Welcome to 2018 - let's all make it a really good one!
It's looking like an excellent start to the year for me, and I'm looking forward to sharing details about everything over the coming months on my Concerts page. For now, here's a short overview:
My first big event of the year is January 20th at the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Art, with a day of technique and masterclasses that I'll be leading - I'm very excited to already have a number of attendees registered, but the more the merrier! Come for all of it, or part of it, and definitely stay for the recital I'll be playing at the end, featuring Adolf Misek's Opus 5 Sonata in G, and the Hans Werner Henze S. Biagio 9 Agosto Ore 1207.
Especially worth noting are the WSO New Music Festival (January 27- February 3) where we will be hosting Phillip Glass as a special guest and performing some of orchestral works. I could write all about it, but someone already did that, so go check it out at the official WNMF18 Website.
Also part of the New Music Festival (Feb 3) is a very special project called Dawson City: Frozen Time (this link is to the official trailer). From what I can piece together, it seems to be a feature-length movie created by stringing together fragments of silent films that were found in a Dawson City landfill. Dawson City was the end of the road for many silent movie film reels, and there are apparently some real gems in this presentation. I will be part of an ensemble playing music to accompany the screening of this, and tickets are available at Jazz Winnipeg's website.
In March, I'll be heading to Ottawa, then Toronto, to play with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in a program featuring Brahms' 2nd Symphony and Shostakovich's 2nd Piano Concerto. This is especially exciting for me because of the trip to Toronto, where we'll play at Roy Thompson Hall on March 24th - a hall I haven't played in since I was a teenager! Tickets for the Ottawa shows (March 22 and 23) here, and the Toronto show here.
On April 6th and 7th the WSO will be presenting Rachmaninoff's 2nd Symphony, which is an absolute joy to play and thrill to listen to. We're led by Jean-Marie Zeitouni, one of my favourite conductors that we've had the good fortune to work with several times over the past few years here, which makes this a perfect concert to look forward to in the spring.
Speaking of spring, when it rains it pours - the month of May brings a double-header Heldenleben for me, and there are few pieces I'd rather play so many times in the span of a couple weeks - first with the Winnipeg Symphony led by our Maestro Alexander Mickelthwate in our final concert of the season, then a couple weeks after in Ottawa with the NAC Orchestra and Maestro Alexander Shelley (Alexander = a hero's name, apparently!). After years of studying this piece for auditions, seeing it in concerts, and sneaking in to watch the Israel Phil rehearse it in Toronto, I finally get to perform this magnificent work with two great orchestras!
It's a really looking to be an exciting year with all these concerts and events. Best wishes to all for a happy and fulfilling 2018!