Sunday, October 1, 2023
Monday, October 2, 2023
Saturday, October 28, 2023
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Monday, November 20, 2023
Monday, January 8, 2024
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Monday, February 12, 2024
Sunday, March 3, 2024
Monday, March 4, 2024
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Monday, April 29, 2024
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Monday, May 6, 2024
Did you know that the Gryphon Trio’s violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon was born and raised in Calgary? We asked her six questions about her musical upbringing in Calgary, and we learned that she attended Calgary Pro Musica concerts growing up! The Gryphon Trio returns to Calgary on November 19 & 20 for its 30th anniversary concert and its fourth CPM appearance (after previous concerts, all in November, in 1996, 2014 and 2016). Read Annalee’s responses below.
Q: How did growing up in Calgary shape your musical development?
A: Growing up in Calgary at the time was a unique opportunity. The Suzuki Program was just beginning and my mother wanted her daughters (I was the oldest) to learn a musical instrument. I met my first influential teacher, Alison Sloan, through the program, and she then introduced me to Dr. Lise Elson, the teacher most formative for me from the ages of 7 to 16. Dr. Elson encouraged me to travel and play for other performers and pedagogues during the year and in the summers; some of these people became my mentors after I left for University. I also met at a young age fellow musicians whom I continue to encounter, perform or work with as colleagues to this day.
Q: What is special about Calgary as a training ground for classical musicians?
A: What I needed for my musical development at the time was available in Calgary. Talent is evident everywhere in young people, but what helps a person shine is being in the right place at the right time with inspired guidance and mentorship. I feel lucky to have been where I was, when I was.
Q: As Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto, what perspectives or reflections might you offer about the training you received from Dr. Lise Elson and in the Mount Royal Conservatory Young Artists Program?
A: I was one of the lucky ones that benefitted from exceptional training from Dr. Elson and rigorous instruction through the various courses at the Mount Royal Conservatory. I now reflect more so on how the musical scene has changed from when I was a student. That requires a personal awareness of how my musical education and subsequent career were very different from my mentors and an acknowledgement that it will also be very different for my students. Training today involves more than just the important fundamentals – it must also include the tools to navigate an ever-changing musical world.
Q: How much of a role did the Banff Centre play in the musical life of Calgary during your musical development?
A: The Banff Centre was one of those places that provided what I needed when I needed it. As a teenager I met and worked with informative pedagogues from around the world (some of whom I went on to study with at Indiana University and elsewhere). In my early professional career, Banff provided a space for me to reflect and work as part of intensive residencies. Later on, Banff Centre was where the Gryphon Trio recorded two celebrated albums and eventually workshopped and premiered in concert a new work by celebrated composer Christos Hatzis. It was also a place from where some of my most important friendships were formed and where musical colleagues and connections emerged from. The Centre has changed from when the incredible team of Tom and Isobel Rolston were at the helm, but for me – it was the right place at the right time.
Q: Calgary Pro Musica was founded as a concert series in 1976 by Talmon Hertz, the cellist of the Calgary-based Hertz Trio. Did you know about Calgary Pro Musica while you were growing up? Did you hear the Hertz Trio, and did you ever attend a CPM concert before your Gryphon Trio performances here?
A: Yes, Yes and yes!
In its early years CPM primarily presented the Hertz Trio, so this society began as a series highlighting the piano trio. Did you know about Calgary Pro Musica while you were growing up? Did you ever hear the Hertz Trio, and did you ever attend a CPM concert before your Gryphon Trio performances here?
Q: What might surprise Calgary’s audiences about your upcoming 30th anniversary concert?
A: I think I can safely say what is unique about our group and the 30 year anniversary – I don’t know of many groups that can claim to be the same founding members since its inception. The more interesting question might be “How have you remained together for so long?”! For that answer one has to come to the concert to find out!
Curious to learn more about Annalee? Here is another another article that discusses Annalee’s musical beginnings in Calgary:
https://artsfile.ca/chamberfest-of-gryphons-and-scar-tissue-with-annalee-patipatanakoon/.
We are absolutely thrilled to congratulate Calgary Pro Musica’s Education Advisor Samantha Whelan Kotkas [link to yadp page] and her team on winning a Rosie for Best Musical, or Variety Program or Series for her magnificent film “Wandering with Wonder” at the AMPIA awards in Edmonton on Saturday, September 30.
Writer/Producer/Performer Samantha assembled an extensive all-star cast of musicians, composers, performers, artists, producers and technical directors to create this stunning musical film with live orchestra. Wonder, a magical young (puppet) woman loses her song, but while wandering through nature, her friends Turtle, Bear, Beaver and Eagle help her find it again.
This gorgeous film is available to stream for free on YouTube, but only until Saturday, October 14. Set aside an hour in the coming week to be transported by Samantha’s heartwarming story, “Wandering with Wonder”’s glorious original score, the beauty of Alberta’s Foothills and so much more. Discover the magic of “Wandering with Wonder.”
Created, performed and produced by Samantha. Calgary Pro Musica Artistic Director Dean O’Brien played principal viola, Green Fools Artistic Director Dean Bareham directed this film and Young Artists Development Program violinist Isaac Willocks performed with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Claude LaPalme.
Visit Samantha’s website page “Wandering with Wonder: The Orchestral Experience” to better appreciate the scope of this amazing project and her band of exceptional collaborators.
