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Building up to BISQC: the jury is in

by on April 11, 2013 in Arts, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Music

Earlier this month I dropped into one of the studios in our Music building to meet with three people who had just made a very large decision. Or more like a series of very large decisions. Norman Fischer, Roger Tapping, and Jerzy Kaplanek are all preliminary jury members for the 11th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC). Working with BISQC director Barry Shiffman, they spent most of Easter weekend narrowing down the field to ten quartets who will be coming to Banff in August to compete.

BISQC preliminary jury (from right) Jerzy Kaplanek, Roger Tapping, and Norman Fischer, with BISQC director Barry Shiffman. Photo: Don Lee.

Each quartet was asked to send an unedited DVD with close to an hour of music, chosen from a selection of Haydn, early Beethoven, 20th century compositions, and Romantic pieces. It’s the first year that quartets have been asked to send a video. “I was pleasantly surprised at the level of preparation (of the entries)”, Fischer says. “I was expecting it to be easier to eliminate people.” Kaplanek agreed: “With all the groups we had, we would have thought we’d come to a conclusion a little easier.”

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Commissions expand horizons for two prize-winning BISQC quartets

by on December 4, 2012 in Arts, Banff, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Classical, Events, Festivals, General, Music

The Cecilia String Quartet, grand prize winner in the 2010 Banff International String Quartet Competition, will premiere a new work commissioned by The Banff Centre in 2013.

The excitement for the 11th Banff International String Quartet Competition is building, with ticket packages now on sale. As you decide which events you don’t want to miss August 26 through September 1, here’s a story following two of BISQC’s 2010 prize-winning quartets.

Two of Canada’s most celebrated young string quartets will step into the jazz arena next year, thanks to the support of the Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC) and The Banff Centre.

Two-and-a-half years after taking home first and second prize respectively from the competition, the Cecilia and Afiara String Quartets will premiere two new works in 2013, both commissioned by The Banff Centre. In May, the Cecilia Quartet debuts Camino De Cruces, a new piano quintet by master jazz artist Danilo Pérez. Also in 2013, the Afiara Quartet will perform a new work (untitled at this point) composed by Uri Caine, a certified musical polymath and celebrated jazz pianist.

“If I had to create a list of the top jazz pianists of our time, it would include Uri Caine, Danilo Pérez, and Vijay Iyer [director of The Banff Centre’s jazz program]” says Barry Shiffman, co-artistic director of the Centre’s summer music programs and director of BISQC. “So it’s really exciting to create the potential for synergy between the BISQC quartets and the incredible Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music that Vijay directs.” Continue Reading →

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Can you teach a ‘new bird’ old tricks?

by on November 29, 2012 in Arts, Banff, Banff International String Quartet Competition, General, Music, Videos

Sam Zygmuntowicz, one of the most established living luthiers, signs his name to the violin he crafted for The Banff Centre’s 75th anniversary.

The culture of fine stringed instruments can resemble that of fine wine: rarefied, shrouded as much in myth as science, and with a stronger appetite for the aged than Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate. Few challenge the exquisiteness of the great classic string instruments – the Strads, Amatis, and Guarneris. But some experts claim that, thanks to years of research and innovation, today’s luthiers (stringed instrument makers) are capable of producing instruments that rival the merits of the classics. Notwithstanding, the ‘old birds’, as luthiers call the classics, are still highly coveted by players and even more so by collectors, going for millions at auction while their newer counterparts seldom fetch more than $50K a fiddle.

The Banff Centre’s Instrument Bank, which lends stringed instruments (violin, viola, and cello) and bows to outstanding young Canadian string players, boasts an eclectic mixture of old and new birds. Its most recent addition is a violin by Sam Zygmuntowicz, one of the most established living luthiers. As a someone celebrated for his imitations of classic violins – his 1994 Guarneri model sold for $130,000, setting a record for modern stringed instruments – he both reveres the classics and believes that what’s most venerable about their form can now be reproduced, and indeed improved upon. “Don’t ask the question ‘What makes a Strad great?’ ” he was quoted in The New York Times as saying. “Ask the question ‘What are the attributes of great violins, and what makes this violin different than another?’ Continue Reading →

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Honens winner Pavel Kolesnikov has the undeniable “goosebump factor”

by on November 26, 2012 in Arts, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Classical, Events, Festivals, General, Music

Pavel Kolesnikov, the 2012 winner of the Honens International Piano Competition, will join us here at The Banff Centre in the Music program, and will record his first CD with our audio department in the coming months. Photo by Colin Way

The Banff Centre has been working hand-in-hand with the Honens International Piano Competition for many years. This autumn, I joined several members of The Banff Centre’s audio department to travel to Calgary to record the finals. In a tense final, Pavel Kolesnikov became this year’s prize laureate. Over the next three years he will take part in The Banff Centre’s Music program and record his first CD here.

