{"id":5185,"date":"2013-06-12T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-06-12T09:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=5185"},"modified":"2013-06-12T09:06:17","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T09:06:17","slug":"scotia-festival-in-review-preview-feature-from-the-chronicle-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2013\/06\/12\/scotia-festival-in-review-preview-feature-from-the-chronicle-herald\/","title":{"rendered":"Scotia Festival in review- preview feature from the Chronicle Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

An interesting feature looking ahead to the (now-completed) 2013 Scotia Festival from senior Chronicle Herald classical critic Stephen Pedersen. Read the original here<\/a><\/p>\n

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Woods, Brady headline festival<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n
May 24, 2013 – 5:34pm\u00a0BY STEPHEN PEDERSEN<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Classical music stars Halifax-bound for Scotia Festival of Music, which starts Monday<\/div>\n
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\"Conductor<\/p>\n
Conductor and cellist Kenneth Woods, left, and electric guitar improv virtuoso Tim Brady will be in Halifax next week for the Scotia Festival of Music, which opens Monday and runs to June 9.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Scotia Festival of Music\u2019s latest classical music stars are cellist-conductor Kenneth Woods and electric guitar improv virtuoso Tim Brady.<\/div>\n

The festival opens Monday night with Woods, violinist Caroline Chin and violist David Yang of Ensemble Epomeo playing the Schnitke String Trio.<\/p>\n

Schubert\u2019s E Flat Major Piano Trio with returning favourites pianist John Novacek, cellist Denise Djokic and violinist Mark Fewer will be sharing the opening program, and violinist Philippe Djokic opens the festival with Bach\u2019s Chaconne (solo violin).<\/p>\n

Woods, a Scotia Festival alumnus, has a big career in full stride, both as conductor and as cellist with his Epomeo Ensemble. His waggish sense of humour can be sampled at his blog in his impassioned, tongue-in-cheek defence of repeating the Exposition in symphonies, chamber music and piano sonatas.<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s festival, Woods will conduct three concerts: the final Gala concert June 9, the John Adams Violin Concerto (with Philippe Djokic), a version for winds of the Threepenny Opera, and Benjamin Britten\u2019s Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge (Scotia Festival Strings).<\/p>\n

On June 7, Tim Brady premieres his We\u2019re Hardcore with soprano Janice Jackson and string quintet (with double bass).<\/p>\n

Brady, who calls Halifax \u201ca very special place,\u201d is contributing not only his skill as an improviser and composer to Scotia Festival Young Artists but an original composition for oboe, electric guitar, string trio (Epomeo) and piano called FLOW.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m giving three 90-minute workshops for students to work on understanding how to approach a new piece, but also doing a bit of improvising to loosen them up. Just because you are learning a Beethoven sonata doesn\u2019t mean you have to turn off your own creative ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not an inherent contradiction between playing classical music and having your own ideas,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The biggest barrier to improvising and musical creation, he says, is fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that simple. People are afraid of making mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing is to get in a room, start talking, take these basic concepts and ideas and adapt. Once you get into creation mode, you have to let go of the concept of mistakes. It\u2019s a new piece so there can\u2019t be any mistakes. That\u2019s a big leap for people to take.\u201d<\/p>\n

With master classes, rehearsals and outreach programs in Halifax schools, Brady will be a busy guy. He also has to find time to practise. \u201cI can probably find an hour or two here and there. You find the time. You can\u2019t live without it, partly because you don\u2019t want to lose your chops. But at a certain point you practise because you like practising.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a certain pleasure in practising, even if I didn\u2019t have shows coming up. I can\u2019t imagine getting so old and crotchety. I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m going to practise guitar until they rip it out of my \u2014 what\u2019s the Charlton Heston line? \u2014 my \u2018cold, dead hands.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be busy. Yet, says managing director Chris Wilcox, \u201cthis festival is really the Ken Woods Scotia Festival. He came here as a young artist in 1993. He\u2019s been back several times and came back when we did Messiaen\u2019s Turangalila and Schoenberg\u2019s Pierrot Lunaire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s playing in four concerts, conducting three, giving a master class, and two outreach programs with his trio in schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilcox pointed out other highlights of this year\u2019s festival, including the rest of Friday\u2019s program, where Brady\u2019s premiere (We\u2019re Hardcore) shares space with Kurt Weill and Benjamin Britten.<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s electric guitar recital (June 2), Airi Yoshioka\u2019s violin recital and also solo works (June 2), the Berg Concerto for Violin and 13 Winds (June 4), the Adams Violin Concerto, along with the Threepenny Opera (version for winds) and, among other treasures, Denise Djokic playing the Shostakovich Cello Concerto (June 9) \u2014 all are highlight concerts and almost all the works are 20th century masterpieces we don\u2019t hear played in Halifax often, if at all.<\/p>\n

Plenty of music for learners, plenty of masterpieces for gourmet concert-goers, plenty of opportunities for young artists getting a taste of how insanely busy things can get in the life of a professional musician.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n