This year marks the 50th anniversary of the University of Alberta Department of Music and the 100th anniversary of Convocation Hall, and the U of A season is jammed full of musical events.
Roger Admiral performs works by Bela Bartok at Convocation Hall on Sept. 19, followed by assorted sonatas from Mozart, Debussy and others as played by pianist Jacques Despres and violinist Andrew Wan Sept. 25, also at Convocation Hall. The hall also hosts a free celebratory concert on Sept. 27, and a pairing of violinist Guillaume Tardif and Roger Admiral in a set featuring Buzz and 15 for Piano by Howard Bashaw on Oct. 18.
Still at Convocation is a concert featuring flutist Shelley Younge, pianist Eileen Keown and cellist Colin Ryan in an intriguing program that includes George Crumb's Vox Balaenae (The Voice of the Whale) and Ellen Lindquist's Nakoda, portraying the alpha female of the Peter Lougheed wolf pack, on Nov. 1. Also at the home base is Violinissimo II, which features Tardif and Admiral on violin and piano respectively, on Jan. 15.
The action briefly shifts to the Winspear Centre with 50th-anniversary celebrations for the department, as students, alumni and faculty all come together for musical jubilation on Jan. 24. Back at Convocation Hall, Trio Voce perform Haydn and Mendelssohn on Jan. 29, after which the Winspear hosts the University of Alberta High School Honour Band Weekend on Feb. 7.
The final two concerts are also at the Winspear, as the Symphonic Wind Ensemble tackle everything from Renaissance to electronica on March 20, and the U of A Symphony roll up their sleeves for a go at Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Tchaikovsky's Fantasy Overture to Romeo and Juliet and Penderecki's To the Victims of Hiroshima.
(This UAlberta Music news story has been excerpted from the full Edmonton Journal article.)