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Media Contact: Caroline Márkos
604.684.9100 x266 [email protected]
For Immediate Release
MEDIA RELEASE
September 25, 2014
The VSO presents Principal Cellist Ariel Barnes,
performing Elgar’s epic Cello Concerto in his VSO concerto debut
Vancouver, BC – The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra is proud to present a weekend of concerts featuring its
very own outstanding Principal Cellist, Ariel Barnes, as soloist performing British composer Edward Elgar’s epic
and highly emotional Cello Concerto in E minor. Saturday, October 4, 8pm and Sunday, October 5, 2pm;
Orpheum Theatre. Monday, October 6, 8pm, Bell Centre for the Performing Arts, Surrey, BC.
Premiered roughly a year after the end of the First World War (October 27, 1919 by the
London Symphony Orchestra) Elgar’s enigmatic Cello Concerto in E minor, was the
composer’s emotional outpouring of feelings in response to the trauma and suffering the
war had inflicted on himself and his countrymen. Too distraught by the destruction caused
to the world during the war years (1914-1918), Elgar barely put pen to paper to compose
any works of note. However, in the months after the war ended on November 11, 1918,
Elgar poured his feelings of hurt and hope into the composition of this work; one that would become not only
one of his most famous works, but one of the most famous works written for orchestra and solo cello of all
time.
Maestro Bramwell Tovey conducts the orchestra in concerts rounded out by three additional pieces, also
composed during the wartime era, by some of the most famous British composers in classical music’s history:
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ bombastic and commanding Symphony No. 4 in F minor, William Walton’s witty
Façade: Suite No. 2, and the beautiful orchestral idyll, The Banks of Green Willow by Vaughan Williams’ close
friend George Butterworth—an English composer killed in action in the First World War.
This concert is part of a season-long focus on commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of World
War 1, and the 75th anniversary of the start of World War 2, the centrepiece of which is the performance of
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem on November 8th and 10th.
CONCERT INFORMATION:
MARDON GROUP INSURANCE Musically Speaking
Music from the Old Country: Great British Classics
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4
8PM, Orpheum Theatre
MARDON GROUP INSURANCE Series Sponsor
TELUS Video Screen sponsor
NEWS 1130 ALL NEWS RADIO Radio Sponsor
Bramwell Tovey conductor
Ariel Barnes cello*
WALTON Façade Suite No. 2
BUTTERWORTH The Banks of the Green Willow
ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor*
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 4 in F minor
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets: $22-$60 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available)
Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434
ROGERS GROUP FINANCIAL Symphony Sundays
Music from the Old Country: Great British Classics
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5
2PM, Orpheum Theatre
ROGERS GROUP FINANCIAL Series Sponsor
Bramwell Tovey conductor
Ariel Barnes cello*
WALTON Façade Suite No. 2
BUTTERWORTH The Banks of the Green Willow
ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor*
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 4 in F minor
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets: $22-$60 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available)
Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434
SURREY NIGHTS
Music from the Old Country: Great British Classics
MONDAY, OCTOBER 6
8PM, Bell Performing Arts Centre, Surrey
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Bramwell Tovey conductor
Ariel Barnes cello*
WALTON Façade Suite No. 2
BUTTERWORTH The Banks of the Green Willow
ELGAR Cello Concerto in E minor*
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS Symphony No. 4 in F minor
TICKET INFORMATION:
Tickets: $40 (senior, student, and subscriber discounts available)
Tickets available online at www.vancouversymphony.ca or by calling VSO Customer Service at 604.876.3434
BIOGRAPHIES
Bramwell Tovey, conductor
GRAMMY® and Juno® award-winning conductor/composer Bramwell Tovey was
appointed Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2000. Under his
leadership the VSO has toured to China, Korea, across Canada and the United States.
Mr. Tovey is also the Artistic Adviser of the VSO School of Music, a state-of-the-art
facility and recital hall which opened in downtown Vancouver in 2011 next to the
Orpheum, the VSO’s historic home. His tenure has included complete symphony cycles
of Beethoven, Mahler, Brahms as well as the establishment of an annual festival
dedicated to contemporary music. In 2018, the VSO’s centenary year, he will become
the orchestra’s Music Director Emeritus.
In the 14-15 season Mr. Tovey will make guest appearances with several US orchestras
including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Kansas City Symphony. In Europe he will
perform with the BBC Philharmonic and the Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester and he will travel to Australia on
two separate occasions for engagements with the symphonies of Melbourne and Sydney.
During the 13-14 season Mr. Tovey’s guest appearances included the BBC and Royal Philharmonics, the New
York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras, and the
Toronto Symphony. In the summer of 2014 he made his debut with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia
Festival.
In 2003 Bramwell Tovey won the Juno® Award for Best Classical Composition for his choral and brass work
Requiem for a Charred Skull. Commissions include the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, the Toronto
Symphony, and Calgary Opera who premiered his first full length opera The Inventor in 2011. A recording of
the work by the VSO with UBC Opera and the original cast will be issued on the Naxos label in 2014. Earlier in
2014 his trumpet concerto, Songs of the Paradise Saloon, was performed by the LA Philharmonic with Alison
Balsom as soloist, who will also perform the work with the Philadelphia Orchestra in December 2014.
