New Westben Young Musicians Scholarships Awarded
Charlotte Connell, Luke Bell, Samantha Marineau and Rebecca Dunk are the 4 recipients of the new Westben Young Musicians Scholarship Awards - a new initiative to support young musicians going on to post secondary musical education. Congratulations! Thanks to all participants in the Let it Be Concert June 4th that helped make this new Scholarship Fund possible.
Continue reading
Horizon Youth Concert - 3pm Today
The new Young Musicians Scholarships will be handed out today at the Horizon Youth Concert. Over 30 students from area music teachers will be performing at 3pm at The Barn. (Brochure misprinted 7pm but the concert is at 3 pm). This free concert will feature young pianists, singers, wind and brass players. 4 students persuing music at the post secondary level will be receiving the new Scholarships. Thanks to all the Let it Be Musicians who performed June 4th at The Barn and helped to make this scholarship program possible.
Continue reading
Back Into the Swing of Things
Good Morning!
I've returned to Westben for another summer and I've got to say, it feels like I never left! I hardly had enough time to catch up with Teresa on my previous year at the University of Ottawa, where I study Journalism, before I was set to work answering the telephone that always seems to be ringing off it's hook during these busy summer months! Already, the July 24th show Sunday at the Opera, with world reknowned soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, has completely sold out - it even has a waiting list on the go! It seems that one show isn't enough to showcase her talent. I am very much looking forward to seeing her perform at The Barn this summer just as I'm sure everyone else is as well!
This weekend is of course Haydn's Creation as performed by the Westben Festival Chorus and the Northumberland Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. What's special about this concert is that...
Continue reading
Creation Life imitates Art?
I mentioned to Donna today that I thought it was appropriate that as Westben prepares for The Creation next weekend (May 14th in Cobourg and May 15th in Campbellford) my small flock of sheep are "in creation" as well! There are now 5 new lambs on the farm with many more to go! I am often fortunate enough to witness the amazing (and yes often messy) arrival of a new life. One of my favourite passages in Haydn's Creation is Und Gott sprach: Es bringe die Erde hervor lebende Geschöpfe (And God said : Let earth bring forth the living creature) - of course I am a sucker for a bass voice anyway! And then in the next passage Gleich öffnet sich der Erde Schoß (At once Earth opens her womb) Haydn disarms me completely by remembering to include farm animals like my sheep after all the exotic lions, stags, tigers, etc. stalk through the music.
After this long and cold winter...
Continue reading
Making Music is a team sport
As I'm packing up to drive to London, Ontario to sing a Pops Concert with Orchestra London (Sunday May 1 at 2:30), I'm revelling in the excitement of performing with such a large group of musicians. It is definitely a team sport. We rehearse for months separately and then come together for the final rehearsal before the performance. Inspiration abounds when you join with other artists. One never really knows what the performance will be like until it happens. Often exciting nuances happen and it is truly exciting. May 14 & 15 bring another oppportunity for this magic to happen, with the collaboration of the Northumberland Orchestra and Choir and the Westben Festival Chorus and soloists.
Imagine a full symphony orchestra with a chorus of over 70 singers performing one of the greatest pieces of classical music ever written as spring sunshine streams through the stain...
Continue reading