The Gypsy Romance, presented by Lions Gate Sinfonia, featuring violinist Patricia Shih and the Lions Gate Youth Orchestra, Saturday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 p.m., at North Vancouver’s Centennial Theatre. Tickets: $39/$35/$12, visit lionsgatesinfonia.com.
It will be a family affair for violinist Patricia Shih when she takes centre stage Saturday night as the featured soloist at Lions Gate Sinfonia’s The Gypsy Romance.
The Borealis String Quartet member will not only be joined onstage by her husband, violist and fellow quartet member Nikita Pogrebnoy, she’ll also share the spotlight with their nine-year-old son, Nicholas, a rising violinist in his own right.
When asked what it’s like living in a household with so many dedicated artists, Shih laughs.
“It can sometimes be very loud, but I’m used to it. I grew up with two sisters who are both musicians – (they’re) living in Germany right now. Nothing’s changed,” she says.
The Surrey resident is excited to be joining Lions Gate Sinfonia for the performance, part of the orchestra’s 2016-2017 concert season. While it’s her debut with the organization, she has collaborated with its founding conductor and music director Clyde Mitchell countless times over the years.
Shih’s son is set to join her for Bach’s “Concerto for Two Violins.”
“That’s actually the first piece I performed when I was a youngster, it was my first public performance,” she says, adding Nicholas will be following in her footsteps as the concert will mark his orchestral debut.
Her husband will join her on Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante.”
Shih is also looking forward to sharing the stage with some musical friends, including composer Michael Conway Baker, who will play piano on some of the featured music. Conway Baker’s piece,
“Canticle for an Angel,” written specifically for her, is also part of the evening’s program.
“It’s a beautiful piece. Michael’s writing is always really accessible to the audience. … He speaks from the soul,” says Shih.
The pair have been friends for many years and he has penned a number of works for her as well as for the Borealis String Quartet.
Shih is pleased that her student, Nicholas Belluk, is being featured in the performance as well. Saturday’s concert is another of Lions Gate Sinfonia’s Side by Side Concerts, which are intended to give members of the group’s sister Lions Gate Youth Orchestra an opportunity to join the professional musicians onstage. Belluk serves as concertmaster of the Lions Gate Youth Orchestra.
Other repertoire on the evening’s program includes Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony” and Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances.”
Apart from this weekend’s performance in North Vancouver, Shih maintains a busy schedule with the Vancouver-based Borealis String Quartet, founded in 2000.
Since 2014, the quartet has served as Quartet in Residence at Langley’s Kwantlen Polytechnic University. The ensemble is pleased to have a home base there and its main focus is outreach. Quartet members are continuing to work to expand their role at the institution, for example, next year they’re planning to launch a music festival focused on chamber music and composers.
Borealis is presenting a joint concert with Kwantlen Nov. 20 at the Surrey Arts Centre, entitled Out of Darkness into Light.
“The first piece that we’re playing is actually “In the Dark,” literally in the dark. It’s a piece by Georg Friedrich Haas, a German composer. We played it in Italy this summer as well,” says Shih, referring to Haas’s String Quartet No. 3, “In iij Noct.”
They hope the experience of listening to music in total darkness will offer audience members a chance to experience something completely unique.
Other works on the program include those by Shostakovich, Haydn and Vancouver’s Farshid Samandari.
The quartet is scheduled to perform a number of upcoming Concerts in Care as part of their involvement in the Health Arts Society.
“It’s a society that we’re really passionate about,” says Shih, referring to the organization, which presents live professional arts programs to people, often the elderly, in various health care sites.
“Many people, after the concert, you can see them almost in tears. … It’s very meaningful for the quartet and we have a close relationship with the Health Arts Society and it’s something we’d love to continue to develop and maintain,” she says.
Shih credits the continued success and longevity of the Borealis String Quartet, which is also currently serving as a Quartet in Residence at the Langley Community Music School, with the strong personal relationships between the four players.
“When they say it’s like a marriage, they weren’t kidding,” she says, with a laugh.
In addition, she says there’s no shortage of great music, from the past and present, to choose from that continues to inspire them.
“It’s just such a tradition and such a major part of classical music because many of the greatest composers, such as Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart, Brahms, so many of the greatest works I would say are written for the string quartet, and we have the privilege of working on them,” she says.
