We recently returned from a six-week-whirlwind of a tour around Ontario and British-Columbia, Canada. Our cellist, Rolf, looks back on another wonderful North American summer of music.
The NZSQ has just returned from an inspiring and multi-faceted six week tour in Canada.
We started in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario as guest artists in an annual chamber music summer programme organised by our longtime friends, the Penderecki Quartet. A full range of activities included working with chamber groups, giving individual lessons, playing alone and with members of the Penderecki Quartet and playing the Dvořák Serenade with all the string players included.
Our next port of call was a performance just outside of Picton, close to Wellington(!), Ontario. We enjoyed our concert in a lovely barn spruced up for the BigLake Festival. From there we drove along beautiful forests and lakes to the Westben Festival in central Ontario, where we enjoyed collaborating with a wonderful tenor and pianist as well as giving a quartet recital in another idyllic farm setting. We also strolled out into the warm summer air by a very smoky campfire and gave a short concert which included a borrowed accordion and countless mosquitos!
The next couple of weeks were spent at the Festival of the Sound, run by our friend and renowned clarinetist, James Campbell. With a pool of top artists from Canada and around the world, this festival with its world-class concert hall is always one of our highlights of the year.
This was our 18th visit since 2004! The intensity of playing many works with different combinations of players with sometimes three concerts and rehearsals in a day is balanced by walking and swimming in the gorgeous setting of Georgian Bay. One of the highlights was performing the premiere of an arrangement of the Mozart clarinet concerto as a quintet with James Campbell.
The last stop on our tour was Victoria, British Columbia. where we gave two recitals at the Victoria Summer Music Festival. One of our recitals included the Schubert Quintet with Pam Aloni, the cellist of the renowned Lafayette Quartet.
How sweet it was for me to proudly present our quartet to family, colleagues, and friends in my hometown. We all left Canada buzzing with so many memorable musical experiences and friendships, old and new, and with excitement about future invitations.
- Rolf Gjelsten, Cello
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