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Is there a better time to head indoors for some great music than the dark wet days of a West Coast November? Whatever the weather brings us, there are fine things to sample in the weeks before the holiday season.
For example, Nov. 1 marks the beginning of music director Paula Kremer’s last season at the helm of the Vancouver Cantata Singers. The 7:30 p.m. program at Pacific Spirit United Church includes a number of shorter, newish choral favourites, plus an absolute masterwork as the program’s anchor: Vaughan Williams’s neo-Renaissance Mass, created in 1921 for use in London’s Westminster Cathedral.
The next day, Nov. 2 at 3 p.m., the Vancouver Recital Society showcases the Canadian debut of Scottish guitar virtuoso Sean Shibe, a former BBC New Generation Artist and the winner of a prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. Shibe has put together a remarkable playlist that includes a Bach cello suite arranged for guitar, the Quatre Pièces Brèves of Swiss neoclassicist Frank Martin, and contemporary works by Thomas Adès and Steve Reich, among others. Not at all your standard guitar recital.
Music on Main’s Modulus Festival offers more new music during its four-day run, Nov. 7-10, with several concerts at The Roundhouse and The Annex. A Saturday 3 p.m. matinee on Nov. 8 at The Annex is devoted to the music of Dorothy Chang, the composer star of the University of British Columbia’s School of Music. Performers for Shelter: Music by Dorothy Chang include Paolo Bortolussi and Mark Takeshi McGregor, flutes and kick drums; Janelle Nadeau, harp; Nicole Linaksita, piano; and Jonathan Lo, cello.
The Vancouver Chopin Society hosts pianist Kyohai Sorita on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. at the Vancouver Playhouse. Sorita starts with late Brahms, one of his Choral Preludes, then backtracks to his early Sonata in F minor. All four of Chopin’s glorious Scherzos complete the program.
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra offers a mid-month treat: Pianist Louis Lortie will perform both of Maurice Ravel’s concertos — the jazzy yet tough-minded Concerto for the Left Hand, and the more genial Piano Concerto in G. More Ravel follows, the enchanting Mother Goose Suite; the Concerto for Orchestra by the contemporary British composer George Benjamin rounds out a fascinating program Nov. 14 and 15 at 7:30 p.m. Otto Tausk conducts.
That same weekend, on Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., the pride and joy of Toronto’s early music scene, Tafelmusik baroque Orchestra, plays at UBC’s Chan Centre. The program is a mixed bag, combining music by Lully and Avison with works by Telemann, Bach and Handel. The real draw is baroque violinist extraordinaire Rachel Podger, who leads the ensemble.
Then, on Nov. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church Cathedral, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra brokers an all-star chamber concert, featuring VSO concertmaster Nicholas Wright, cellist Henry Shapard (back in town from his commitments in London), and pianist Louis Lortie. The concert features Kodály’s demanding Duo for violin and cello plus two favourite French piano trios, by Fauré and Ravel.
Finally, at the very end of the month is a quirky pairing of Mozart and Shostakovich with a curtain raiser by Samy Moussa thrown in for extra value. Pianist Zlata Chochieva essays Mozart’s D minor Piano Concerto, K. 466. Then it’s time for Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony “The Year 1905″ — a controversial opus that reflects events of the abortive Revolution of 1905. Guest conductor Joshua Weilerstein presides. Performances are Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Orpheum.
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