The Red Deer Symphony Orchestra is offering up a full and varied slate of fabulous tunes via the ‘Museum of Curiosities’ concert, set for March 16 on the Arts Centre mainstage. Performance time is 8 p.m.
Highlights include Concerto for Harpsichord and Eight Instruments by R. Murray Schafer, Josef Schelb’s Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Ensemble and Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G Minor. There will also be selections from the 2012 Kiwanis Music Festival winners.
Featured guests for the performance include Neil Cockburn on harpsichord, Stan Climie on bass clarinet, Matthew Peavoy on piano and Bronwyn Kure on violin.
International prize-winning organist Cockburn has been a central figure in the development of a musical culture on the pipe organ in Calgary and western Canada since 2000 when he became head of organ studies at Mount Royal University, according to concert notes by RDSC Music Director Claude Lapalme.
He has also directed three pipe organ encounter camps in Calgary for young beginner organizes, and held the University of Calgary’s Cantos Music Foundation Organ Scholarship, a guest faculty position, celebrating the inauguration of the new North German Baroque organ built by the Ahrend Organ Company of Germany.
Climie is regarded as one of the foremost performers of the modern bass clarinet repertoire, notes Lapalme.
He has championed works by composers from around the world and is especially known for premiering new works written for solo bass clarinet.
For more than 30 years, he has been bass clarinetist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Climie is also known for his gregarious spirit, and is highly acclaimed as a chamber musician and plays a wide spectrum of music for a variety of combinations of instruments and performance venues as well.
“An enthusiast for music and the stage, Stan regularly performs in the pit for productions with Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, touring musical productions, Stage West and recorded the soundtrack for Old Trout Puppet Theatre’s Don Juan.”
Peavoy has studied many instruments over the years including piano, classical accordion, trombone, baritone and French horn.
He has studied piano since the age of four and classical accordion since the age of seven.
Rounding out the special guests is Kure, who enjoys performing with her family and as a member of the Red Deer Youth and Community Orchestra.
As Lapalme points out, variety in a concert is a terrific way to capture and maintain an audience’s attention.
“Different combinations of sounds, forms and styles can indeed add spice to an auditory life,” he writes. “Eclectic decorating, the combination of mismatched but high quality ornamental objects, is a popular way of setting up a living room and it does work.
“We have a variety of high quality gems to present and it is our belief that this eclecticism will keep this concert an entertaining one.”
For tickets call 403-755-6626 or visit www.blackknightinn.ca.
editor@reddeerexpress.com
