baron, violinist, said it was really worth the trip. There is a famous waterfall there, very beautiful and quite spectacular. Behind the waterfall are row upon row of the recognizable carse mountains of ancient Chinese scroll fame. These mountains are some of the most scenic in China. The site is one of the major tourist destinations. These musicians overnighted it in a small local hotel and beetled back the next day in time for the dress rehearsal for our very own Esprit concert in the concert hall of the Guangxi Arts Institute!
I spent some time wandering into some Chinese instrument stores. What a wealth of beautiful looking instruments!
On our day off, our PA’s led us to the night market. Now that was extensive, exotic, hot, and noisy, but was it fun! First of all, the whole area was filled with small stalls offering the most exotic of foods. Not only did you have displays of the most unusual and beautiful looking fruit and vegetables, you also had rows of unusual huge shellfish and giant crustaceans.
There were deep fried whole squid hanging from wires for your dining pleasure. Stephen Sitarski sent me his photo of the ‘octopus station’! The uncooked beast was hanging there in mid-air! There were live frogs and worm-like creatures. You could even find crocodile meat!
The whole area was seething with hungry humanity. It was particularly hot because every other stall featured an open fire charcoal grill upon which the proprietor would throw on a stick of grilled meat, chicken, oversized oyster, or scallop on the half shell, or some other flesh of your choosing, slather it with basting sauce and hand it over to you!
We were all actually amazed at the things we saw at this market! It was like none other that I have ever seen - and it covered a lot of territory. It was big.
We chose a restaurant and eventually, all the Esprit members who came to the night market ended up there. The restaurant was a casual extension of its charcoal grill. Nothing fancy. Most of our group immediately ordered a beer. Look what appeared - not a lot of individual bottles, but a large glass vessel of beer.
It was great fun as Alex acted as ‘spigot master’. We ordered some of the specialty dishes of the house including lamb right off the grill. It was succulent and it tasted completely different from the lamb on the Danforth. It had been basted with a Chinese grilling sauce and cut up into bit sized pieces. Then you were to dip it into some dried herbs, which is quite unusual for Chinese cuisine. One herb was like caraway seeds (most unusual) and the other some kind of dried powdered hot peppers (piquant!).
We also ordered the regional specialty - the whole fish casserole dish (complete with continual flame underneath) mounded with dried hot peppers and onions and spices. And then there were the wonderful grilled vegetables - another southern regional specialty. In Cantonese we call this vegetable “Gow Choy” - something like large chives. Grilled with a basting sauce, it was a real treat!
Completely happy, completely satisfied, we wandered out into the night.
The orchestra was relaxed and ready for our final concert in Esprit’s first tour of China. In fact, they were eager to ‘show their stuff’.
Fun, Food, and Music – what better combination!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #8: Esprit is “hot”!
Nanning was 35C and humid! Walking out of the door from our lovely air conditioned ‘M Hotel’ (with its life-sized galloping lamp in the lobby) was like walking straight into an oven! It was so humid, it was steaming hot!
We crept in the heat across to the rehearsal room at the Guangxi Arts Institute, Nanning, China.
It was incredible arriving there and seeing gigantic images and posters of Esprit’s concerts everywhere, including by the motorbike stand!
The audience was gearing up for our final concert in China.
Star treatment for our new music orchestra!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #7: The Canadians Have Arrived!
Countdown to the concert date! Alex was going like crazy at the rehearsals. The official interpreter, Ms. Liu, was interpreting like mad. It was really humourous to hear Alex give a quick instruction to the orchestra, and then hear Miss Liu take so long to explain what he had just said! So it took more than three as long to give instruction throughout the rehearsal time. What was she saying?!
Sometimes actions do speak louder than words. Our concertmaster, Stephen Sitarski, was cool, calm and collected as he led the two orchestras toward the finish line. If Alex was giving an explanation to the violins and they weren't delivering what he wanted, Stephen would just stand up and demonstrate. That's teamwork! No time to waste. Non-verbal communication at its best.
