Erato Ensemble: Homegrown, Orpheum Annex, Saturday, July 8 at 8 p.m. Admission by donation with all proceeds going to fund next year’s season (eratoensemble.com).
Erato Ensemble plays orchestral music but don’t be fooled: this isn’t the classical you’re likely used to.
The musicians in the ensemble know all too well about the highly-specific expectations that can come up when performing the works of Bach or Mozart. That’s why for more than 10 years they have worked hard to defy expectations by premiering forward-thinking contemporary pieces, performing original compositions, as well as giving Canadian composers a space for their works to be heard.
Will George, who sings tenor with the ensemble and is also its co-founder, calls their style of music “art-song.”
“We call ourselves an art-song chamber ensemble, which is sort of a hybrid that we made up. Art-song is traditionally voice and piano, like Shubert, Fauré – like classical art-song. When you think of chamber music you usually think of string quartet or a piano trio, that kind of thing,” George explains.
But by adding piano, saxophone, flute, violin, cello and guitar into the mix – and even more when needed – the ensemble is able to produce big sounds with relatively few people.
Blending together voice and a wide-range of instruments isn’t necessarily the ensemble’s finest feature either. Though what exactly makes them special might be harder to pin down.
“One of our dilemmas has sort of been how to describe what we do because every concert we do is different. The instruments are a little bit different and the repertoire is different and a lot of the times the styles will be quite different. We might do something that’s more accessible and popular in one concert and then another concert that’s all quite avant-garde. Everything’s a little different,” George says.
When George and co-founder Catherine Laub started the ensemble in 2006, both were new to Vancouver.
George had moved here from New York a year earlier and was working on establishing himself in the city.
“I was just trying to find my way in and find out where I fit,” he says of his strives in Vancouver’s music scene.
Having found his way, the ensemble’s upcoming Homegrown concert is a 10th anniversary celebration for the group and will mark more than decade of successes.
The ensemble is no stranger to ambitious programming, often choosing a theme to accompany one of their concerts.
“It always has to be entertaining and fulfilling as well musically. But it’s nice to be able to add a little bit of a social element,” George says.
A show late last year they put on called The Living Ocean featured music and art-song performances inspired by the power, beauty and protection of the sea.
Another concert from May called Serenity was casually subtitled “Music for the End of Time.”
Homegrown’s program is just as aspiring and perhaps a tad sentimental.
“It’s our 10th anniversary and so many composers have written things for us that we’ve premiered and then you never hear from them again. We never do the piece again. We thought this is a great opportunity to give at least a second performance to a lot of these pieces,” George says.
He adds that there’s one new piece being featured in the concert, an original composition by the ensemble’s pianist, Michael Park, called Knitting Club that will essentially be a 10-minute mini-opera.
George says audiences can expect Homegrown to feature plenty of musical variety, moments that will draw from new age, avant-garde and classical.
He says what’s special about playing art-song music is that every player is forced into close-quarters co-operation that produces beautiful results.
“If you’re doing something where you’re the only one on your part,” he says. “Everybody is a soloist, but you’re all working together. It’s a very unique situation.”
