Coming up this Thursday, August 1 at 7 p.m. at St. Andrews River Heights United Church there will be a fabulous concert that features music for woodwind quintet.
The Winnipeg based Canadian Bacon Wind Quintet will be performing a terrific program of music written almost entirely by Canadian composers. Composers such as John Estacio, and Elizabeth Raum will be heard as well as two premiere performances of music by Montreal Based composer Alexandra Fol and Winnipeg composer and clarinetist Chris Byman.
This is going to be a fantastic concert that features some of Winnipeg’s best wind players. The quintet consists of clarinetist Colin Mehmel, oboist Kim Pelltier, horn player Caroline Siverson, bassoonist Scott Miller, and Charmaine Bacon on flute.
One of the quintet's missions is to explore the standard woodwind quintet literature and to investigate literature a little further afield. For this concert they have selected a variety of works written by Canadian composers.
Much of the music was ordered through the Canadian Music Centre. With the advancements in technology, many of the scores were in PDF format, which made putting the concert together that much easier. “Three of the pieces we are playing we got through them [Canadian Music Centre] ...and so they sent it along within a couple of weeks; brand new fresh off the press just for us,” says Bacon.
One of the concert's highlights is that there will be two world premiere performances for wind quintet.
Winnipeg clarinetist and composer Chris Byman has written a piece for the quintet called Sky Harbour. This is a piece originally written for clarinet trio and then adapted for wind quintet. Bacon describes the piece as being incredibly descriptive and a joy to play. The inspiration for the music comes partly from a vacation that Byman took to Arizona. As Bacon explains, “The title is borrowed from the name of the airport in Phoenix, Arizona...in his head Chris was trying to picture a vibrant sky port filled with flying ships and sailing vessels of all sorts.”
The other new work on the program is music by the Montreal based composer Alexandra Fol. Her piece DWQ for double wind quintet will be performed. This is a commissioned work that came as a result of the friendship between Bacan and Fol. As Bacon states, “She [Fol] wrote a piece for solo flute which I went and played for her in Montreal. It was the Candain premiere....and she said, ‘you know for doing all that work I’m going to write you a super happy wind quintet.” The quintet morphed into a double wind quintet audiences will be able to hear this exciting new piece on Thursday night.
This is going to be a truly terrific concert. Admission is by donation at the door, and all the proceeds will go toward St. Andrews River Heights United Church.
For more details on this Thursday’s concert with the Canadian Bacon Wind Quintet click here.