Our joint concert was the opening gala concert of the China-ASEAN Music Week. There was a great deal of anticipation surrounding it and true to Chinese fashion, the concert started with many official speeches from dignitaries. There were many references to cultural collaborations. Here was Esprit demonstrating that very ideal with this concert of combined orchestras (Canada/Guangxi) playing the music of the composers Dang Huu Phuc (Vietnam), Zhong JunCheng (China), Qin Wenchen (China), Widmann (Germany), Chen Yi (China/USA), Louie (Canada). The anticipation for our concert debut in Nanning was ramping up!
Backstage at the Guangxi concert hall there was a sense of quiet excitement. If you've not been backstage before an orchestra concert to experience the warming up ritual, musician ripple through snatches of the night's music amid the scales and phrases of recognizable classical music to get their fingers, embouchures, and instruments ready for the downbeat. It is impossible to go onstage 'cold'.
I caught the Guangxi Orchestra trumpet player, instrument in hand, standing beside Esprit's trumpet player, Mike Fedyshyn. There he stood, almost in awe, intently listening to Mike run through some exercises and musical fragments, trying to pick up tips on merely warming up! It was really charming.
Meanwhile, we had no idea what to expect. Given challenging circumstances, Alex had worked very hard to instruct the players in the details, intricacies, and demands of new orchestral music, but what would actually happen when they got out there to perform? Alex had drilled them heroically, but would they remember what they had rehearsed?
After the many speeches – the downbeat. As they say, magic happened! Each piece was performed better than at the dress rehearsal earlier in the day. All the composers were deliriously happy, the officials were ecstatic, and Alex was exhausted but relieved. Everybody was hugging everybody. After his world premiere, composer and event organizer Zhong JunCheng came onstage for his bow and embraced the conductor with tears in his eyes. Alex said he was actually crying. Mr.Zhong recognized a great performance and was deeply moved at his world premiere.
Brilliant German composer, Jorg Widmann was ecstatic at the performance of Con Brio. He was so excited that after the concert he talked non-stop with Alex! He said it was the first time his tempi were followed. He also said he knows full well how hard the piece is as it has had many performances. Alex got all the details. There were edges to the phrases. It was exciting. He recognized that Alex took risks and did they pay off! He particularly lauded the skills of Mark Duggan who played the ferociously difficult timpani part perfectly. Widmann knows he wrote that part on the edge of the possible and he was completely impressed with Mark's performance. The piece is a wild and crazy homage to Beethoven with Beethovenesque allusions scattered throughout in seemingly hodgepodge fashion. It is a brilliant work and very difficult work to get right, but Alex did it. He pulled it off, not with the known entity of his trained Esprit Orchestra, but with an orchestra of combined forces, one of them inexperienced in the difficulties and nuances of new music. He marshalled the musicians through this most difficult piece through the sheer force of his will.
Mark Duggan who played the ferociously difficult timpani part perfectly
Alex worked the orchestra so hard on Con Brio that he decided to program it on Esprit's upcoming 2015-2016 Season. He wanted to give our audience the thrill of hearing this breakneck speed piece on our thirty-third season played by Esprit. Lucky Torontonians who will get the opportunity to hear it in our luscious Koerner Hall! Watch for it in the Fall.
At the end of the concert, the capacity audience broke out in wild applause. The Canadians had arrived!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #6: Smaking Area and Musical Chop Suey!
There was an interesting proposal made by China-ASEAN Festival director, Zhong Juncheng: make a large, combined orchestra of Esprit with the musicians of the Guangxi Symphony to perform the music of visiting delegate composers as well as my piece O Magnum Mysterium: In Memoriam Glenn Gould. Interesting, but as I say about certain musical projects that have been requested of me, it is 'someone's idea of a good idea'. What I mean by that is it might be a good idea, but it is left up to you to make it work. Usually that is much harder than the person making the request knows! If you don't make it work, it is egg on your face, not his!
