Blueridge Competition is in seventh heaven

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The Blueridge Competition

Aug. 10 & 14 | Wrath & Redemption options music by Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Dorothy Chang

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Aug. 12 & 13 | Breath of Heaven presents Beethoven, Schubert, and Helmut Lachenmann

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Aug. 17 & 20 | Makrokosmos by George Crumb

Aug. 19 & 21 | Elixir music by Copland, Ravel, Fauré and Chang

Tickets & data: $10 to $20 from brownpapertickets.com, blueridgechamber.org

There’s no scarcity of grass-roots chamber music applications throughout the common season, however our summers have been lots quieter for the reason that demise of the Vancouver Chamber Music Competition and Musicfest Vancouver. A notable exception to the chamber music drought is the seven-year-old Blueridge Competition.

Blueridge began out virtually impulsively. North Shore native soprano Dorothea Hayley and Colombian-Canadian pianist Alejandro Ochoa thought that the weeks of summer time had been a advantageous time for music-making. “It was a pleasant alternative to get along with mates in semi-formal concert events, and we cherished it and commenced to take it extra severely,” says Ochoa.

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Hayley chimes in: “We didn’t fairly understand how organized we needed to be. To begin with, it really works higher when there may be an viewers!”

The crew selected combining concert events with a music camp, and to base the endeavour within the Blueridge space of North Vancouver. Because the years glided by, the Blueridge Competition grew in a sensible, measured means: concert events had been added, after which final 12 months paired between North Vancouver’s Mount Seymour United Church (1200 Parkgate Ave.) and St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Kitsilano (1805 Larch St.). “That is solely the second 12 months, so it’s too early to say the way it works. Final 12 months was actually an experiment. There hasn’t been a chamber music competition in Vancouver since 2006, so we felt sorry for the poor Vancouverites!” jokes Hayley.

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All festivals have two pillars: performers and repertoire. The Blueridge roster is versatile, however the playing-with-friends perspective prevails and this 12 months’s collection of artists — primarily native however with some imports — is powerful. Programing is one other matter. In fact, all concerned have their most popular showcases; however to make a competition work for audiences, it’s finest to have a imaginative and prescient. “We err on the authoritarian facet, however with some humanity,” says Hayley.

“We usually begin with a kernel of a foolish concept, and since this was our seventh anniversary it grew to become ‘Seventh Heaven,’ ” Ochoa cautions: “However as soon as this system evolves with enter from everybody, the preliminary concept turns into barely discernable.”

A Blueridge hallmark is willingness to mix previous favourites with some provocative new works. “We would like chamber music to be a dwelling artwork, presenting previous music alongside new music with out making it bizarre. New music is in any case simply the chamber music being written right this moment,” says Hayley.

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A very spectacular transfer is presenting a piece by Helmut Lachenmann, a significant determine on the worldwide new music scene, in celebration of his eightieth birthday this 12 months. There may be additionally a efficiency of George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, with New York-based pianist Manuel Laufer. And maintaining with Blueridge custom, there’s a native composer in residence: UBC’s Dorothy Chang, who can have works on the opening and shutting applications.

It’s unfair to ask performers/directors about favorite works, however I did anyway. For Ochoa, it’s Brahm’s B-flat main String Sextet on the opening live performance. Hayley’s alternative is Lachenmann’s temA, written again in 1968. “It’s the second piece of his that I’ve carried out,” she says. “And I feel it’s going to be a terrifying and thrilling expertise!”

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