By Mike Pearson, News Staff
Arts & Entertainment
Sep 23, 2010 Their music is as vibrant today as the day it was written.
Fryderyk Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms and Josef Wagner are some of the most celebrated musicians of the Romantic period.
Juno award-winning pianist Valerie Tryon will pay tribute to the Romantic era at next month’s Great Romantics Festival, a celebration of classical music from 1820 to 1910.
The festival returns for its 15th installment during the weekend of Oct. 7. For the first time ever, the festival welcomes the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, conducted by its founder and artistic director, Boris Brott.
Tryon, an Ancaster native, will perform selections by Franz Liszt including Totentanz (Dance of the Dead) and Les preludes, the third of Liszt's 12 symphonic poems. Tryon has performed for sell-out crowds around the world, including performances with the Royal Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony. Her latest recording, released in May, includes a Mozart piano concerto performed with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Tryon is looking forward to her upcoming performance with Brott’s ensemble on Oct. 9.
“He always has absolutely fabulous players,” said Tryon. She will perform two concertos along with the orchestra on a Mason & Hamlin piano, known for its full, rich sound.
The theme of this year’s festival is Ovations. 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Fryderyk Chopin and Robert Schumann. The Saturday afternoon program on Oct. 9 includes a presentation of Chopin’s 27 studies, performed by seven concert pianists.
Schumann is represented by his two major song-cycles Dichterliebe and Frauenliebe und–leben, along with some of his most recognized piano music. Saturday’s piano gala features 12 talented pianists, followed by a festival banquet at the Hamilton Convention Centre.
Tryon said next week’s event offers great variety, from piano concertos to song recitals, lectures, a piano gala and a closing festival banquet.
A fitting selection leading up to Halloween, Liszt’s Totentanz is one of Tryon’s favourite symphonic pieces.
“It’s been one of my favourites,” said Tryon. “It’s very macabre and sinister.”
Alan Walker, the festival’s artistic director, said this year’s event includes musicians from four Great Britain, the U. S., Spain and Canada. Like all good music, Walker said Romantic era composers produced music of a timeless quality that remains fresh and vibrant, nearly two centuries after it was written.
“Their music has endured so much repetition that it is timeless,” said Walker.
When Walker asked Boris Brott and the National Academy Orchestra of Canada to join the festival, Brott quickly obliged.
“I jumped at the chance to do a Tryon marathon,” said Brott. “Few pianists in the world would be capable of performing this repertoire in one evening and carry it off. Valerie can, and will.”
Brott said Tryon is a pianist who carries away audiences with her soulful interpretations.
“That's why she is in demand around the world. We are fortunate she calls our area home. Musically she is a citizen of the world.”
Brott has performed with Tryon several times in the past in England and Wales when Brott was the music director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
“Valerie and I have made music together annually for the past 25 years at least,” said Brott.
Brott calls himself a Romantic by nature. He feels very much at home with music that examines emotion, feelings and events that are larger than life.
“The program we are performing -Liszt, Schumann, Chopin -this is a great program our emotional National Academy Orchestra and I can really sink our teeth into and bring to life for you, our audience.”
The Great Romantics Festival begins on Thursday, Oct. 7 and runs through Saturday, Oct. 9 with performances at McMaster University’s Convocation Hall, Mac-Nab Presbyterian Church and Christ’s Church Cathedral. The event is presented in conjunction with The American Liszt Society and The School of the Arts, McMaster University. During the event, Dr. Elyse Mach will receive the Medal of the American Liszt Society, the highest honour that the Society can bestow, in recognition of her writings in behalf of Franz Liszt.