The Guangxi Orchestra had run through the pieces, but found two of them completely perplexing – mine (34 divisi strings – that's 34 separate string parts) and Jorg Widmann's Con Brio. Their conductor, Teng Long, asked for a meeting with Alex immediately after our welcoming banquet (the evening before our first combined orchestra rehearsal). As Mr. Long doesn't speak any English, I caught the two conductors drawing messages to each other: he drawing symbols which he had had trouble deciphering from my score, and Alex answering him right back with his own explanatory sketches! It was delightful to witness.
The next morning we made our way over to the rehearsal room of the Guangxi Symphony's concert hall and Alex set up the orchestras with our players as stand partners with their musicians in order to coach them during the rehearsals. Let's just say that they needed a lot of coaching and our musicians were incredibly patient and helpful. After all, everybody's reputations were at stake and our players were right in there ready to pitch in. Alex did a phenomenal job as Jorg's piece was exceptionally difficult with many lines of explanations (in German!) on each page for any given musical gesture! It was even demanding for Esprit musicians! There were sudden tempo shifts at every turn and dynamic changes (louds or softs) sometimes on consecutive notes! Really, really challenging. As usual, Alex paid a lot of attention to the composer's details, making it right – just as the composer had written. Esprit was used to his demands of them. To the Guangxi musicians, this was all new.
At the break, we wandered into the foyer of the rehearsal room and found this sign on the wall – Smaking Area! The humour was not lost on our players as everyone seemed to have taken this photo as a memory of those very difficult and challenging rehearsals!
On one of the breaks, violinist Anne Armstrong and I spoke with her stand partner, Vivian Wei. We found out a lot of information at that break. First, the orchestra is young. Second, they are paid a small 'retainer' or stipend when they are not concertizing in order to keep themselves available for orchestral services. On concert days they are paid more money. Third, their concerts are quite different from ours. On each concert they play about ten excerpts from different symphonies or concerti or other orchestral repertoire. A concert might consist of a movement from a Beethoven symphony, a movement from a Hummel piano concerto, a movement from a Tchaikovsky symphony, an overture by a Chinese composer, a movement from a Mozart violin concerto etc. – a kind of musical chop suey. The musicians were all sharing musical experiences with each other on the breaks and some of them became fast friends.
Percussionist Blair Mackay, ended up being taken around the alleys of Nanning on the back of his colleague's scooter. Why? Because Blair had not packed his sandals! The Chinese percussionist took him from one store to another trying to find some that fit! Apparently our Western feet are bigger than Chinese feet, so they had a hilarious time trying to find suitable sandals. In desperation Blair finally chose a pair that was a bit too small, but in the 35C heat and humidity he had to get out of his shoes and socks! The two percussionists ended up at the local percussionist's home. He had said that there was no opportunity to learn new drumming techniques and asked if Blair had some tips for him. So Blair gave him an hour lesson on rock drumming. You see, Blair had been the drummer for April Wine and had spent years on the road with them, so he has a lot of rock licks up his sleeve! The percussionist was over the moon with gratitude. Sandal shopping in exchange for a full on rock drumming lesson! A small price to pay for a lesson from a master!
Each successive day the combined forces inched forward to concert readiness. Alex put them through their paces with Miss Liu his trusty translator at his side. Evan, the young composer (our 'accidental' translator) was conscripted on the first day before Miss Liu received her assignment. It was exhausting work for Alex as it was a huge learning experience for their orchestra and the translation ate up considerable rehearsal time. With the help of Esprit's musicians and the force of Alex's will, the musicians of the Guangxi Symphony became familiar with the music as well as the demands of their Canadian conductor.
A steep learning curve, but this concert was not going to be musical chop suey!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #5: New taste sensations! New musical adventures!
This is what greeted Esprit when we checked into our W Hotel in Nanning! We could not believe the sight of a full sized horse lamp! Getting off the elevator on the ninth floor, we were greeted with a corridor that literally took your breath away. It was an airport runway!
We all had to quickly settle in and head off to dinner at the 'canteen' on the campus of our hosts, the Guangxi Arts Institute. Since it was so incredibly hot we all changed into our most comfortable shorts and running shoes and headed out en masse with our most wonderful young volunteers who were delightful, enthusiastic English speaking students from the Institute.
