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Variety power

Douglas’ music faculty takes centre stage

STECINWAY & 5

@ Left to right: Erica Northcott, Joy eye Eric Hannan

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

ne of the occasional
highlights of the Arts at
One series is watching the

Douglas College faculty perform.
I’m not alone in that sentiment
either; Faculty Concerts, like last
Thursday’s show, tend to be the
most popular. To paraphrase one
enthusiastic student sitting behind
me in the Laura C. Muir Theatre,
they were watching their respective
teacher perform for the first time.

I’ve been to enough of these
shows now to notice just how close
the students of Douglas’ music
programs are with their respective
teachers; they look up to them,
and they want to see what their
professors are like during those
intimate moments on stage.

Six members of the Douglas
College music faculty performed
that afternoon. Instrumentalists
included guitar teacher Michael
Strutt, and piano teachers Barrie
Barrington and Ellen Silverman.

10

For the first time I got a chance to
hear some of the teachers sing as
well, including voice teacher Erica
Northcott (soprano), choir and
voice teacher Eric Hannan (tenor),
and even Music Coordinator Joy
Ollen (alto).

The concert began with Strutt
performing two guitar pieces, the
first being the sweet and upbeat
“Stella Australis,” by Argentinean
composer Maximo Diego Pujol.
“Stella Australis” was followed by
“Xango”, a somber piece by the
famous Brazilian composer Luiz
Bonfa. Strutt was then accompanied
by Northcott and Hannan for a
group piece entitled “Sweet Kate,”
an English-spoken 16" century folk
tune by Robert Jones. After Strutt
stepped off stage, Ollen joined
her fellow vocalists in singing
two classical a capella pieces. The
first was another English-spoken
tune, “Springtime Mantleth Every
Bough” by Thomas Morley, and the
second was the delightful “An den
Vetter” by Joseph Haydn, sung in

 

Austrian.

Barrington then took the stage,
performing a set of songs. The first
was a two-song movement entitled
“Promenade” and “Gnomus,”
taken from Russian composer
Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an
Exhibition. Pictures at an Exhibition
is a unique 10-movement suite
composed for a specific gallery of
paintings and sketches by artist
Viktor Hartmann, who would,
as Barrington explained, “walk
from one [painting] to the other,”
allowing “the pieces of music [to]
describe each work.” The next few
pieces were comedic selections from
The Notebook for Betty-Sue Bach, a
book of compositions by fictitious
Bach offspring, P.D.Q. Bach
(invented by satirist composer Peter
Schickele). The first piece was an
intentionally baffling composition,
mixing otherwise unrelated pieces
and styles of music together, and
the second required him to stomp
his foot, clap, or make strange
noises during the song; it was

pretty fantastic.

Afterwards, Northcott returned
to the stage, while Silverman took
over piano. The duo performed
four songs together; the first
three were “Auf ein altes Bild,”
“Ach, des Knaben Augen,” and
“Verborgenheit,” all by Austrian
composer Hugo Wolf. The final
piece of the night was “Moonfall,”
from the Tony Award-winning
musical Drood (previously The
Mystery of Edwin Drood).

Ending ona high note (I will
let that one sink in), the Faculty
Concert managed to be a fun and
entertaining event for everybody,
so be sure to check out next week’s
Arts at One concert (details below).

What: Arts at One presents Music
Intima Vocal Chamber Ensemble
Where: Laura C. Muir Performing
Arts Theatre

When: Thursday, January 26 (this
Thursday!)

Cost: Free!