The Blueridge International Chamber Music Festival, remaining concerts on Aug. 15 (Ciel, Air et Vents) at 7 p.m., Aug. 20 (A Fine Romance) at 7 p.m. and Aug. 23 (Five Years in the Zoo) at 2 p.m., all at Mount Seymour United Church, 1200 Parkgate Ave., North Vancouver. Tickets: $20/$10. Visit www.blueridgechamber. org for the complete program.
What started out as an excuse for a few friends to play classical music together has grown into an established festival that draws a roster of accomplished musicians to North Vancouver every summer.
This month, Mount Seymour United Church is again playing host to the Blueridge International Chamber Music Festival, which is celebrating its fifth birthday.
"It started out as a very personal project and it's kind of taken on a life of its own," says artistic director Dorothea Hayley, who lends her soprano voice to the concert series.
"The whole point of chamber music is really that people get together and enjoy playing it," she explains. "It's more a recent idea that you think about the pleasure of the audience."
The festival was cofounded by Hayley, who grew up in the Blueridge neighbourhood, and Colombian pianist Alejandro Ochoa. This year's lineup of local and international artists include Hayley and Ochoa, along with Ariel Barnes (cello), Jennie Press (violin), Paolo Bortolussi (flute), Marcus Takizawa (viola), Jeremy Chaulk (piano), Martin Karlicek (piano), Krista Martynes (clarinet), Mark Beaty (double bass) and Timothy Van Cleave (percussion).
As in previous years, the organizers aim to offer audiences a range of classical music.
"We have always tried to have a mixture between the great staples of the chamber music repertoire that people love to hear over and over again, as well as pieces that people might not know, or might not have heard, but that we feel really strongly deserve to also be in the cannon."
A couple of those great staples will be performed at the festival finale on Aug. 23 (which will also serve as a fifth birthday celebration - complete with cake). The musicians will play Schubert's Trout Quintet, "which is a piece that everybody knows" and Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals "which will be performed with some humorous poetry in between the movements and also there will be a visual component, so that's a great concert for kids to go to," Hayley says. "That would be a great first classical concert for anyone."
She is also eager to introduce concert-goers to some more obscure works, two of which will be presented at the Aug. 20 show.
"We have an amazing piece by Martinu for violin and viola that I had never heard before this year - it's called Three Madrigals," she says. Another lesser-known gem set for the same evening is Shostakovich's Seven Romances for a soprano and piano trio "which is a rare combination, but really beautiful and moving."
Coinciding with the concert series is the festival's two-week intensive workshop for musicians aged eight to 18, which runs Aug. 11 to 22, during which time students tackle solo and chamber music under professional instruction.
"For kids, often musicmaking can be a little bit of a lonely process, especially for pianists - you spend a lot of time practising," Hayley says. "We wanted to have an opportunity for kids from quite a young age to get to know what we think is the real joy of music, which is being able to communicate musically with your peers."
It's those peer-to-peer relationships that draw Hayley to chamber music.
"It's this intimate connection. It's a really democratic kind of art," she explains of the genre. Rather than one person leading the small group, everyone works together, whether they are long-time collaborators or practical strangers.
"Somehow, over the course of a few rehearsals - usually very few rehearsals - you sort of throw ideas around musically and come up with something that is unique to the group."
That intimacy and spirit of spontaneity come across to the audience, Hayley says, creating an atmosphere well suited to the quiet, treeshrouded venue of Mount Seymour United Church.
"It's a very relaxed setting, people don't need to dress up. We have a relaxed pre-concert talk before each concert," she says. "It's just a really pleasant summer experience."