We blanched when we confronted the street outside. Crossing it was like crossing the 401 Highway in Toronto. We could not believe the numbers of oncoming cars and motorbikes. There are almost no traffic lights on these wide streets, and crosswalks really mean nothing! You have to walk with (foolish) determination as the cars and motorbikes do not stop for pedestrians. Hint: taxis do. So you have to have a strategy as you stare down the wheeled enemy and believe me, you have to have courage. Ask any of the musicians.
We successfully made our first road crossing in Nanning and were led to the canteen. Something seemed amiss. We were there for our canteen meal but there were others who were (seemingly) joining us and they were dressed well!
IT TURNED OUT TO BE A SPECIAL WELCOMING BANQUET FOR ESPRIT (!) complete with Festival organizers, official speeches, official interpreters, toasts, and a ten course feast! Surprise! We weren't dressed for the occasion, but we were greeted with such genuine warmth and enthusiasm all discomfort at the faux-pas in dress code vanished as we got down to the serious business of chopsticks and non-stop food. During the ten courses, our hosts got up and went from table to table toasting the musicians with special welcoming words.
The food? Let's just say, it was splendid! From a whole mound of utterly delicious sea crabs to one of their regional specialties: a whole fish mounded with hot peppers, lotus roots, fresh bamboo shoots, onions and other delectable treats simmering on a brazier on the table. Dig in!
Dish upon dish of fresh vegetables, seafood, and meats. And for dessert, a mound of fresh litchi. These are grown in the region so they are at their peak freshness, so juicy and tasting so incredibly sweet!
New taste sensations! New musical adventures! Nanning, Guangxi Province, China.
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #4: Ethnic Mongol Yoghurt and Friendship
The morning after our Beijing Modern Music Festival debut concert, we headed back to the Beijing airport for the trip to Nanning. It was a quick trip in and out of Beijing, but many of Esprit's musicians shared their stories of hopping onto the very efficient subways (of which there are many, sigh) and headed out to Tienamen Square or The Forbidden City etc.
Violinist Anne Armstrong even made it out to the Summer Palace. All these touristic amblings took place on the afternoon of our concert after our morning dress rehearsal, jet lag or no jet lag, evening concert or no evening concert! A confident orchestra!
Wandering around Beijing Airport the next morning, waiting for our flight to be called, the musicians were buzzing about the delicious yoghurt they found at a little airport snack shop – ETHNIC MONGOL YOGHURT - Grassland Range Delivery - in the most beautiful heavy indigo glass jar. You had to punch a hole in the top and slide in a straw. It was absolutely delicious! So smooth and creamy – a dense, slightly sweet thick liquid you can drink with a thick straw. It was a taste sensation!
Unfortunately, that may have been my first and last taste of this liquid delight as I have never ever set eyes of this indigo jar before. I am packing the empty in my suitcase as my souvenir of the Beijing Airport.
Waiting and wandering, who should we bump into but the very same NDR Orchestra! The orchestra members greeted each other like old friends! Such is the nature of musicians the world over. They were on their way to Shanghai, we were on our way to Nanning!
Two delightful encounters at the Beijing Airport: Musical friendship and Ethnic Mongolian Yoghurt! What other unexpected encounters await Esprit in China!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #3: Esprit's Heroes
We separated the two orchestras (see blog entry #2) onto their respective buses, did our role call to make sure we didn't have any extra German horn players onboard (the NDR Orchestra brought 7 horns on tour so they could perform the Mahler Symphony #1!) and headed for the Merchantel Hotel in Beijing.
By the time we checked in and reassembled our scouting team to walk over for our tech. meeting at the Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music where our concert would take place, we were an hour late getting there.
Mark Duggan and Blair Mackay, our heroes
Our percussionists, Mark Duggan and Blair Mackay were to check out the percussion instruments which they were to set up for the morning's 9 AM dress rehearsal. Surprise – No percussion instruments! After some frantic phone calls, we made arrangements to come an hour before the 9 AM rehearsal for set up.