Catch the full film as well as more of the Red Deer Symphony’s performances on their YouTube channel
@claude_lapalme
@matteppmusic
@chrisandrewpianoguy
@walterwhitebear
@indigenousmusic
@instapj71
@jordanandrew.music
@greenfools
@deanfool
@yukichikattori
@rebbekahogden
@anni.christina36
@sillygoatstudio
@tim_shantz
@luminous_voices
@Red Deer Symphony
@Roadwest Pictures
Friday, October 27 – Talmon Hertz Legacy Series MASTERCLASS
**New time** 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Masterclass with Joel Frederiksen at the Rozsa Centre
Saturday, October 28 – CONCERT
7:15 PM Pre-Concert Talk with Joel Frederiksen in the CIBC Hub Room
7:30 PM Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall Opens to Ticket Holders
8:00 PM Concert at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall (1 intermission)
9:45 PM Post-Concert Reception in the Rozsa Centre Lobby
* The concert is ticketed ($45 Adults, $35 Seniors/Students, $5 Student Rush Tickets up to 30 minutes before the concert). Buy individual tickets or a subscription on our website.
* This concert is the first of our three Horizons Series concerts. Subscriptions to all three concerts are available for $95 for Adults or $75 for Seniors/Students and can be purchased on our website. Pro-rated Masters Series and Combo subscriptions are still available. Call CPM’s office at 403 244 8277.
* All Calgary Pro Musica masterclasses are free and open to the public.
All events take place at the Rozsa Centre, University of Calgary.
Charting a sonic odyssey, the award-winning Eunice Kim and Xavier Foley perform a sparkling mix of violin and bass duos and solos. Inventive and engaging together on stage, the pair began their journey while students at the famed Curtis Institute, playing and improvising in exploration of their two stringed
instruments.
“Together, the two musicians become much more than a duet.”
— Columbus Dispatch
Feb 11 & 12, 2024
The Danish String Quartet celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2022-23, and the GRAMMY®-nominated quartet continues to assert its preeminence among the world’s finest string quartets. Formed when they were in their teens, they are renowned for impeccable musicianship, sophisticated artistry, exquisite clarity of ensemble, and, above all, an unmatched ability to play as one.
“There are simply two kinds of string quartets: the Danish, and the others.”
— Boston Classical Review
Mar 3 & 4, 2024
For 10 years, cellist Elinor Frey has been searching for the most beautiful Baroque cello music from Italy, the country where cello music first appeared. Her ensemble, Accademia de’ Dissonanti, performs various sonatas from the famous Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi to the little-known music for the early cello by Giuseppe Clemente Dall’Abaco, Antonio Vandini, and Angelo Maria Fiorè, all cellists famous in their time, but now nearly forgotten. Elinor’s CD of Early Italian Cello Concertos, with Rosa Barocca conducted by Claude Lapalme, won a 2023 JUNO Award for Classical Album of the Year (Small Ensemble).
“In her hands, the possibilities of the Baroque cello are endless…”
— Electric Review
Apr 13, 2024
inners of the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022, the New York City-based Isidore String Quartet was formed in 2019 with a vision to revisit, rediscover, and reinvigorate the repertory. The quartet is heavily influenced by the Juilliard String Quartet and the idea of approaching the established as if it were brand new, and the new as if it were firmly established.
“Exquisite poise and balance…the Isidore projected the infinite variety that Beethoven mines. Time stood still…exceptional”
— Chicago Classical Review
Apr 28, 2024
Come and enjoy an afternoon listening to stories and some of Canada’s finest musicians. Storyteller/Musician Samantha Whelan Kotkas and her friends will entertain you and your children with musical interactive tales of child accessible hikes in the Rocky Mountains.
Recommended for children aged 5 to 12 but created with the entire family in mind.
The Young Artists Development Program is intended to discover, nurture and promote young Calgary musicians. The resources of Calgary Pro Musica allow us to offer unique opportunities for emerging musicians in Calgary. Participants in the Program receive exclusive instruction from the prestigious CPM visiting artists, prepare and perform a series of school concerts, receive career development instruction and scholarship support. Many of our alumni are already enjoying successful music careers of their own.
Come hear Calgary’s finest young talent showcased in this special event concert.
May 5 & 6, 2024
Firmly established as one of the leading quartets of its generation, the Doric String Quartet receives enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics across the globe. With repertoire ranging from Haydn through to Bartok, Ades and Brett Dean, the Quartet’s schedule takes them to the leading concert halls around the world including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Konzerthaus, Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, Louvre, Carnegie Hall and Kioi Hall Tokyo as well as regular performances at Wigmore Hall.
Doric String Quartet led a spellbinding series of concerts, rich in variety, impeccable in execution.
— The Guardian
Nov 19 & 20, 2023
Oct 28, 2023
“A Day with Suzanne” by Joel Frederiksen and Ensemble Phoenix Munich is a special homage to Cohen, establishing an intimate connection between the Cohen songs, the chansons of the French Renaissance and early English music.
“a triumph in creative play and thoughtful synthesis…an extremely rich listening experience”
— Gramophone Magazine
Now in its second decade, the Israeli Chamber Project is a dynamic ensemble comprising strings, winds, harp, and piano, that brings together some of today’s most distinguished musicians for chamber music concerts and educational and outreach programs both in Israel and abroad.
“These players have to be heard to be believed.”
— American Record Guide