In this audio piece we hear from Stephen McHolm, president and artistic director of Honens, Theresa Leonard, director of the Audio Program at The Banff Centre, and Pavel Kolesnikov himself, as well as hearing sounds and ambiance dipped in the buzz and excitement of the Honens competition finals.

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Festival highlights: Day six

by on November 1, 2012 in Arts, Banff, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival, Events, Festivals, Film & Media, General, Literary Arts

Canadian conservationist, writer, and broadcaster David Suzuki in conversation with Dasho Kinley Dorji, journalist and Secretary of Information and Communications for the mountain kingdom of Bhutan. Their subject? Gross National Happiness, and how the concept might benefit the world at large. Photo: Kim Williams.

 

Carol Shaben speaking about her book Into the Abyss; a story where a rookie pilot, a prominent politician, a young constable, and a criminal are the only survivors of a 1984 plan crash in the remote and frozen wilderness of northern Alberta. Photo: Don Lee.

 

Day six of the Festival and a lively discussion on The Best Mountain Book Ever Written with mountain literature experts Jon Popowich, Harry Vandervlist, Bernadette McDonald, Stephen Venables, and Geoff Powter. Photo: Don Lee.

 

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Ana Sokolovic: Exploring uncharted territory

by on July 25, 2012 in Arts, Banff, Banff International String Quartet Competition, Banff Summer Arts Festival, Classical, Dance, Events, Festivals, General, Music, Musical Theatre, Theatre

Portrait of Ana Sokolovic courtesy Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec © Donat.

“Here at The Banff Centre, I’m pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, because as an artist, I believe this is the only way I can move forward with my craft,” says composer and musician Ana Sokolovic. She came to The Banff Centre this spring with the Bozzini Quartet and choreographer Marc Boivin to work on herfirst self-prompted, multi-genre collaboration, called Commedia Ruzzante.

As a composer, Sokolovic has created more than 40 works,including compositions for stage, opera, orchestra, voice, and chamber ensembles (the Societe de musique contemporaine du Quebec’s (SMCQ) Homage Series has devoted its entire 2011 – 2012 season repertoire to her work, celebrating its scope, diversity, and quality). “In the past, the music I created just touched on one particular part of my personality, and of my creativity. With this project I’m incorporating more of myself – my love for theatre, stage, dance, and music – into one project.”

After receiving two 15-minute commissions around the same time – one for the 2010 Banff International String Quartet Competition and one for the Bozzini Quartet— Sokolovic decided to combine both into one long piece and include Boivin’s choreography. “I wanted to create something that was not limited to 15 minutes, and I had a very profound, artistic, human instinct that we would all go well together,” she says.

Inspired by the comedies of 16th century playwright and actor Angelo Beolco (also known by his nickname Il Ruzzante), Sokolovic wanted to explore the connection between dance, music, and role playing with her collaboration. “Growing up, I always knew I wanted to be a composer but I also have a love of the dramatic arts,” Sokolovic explains. “I’m trying to incorporate my passion for theatre – this side of my personality – into this project.”

Workshopping Commedia Ruzzante in Banff. Photo: Kim Williams.

Before coming to Banff to perfect the performance and work on stage, the group had been meeting together for over a year. “You’ll see that there are some elements of this piece that can only come from a friendly familiarity between all parties, and that’s from taking such a long time to get to know each other artistically.”

That familiarity has also given Sokolovic the freedom to do something else she’s never done before: allow the Bozzini Quartet to improvise with her music. “It’s the first time in my life that I’m allowing someone to improvise with my project, because I’m usually very controlling of the whole thing,” she says with a laugh.

Coming up, Sokolovic, Boivin, and the Bozzini Quartet, plan to evolve their performance of Commedia Ruzzante through summer and fall residencies at Circuit-Est Centre Chorégraphique and Agora de La Danse, where the work will have its Montreal premiere on October 24th, 2012.

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