8 AM arrival at the hall – no instruments! Mimi got on the phone and raised the red alert. By the 9 AM start, we had one vibraphone and one bass drum. Esprit had ordered thirty-six percussion instruments!
Mark and Blair were heroic! They did the whole dress rehearsal with two instruments! They improvised their parts, replacing the chimes with the bass drum, the marimba with the vibraphone, the sleighbells with the bass drum, the glockenspiel with the vibes, the temple blocks on the bass drum, the gongs on the vibes, the suspended cymbals on the bass drum etc. You get the picture. If we weren't so frustrated, it would have been totally comedic.
At the time that I am writing this it is 4 AM in Nanning, two days after the concert, and indeed it IS comedic. I'm laughing out loud in my hotel room!
Mark Duggan and Blair Mackay, our heroes.
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #2: Double Orchestras — Double Chaos!
After a very long flight, Esprit Orchestra arrives in Beijing with all orchestra members, including instruments, intact. We collect luggage at the carousel and exit the area. As the doors slide open and we move through the crowd, we hear "Orchestra over here!" and there is a charming Chinese woman beckoning us over with a sign.
However, she was not Mimi Mok, our project manager who was to have been there to meet us, but someone else holding a sign. It seems that she saw us carrying violin, viola, horn and trumpet cases and thought we were the orchestra she was sent to greet! What are the chances that TWO orchestras would land in Beijing at the exact same time! It was all very amusing as we told her that we were not the North German Radio Orchestra (NDR), but Esprit Orchestra from Canada. Much laughter all around!
We do eventually meet up with our own Mimi Mok, and we follow her to the bus — chaos! It seems that two buses show up and park cheek to cheek in the waiting zone. Yes, it was the bus for the NDG Orchestra, and the bus for Esprit Orchestra. In fact, the horn player for the NDG Orchestra (Jens Plücker) was blindly following musicians and was about to board OUR BUS! We almost adopted a German horn player!
There were good vibes as all orchestra members intermingled and chatted and were in good humour about it all. Our clarinet player, Michele Verheul was chatting with a musician and it turned out that he, the principal clarinettist Karl Leister, was a hero of hers! She excitedly remarked Karl is "a big deal." He was Herbert von Karajan's clarinettist with the Berlin Philharmonic. She told us that his were some of the first recordings that she fell in love with. He had been a great musical inspiration for her, although she had only known him through recordings. Here she was in Beijing, chatting animatedly with him as we were boarding our side-by-side buses. They were on their way to perform Mahler's Symphony #1 the following day, and we were on our way to perform Schafer! The concerts were to take place simultaneously on May 29!
The concertmaster of the NDG Orchestra called our concertmaster, Stephen Sitarski, off our bus to have this historic event marked with a photo!
Of course, the inevitable happened — we met the same musicians at the airport on the outbound — they for Shanghai, we for Nanning. There were many more photos taken and many more stories shared.
A wonderful musical encounter at the Beijing Airport!
Double Happiness – Double Orchestras!
– Alexina Louie
China Tour Blog #1: AC Flight 31 Toronto —> Beijing: A Case of the Bass
There was a real buzz of anticipation as the Esprit Orchestra members began to gather at Pearson Airport's Terminal 1 group check in on the morning of May 27. Most of the players have never been to China so there was a real sense of adventure as we got ready to introduce the Beijing and Nanning New Music Festival participants to the work of Canadian composers Omar Daniel, Alex Pauk, Alexina Louie and Murray Schafer.
Our bassist Joe Phillips arrived with a very large metal case on wheels and was persuaded by all of us to open it up, right there on the spot near check-in, to reveal an ingenious 5 string double bass (they normally have 4 strings). What made it ingenious was the fact that it is a specially-constructed bass commissioned for touring by National Arts Centre Orchestra bassist Joel Quarrington. The neck of the bass is removable and has its own spot in the packing crate alongside the body of the instrument, so although overly large, it is very compact for a double bass – it's half the height! None of us had ever seen anything like this, but it really makes a lot of sense for touring.