A talented pianist as well as conductor and composer, he has appeared as soloist with many major orchestras
including the New York, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, St Louis, Toronto, and Royal Scottish
orchestras. In the summer of 2014 he played and conducted Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the Hollywood
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Bowl with the LA Phil and in Saratoga with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has performed his own Pictures in
the Smoke with the Melbourne and Helsingborg Symphonies and the Royal Philharmonic.
Maestro Tovey was Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra from 1989 to 2001 where he founded
the WSO’s now celebrated New Music Festival. From 2002-2006 he was Music Director of Orchestre
Philharmonique du Luxembourg, leading tours of Europe, the USA, China, and Korea. He opened Luxembourg’s
Salle Philharmonie with the world première of Penderecki’s 8th Symphony.
Mr. Tovey is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto
and holds honorary degrees from the universities of British Columbia, Manitoba, Kwantlen and Winnipeg. In
2013 he was appointed an honorary Officer of the Order of Canada for services to music.
In August 2011 he was described by Musical America as “one of the most versatile and charismatic musicians
in the world.”
Ariel Barnes, cello
Described as creating a “mesmerizing musical experience” by combining his “deep personal connection”
(Toronto Live Music Report), “luscious tone and technical prowess”(The Vancouver Sun), cellist Ariel Barnes has
been engaging audiences with his imaginative interpretations and commanding stage presence. Equally
comfortable in musical languages from the Baroque to music of our modern times, Ariel’s performances range
from evenings of unaccompanied Bach to world premiers of contemporary art music. Critically acclaimed by
the press, he has been hailed as a “rising star” by the Georgia Straight, “a surprising standout” by the KW
Gazette, “new wave” by L’Acadie Nouvelle and “a musician of real stature” by the Vancouver Sun. His solo and
chamber music performances have been broadcast by CBC Radio Canada on such programs as In Performance,
The Signal, Tempo, West Coast Performance, Choral Concert and On Stage, and he was recently selected as
one of 6 cellists across the nation to celebrate the launch of cbcmusic.ca as a featured artist in the Canadian
Bach Cello Suite Project.
His performances in recent years include the concertos of Dvorak, Saint-Saens, Brahms (Double), Ernst Bloch’s
“Schelomo”, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations, and recital appearances in New York, Toronto, Ottawa, Halifax,
Quebec City, Vancouver, San Francisco and Guadalajara Mexico. His solo and chamber music recordings have
been received with critical acclaim, having been nominated for a Juno Award and two Western Canadian Music
Awards. As a winner of the 2012 Canada Council Instrument Bank Competition, he has been awarded the use
of the 1730 Newland Joannes Franciscus Celoniatus cello, built in Turin, Italy, for the next 3 years. In January
2013, Ariel was appointed Principal Cello of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
The performance of 21st century art music plays a significant role in Ariel’s creative life. He has given the world
premier of works by Canadian composers such as Imant Raminsh, Jocelyn Morlock, Stephen Chatman, R.
Murray Schaeffer, Brad Turner, Marcus Goddard, John Oliver, Rodney Sharman, Dorothy Chang, Glenn Buhr,
Owen Underhill, Keon Birney, Elizabeth Knudson and Farshid Samandari. His new project “Couloir” with
Harpist Heidi Krutzen keenly focuses on the creation of new music for the beautiful combination of cello and
harp. Upcoming projects for “music’s new rare pair” (The Georgia Straight) include the development of works
by Brad Turner, Caroline Lizotte and Andrew Staniland. Couloir is looking forward to much concertizing as
their tour schedule already extends into 2014. (www.couloir.ca)
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Passionate about chamber music literature Ariel has spent much time performing as a former member of the
Borealis String Quartet, Trio Accord and has collaborated with many fine artists such as The St. Lawrence String
Quartet, Musica Intima, Trio Verlaine, Jonathan Crow, Dale Barltrop, Barry Schiffman, Tara Helen O’Connor,
Daniel Philips, Andrew Dawes, Martin Chalifour, Carrie Dennis, Mehan Esfahani, Arthur Rowe, Ian Parker and
Daniel Bolshoy, among many others. Memorable appearances at chamber music festivals include the Ottawa
Chamber Music Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, Mendocino Music Festival, Victoria Summer Music Festival, B.C.
Scene, Elora Festival, Centre D’Arts at Mount Orford, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. He is a founding
member, and regular guest, of the Scotiabank Northern Lights Music Festival in Ajijic, Mexico.
Upcoming recording projects include works by Jocelyn Morlock on the Naxos label, (including her Double Cello
Concerto “Aeromancy”), and Couloir’s debut CD’s on PARMA Recordings, featuring works by Jocelyn Morlock,
Glenn Buhr, Baljinder Sekhon, James Maxwell and Nico Muhly. His past recordings can be heard on Atma
Classiques, Skylark Records, Universal Music and Centrediscs record labels, as well as regular broadcasts of live
concerts on CBC Radio.
For media inquires, or to interview any of our esteemed soloists, please contact the VSO’s PR Associate,
Caroline Márkos at 604.684.9100 x266
[email protected]
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