GUELPH – The music of Claude Debussy will be a common thread in Romantic Impressions, the 13th season of the Guelph Musicfest
The festival begins on May 31 at the Guelph Youth Music Centre (GYMC) with the internationally-renowned Rolston String Quartet.
Award-winning young performers bookend the 2019 festival.
The Rolston String Quartet is the most recent winner of the Banff International quartet competition.
Serving up the finale on June 21 is Montreal pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin, silver medalist at the Chopin International in Warsaw.
In the middle, Vancouver violinist David Gillham performs in recital with Musicfest director/pianist Ken Gee on June 7.
The popular Festival Trio, featuring violinist Sadie Fields, cellist Paul Pulford and Ken Gee, returns on Friday June 14.
All the concerts are at 7:30pm in the acoustically perfect Recital Hall of the Guelph Youth Music Centre, 75 Cardigan St., Guelph.
Last year’s catchy theme was Shamelessly Romantic and this year it is Romantic Impressions.
It indicates the running thread of Debussy in every concert, from Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor (Rolston Quartet), Violin Sonata (David Gillham), Cello Sonata (Paul Pulford) and Images (Charles Richard-Hamelin).
Plus there is the brilliant Ravel Violin Sonata (Sadie Fields).
Director Ken Gee said, “I adore Debussy and Ravel deeply, and welcome the chance to explore and find new musical ideas and nuances in the sonata performances with my friends, and enjoy the insights of the great performers in the series.”
The Rolston String Quartet recently completed two years in residence at Yale.
Reviews have been positive, with Musical Toronto saying, “The Rolston String Quartet performed with a maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world.”
The Toronto Star said, “They already belong to a generation of string players performing at a level difficult to imagine in generations past.”
The quartet’s program on May 31 of Mozart’s “Dissonance”, Ligeti’s Quartet no. 1 and the Debussy, especially in the perfect chamber music acoustics of the GYMC Recital Hall, will be wonderful.
David Gilham is a violinist who performs with easy artistry and gorgeous sound. He appeared in Musicfest’s 10th anniversary season with his pianist/wife Chiharu Iinuma. She recently performed a recital with cellist Thomas Wiebe at the GYMC.
This time, he performs with pianist Ken Gee. His recital on June 7 could be called Shamelessly Romantic 2, with Brahms, Smetana, Ysaye, Saint-Saëns and Wieniawski along with the Debussy Sonata.
The Festival Trio is truly an ensemble of friends.
Their June 14 program includes the Debussy Cello Sonata, Ravel Violin Sonata and Dvorak’s Dumky Trio.
Charles Richard-Hamelin’s credentials include being a silver medalist and laureate of the Krystian Zimerman award for the best sonata at the Chopin International in Warsaw.
He was a prize winner at the Montreal International Musical Competition and the Seoul International Music Competition in South Korea.
He was recently awarded the Order of Arts and Letters of Quebec and the prestigious Career Development Award offered by the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.
And although everybody must ask him to play Chopin (like Judy Garland was always asked to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow), he will perform music by Enescu, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninov, and of course some Chopin in his recital on June 21.