The challenge on the other end is that the player has to arrive early at rehearsals to assemble the instrument. The neck gets attached with a kind of pin and screw. The strings have to be ‘strung,' and the bridge has to be put in place. Next, the tightening and tuning… then voilà! The bass is up and running and ready to go. It is not as easy as lifting an intact instrument from its normal case, but what a thrill and relief it was when Joe got it all assembled and the bass sang its first notes on Chinese soil!
Travelling with other large string instruments is always challenging too. The celli need their own seats on the plane. An attendant arrives to remove the seat cushion bottom and the cello has to be wedged into its place. Finally, a netting structure needs to be placed over it to secure it for the journey. The whole boarding of the 'celli passengers' takes over 40 minutes!
All of that means double nose counts (players and their 'axes') at the luggage carousel in Beijing! All musicians and instruments accounted for, ready for action!
– Alexina Louie
Integral House: A Farewell
It’s shocking to think that this Tuesday will likely be the last time we’ll ever see Jim Stewart’s celebrated Integral House before it is sold. The award-winning architectural wonder, commissioned by Jim as a home where he could host artists, concerts and fantastic events, was recognized internationally as being a magnificent centre of cultural convergence. We are honoured to be holding Esprit Orchestra’s annual fundraising Benefête at Integral House this Tuesday evening, May 19. We'd love to see you there.
To more fully comprehend the wondrous qualities of this unique space, you can view a short, amazing video by clicking here.
The late Jim Stewart, an enthusiastic supporter of Esprit, was a very important and well-loved arts philanthropist and mathematician who presented so many extraordinary performers at this fantastic home. In November of last year, he hosted his Final Salon at Integral House to celebrate his life and his passion for music. Alex and I felt so privileged to have been invited. It was a very touching night, complete with an eclectic group of musicians that he so carefully selected for this last evening of performances in his home. It was all deeply moving, as it was hosted just weeks prior to his death. He was welcoming, warm, generous, funny, courageous, philosophical.
As the home is now on the market for $28 million dollars, we are not sure if the space will continue to be a home for the arts. It will be a bittersweet evening for Alex and I. Jim’s incredible spirit lives on in every curve of this dazzling home, but this may be the last opportunity for us to visit it and reflect on all that Jim meant to the arts community.
– Alexina Louie
ESPRIT ORCHESTRA DEBUT CHINA TOUR May 26th to June 5th, 2015
Esprit Orchestra, Canada’s leader in performing new orchestral music, conducted by Founding Music Director and Conductor Alex Pauk, will embark on its Debut China Tour from May 26th to June 5th, 2015. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and the People’s Republic of China, this tour provides an opportunity for developing long-lasting musical exchanges between China and Canada.
The tour begins with a concert at the 2015 Beijing Modern Music Festival, the largest and most important new music festival in China. It will also include two concerts as part of a residency for the Orchestra at the China-ASEAN Music Week in Nanning, Guangxi, one of three major platforms for new music in the Peoples’ Republic.
The first concert of the tour takes place on May 29th, at the Concert Hall of the Central Conservatory of Music as part of the Beijing Modern Music Festival which is organized by the Central Conservatory. The programme is all-Canadian and includes music by Omar Daniel, Alex Pauk, Alexina Louie and R. Murray Schafer. All pieces on the programme will be receiving their Asian premieres.
Esprit then travels to Nanning where it will be in residence for six days at the China-ASEAN Music Week organized by the Guangxi Institute of the Arts.
On June 2, 2015 Esprit will perform the Opening Concert of the China-ASEAN Music Week and will combine with musicians of the Guangxi Symphony Orchestra to form a large orchestra for this celebratory occasion. The concert, performed at the Guangxi Ethnic Arts Palace Concert Hall, will highlight an international mix of composers including Vietnamese composer Đặng Hữu Phúc, Canadian Alexina Louie, Germany’s Jörg Widmann, plus three Chinese composers; Yi Chen, Wenchen Qin and Chenjun Zhong. Zhong’s work will be receiving its World Premiere.
