This Saturday, August 19th and on Saturday August 26th, the 18th annual Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival will take place. Over the past 18 years the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival has featured the renowned faculty members of Brandon University, as well as artists and composers such as James Campbell, Jim Hiscott, Sid Robinovitch, and Ron Paley to name just a few.
The Festival takes place in two locations. The first concert on Saturday, August 19th will be held at Brandon University’s Lorne Watson Recital Hall. There are then two concerts on Saturday, August 26th. These two concerts will take place in Erickson, Manitoba at Erickson Lutheran Church.
The concerts promise to be a wonderful mixture of classical hits, Latin gems for piano and voice as well as music written by the great titan of the piano Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov.
The concert in Brandon on the 19th will consist entirely of the music of Rachmaninov. The performers will be Alexander Tselyakov who is a Full Professor of Piano at Brandon University, and his son, the award winning pianist Daniel Tselyakov. The decision to feature Rachmaninov’s music coincides with the 150th anniversary of Rachmaninov’s birth and also the 80th anniversary of his death. Rachmaninov’s music has been a big inspiration to both of the Tselyakovs. As Daniel Tselyakov explains, “Rachmaninov was the first composer I got into classical music with ….I heard it around the home when I was a child. For me his music always touches the heart. His music has been a big inspiration for both me and my father. I can’t wait for this concert it is really going to be exciting.”
The Rachmaninov concert will consists primarily of miniatures for the piano. Music for both piano two and four hands will be heard, as well as some of Rachmaninov’s transcriptions for the piano of music by other composers such as Bach and Tchaikovsky.
The four hand piano music will put father and son together at the bench. The pair of them will be playing Rachmaninov’s Six Pieces for Piano four Hands op. 11. “I think when he wrote these pieces…he meant to play them with his students, because the primo or first part is incredibly difficult, and the second part has just juicy nice chords. I’ll be playing the primo part and my father will be playing the juicy chords,” chuckles Daniel.
Part two of the Clear Lake Chamber music festival will consist of two concerts that will both take place in Erickson at the Erickson Lutheran Church. The first performance will be a morning concert that takes place at 10:30 on Saturday, August 26th. This concert will consist of light classical works, excerpts from musicals, tangos and jazz influenced pieces. “This concert is perfect for audience members who are not very habituated to classical music. The music is all very light…it’s going to be a lot of fun,” says Daniel.
The concert will also feature Montreal soprano Lea Weilbrenner, singing such Latin American tunes as Bésame Mucho, and Ariel Ramirez’s stunningly beautiful Alfonsina y el mar, amongst other well known pieces.
The final concert of the Clear Lake Chamber Music Festival will take place at 7:30pm at Erickson Lutheran Church on the 26th, and will be a candlelight concert consisting of music from the pops that will be absolutely charming. “This is a very atmospheric, very romantic concert. If you want a perfect concert to go with your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, or wife this is perfect. It’s going to be very intimate,” explains Tselyakov. The 2023 Clear Lake Chamber Music festival truly has something for everyone. These three concerts in Brandon and Erickson should not be missed.
Tickets are:
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Adults $30 or $35 at the door
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Seniors and Students $20 or $25 at the door
To order tickets Contact Brandon University School of Music
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204-727-9631
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204-571-6547
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Email burba@brandonu.ca
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