On June 4th Esprit, in the Guangxi Institute of the Arts Concert Hall, Esprit will reprise its programme of Canadian music from May 29th at the Beijing Modern Music Festival.
Composer Alexina Louie will accompany Esprit on tour and, as visiting guest composer of both festivals, will give pre-concert talks and master classes for composition and performance students. This follows through on lectures she gave in May 2014 on the occasion of the China National Performing Arts Centre Orchestra’s performance of her music on the opening concert of the 2014 Beijing Modern Music Festival. Her music was also performed at the 2013 edition of the festival and her connection with China was increased in October 2013 when Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra took her music on tour to China and invited her to give master classes.
In the tradition of Esprit’s dedication to new music education and support for emerging talent, Esprit’s residency in Nanning will include workshops at the Central Conservatory and Guangxi Institute of the Arts.Esprit Orchestra’s China Tour affords Esprit the opportunity to highlight Canadian music and the Orchestra’s high performance standards at festivals attended by prominent, influential international delegates including musicians, conductors, composers, promoters and media from around the world.
******
For Media Enquiries or to Request the Full Press Release Package,
Please Contact: Steven Hobé / HOBÉ+HOSOKAWA INC.
steven@hh-inc.ca
Esprit Creates Aural Space and Acoustic Resonance
Esprit Orchestra’s final concert of the season, The Last Paradise, takes place on Sunday, March 29 at Koerner Hall. The program features a diverse spectrum of styles and themes found in two World Premieres commissioned from Canadian composers Andrew Staniland and Scott Good, plus outstanding works by leading French and Chinese composers Marc-André Dalbavie and Xiaogang Ye. Conducted by Music Director and Conductor Alex Pauk, the concert features Esprit’s own Concertmaster, Stephen Sitarski, as soloist in Ye’s idiosyncratic work for violin and orchestra.
In his Vast Machine, Andrew Staniland draws a parallel between Esprit and the world’s fastest and largest machine, the Large Hadron Collider. As in the collider, with its acceleration of particles smashing things apart, this piece accelerates musical elements in ever-greater complexity to reach maximum intensity, colliding sections of the work in aural space, creating a climax that eventually shatters its themes into musical fragments.
Scott Good’s Resonance Unfolding 2 moves at a blistering pace, with harmonies unfolding in kaleidoscopic fashion, coming and going until a final, full saturation is achieved. Musical materials, employing spectral layers of sound colours and textures, move the piece in the direction of sound sculpture. The work was composed as an “Hommage à Olivier Messiaen” with the final four chords of Messiaen’s organ masterpiece Dieu Parmi Nous providing source material.
While Xiaogang Ye’s The Last Paradise initially suggests a personal response to the European violin concerto, incorporating certain elements of Chinese music, the piece is more like a late Romantic tone poem. It recounts the fate of a protagonist – portrayed by the violin – culminating in his funeral and eventual happiness upon the release of his spirit into the afterlife. The work traces experiences of the composer and his family through China’s Cultural Revolution and reflects on points of view many had for getting through the struggles of that time.
In Medieval times, the term color designated ways of creating melodies. Marc-AndréDalbavie’s Color moves from a melodic entanglement to timbral music made up of chords – or from line to colour, in accordance with the title’s double meaning. Dalbavie extends the principles of “spectral music” (sounds based on recent acoustic discoveries, forms with continuous transformations, perceptual considerations aimed at accessibility). Melodies emerge from a harmonic/spectral resonance of colours and textures integrating tonality and atonality in a way that avoids the clichés of post-modern neo-romantic music.
#throwbackthursday March 23rd, 1991, The Toronto Star
"Esprit arouses the senses on its first CD" by William Littler
Photo by Andrew Stawicki/Toronto Star via Getty Images)Alex Pauk featured in a sound booth during the editing of Esprit's first CD (on the CBC Records label
The Great Lipsyncher
The night after the worldʼs turning, Espritʼs third concert of our 2014/2015 season, Alex and I went to see Rick Miller in BOOM at the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto. We were dazzled by Rickʼs unbelievable talent. BOOM is a one man show written, directed and performed by Rick. It is a multi-media race through events that defined the baby boomer generation from the end of WWII to Apollo 11 and many significant milestones in between.
We were completely engaged by the historical film footage and still photos as Rick simultaneously took on the voices and personae of the people in the video clips. Rick is so skilled at mimicking the voices of Betty Davis, John F. Kennedy, Edward R. Murrow, Lyndon B. Johnston (“100 voices in 100 minutes”) in such quick succession, it could make your head spin!
He was also totally brilliant as a musical performer. Whether it was stomping out the blues on a harmonica, strumming convincingly on electric guitar, mimicking the voices of Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Joni Mitchell or Little Richard he stunned us with the breakneck speed of his lightning fast changes. Convincingly hilarious!
I came to know Rick several years ago when my collaborators director Larry Weinstein, writer Dan Redican and I were working on our made-for-TV film project Brian Mulroney: The Opera. It was based on the successful template of our Burnt Toast television operas. All the roles were sung by some of our most expressive character opera singers but for the most part, the onscreen roles were lipsynched by comedian/ actors Stephanie Mills (Mila Mulroney), Colin Mocherie (Jean Chretien), Sean Cullen (Robert Coates). Hereʼs a link (this is one of several Burnt Toast operas).
When it came to casting the most crucial role, Brian Mulroney, we were stumped. As we were mixing the singers and the orchestral music (performed by Alex Pauk and Esprit Orchestra) Larry brought in a video sent to us by Rick Miller who, in a hotel room while on tour, had fashioned (on spec) a lipsynched performance of some of the rough mixes of the music. All three of us were stunned. Rick was amazing. We had found our Brian!
If you missed Mulroney: The Opera in its limited release in theatres nationwide, I am enclosing some very humourous trailers for the film starring Rick. First up, an additional trailer from the film. Second, you'll see Rick being transformed into Brian in a very funny one minute time-lapsed transformation which actually took about three hours (every morning!).
-- Alexina Louie, O.C.
A Fish Story
The legendary flutist, Robert Aitken will be my pre-concert guest at Esprit’s 3rd concert of the 2014-2015 season — The World’s Turning. Little known fact about Bob: he is an avid fisherman. When he is not on the road giving his concerts and flute masterclasses all over the world, including a concert in Tibet (!), as soon as the weather warms up, he is at the cottage. And as soon as fishing season opens, he’s on the water!
Lake trout. Absolutely delicious and fresh out of the water!
And he is not only a fisherman, but an expert fish cook! Alex and I await our invitation to dinner at his home during fishing season. The BBQ is lit, and the fish goes on! Tender and aromatic with lots of dill and lemon. Now that is a taste of Canada — lake trout caught and cooked by Canada’s most esteemed flutist.
Bob is one of our foremost composers and one of our great champions of Canadian music. He has commissioned and performed countless pieces. Alex and Bob have been friends since Alex was a music student at U of T. When Bob conducted American composer Roger Reynolds’ piece IO, Alex, still a student, participated as a silent moving human object in choreographed motion around the stage. (I would pay good money to see that!)
When Alex was starting out on his conducting career, Bob was one of the only people who gave him encouragement. It was Bob who suggested that Alex drop everything and go to study in Tokyo at the very famous music school, Toho Gakuen. Here he learned the famous Saito technique, which begins with the first lesson — dropping your arm with no tension. Once you have mastered this technique you move on to dropping your tensionless arm, bouncing at the bottom of the drop, and stopping sharply at an invisible point in the air. Alex told me that this practice could go on for months before you moved to the next lesson! (It would be torturous for me, but then again, I never became a conductor).
Do join us for a glimpse into Bob’s piece, Berceuse. I may even be able to coerce him into demonstrating some of the extended flute techniques and the staggering technical passages. Our other special guest will be the young Canadian composer, Samuel Andreyev, direct from France with his brand new piece (so new, in fact, that the ink is still almost wet on the page!), The Flash of the Instant.
We’ll talk flute. We’ll talk music. We’ll talk fish!
- Alexina Louie, O.C.