The BigLake Competition returns to Prince Edward County later this month with a various lineup of artists and venues. The theme of this yr’s Competition is “hidden gems”.
The Competition kicks off on August 15 with a efficiency by Canadian pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico. She’ll be taking part in a collection of brief items, true hidden gems of the classical piano repertoire.
Quilico is making a return to the Competition. “It was such a stunning expertise,” she says of her first look there in 2022. Christina relates how she was invited again by Co-founder and Govt Director Elissa Lee. “She had an concept about hidden gems, so that you just sort of open a field of your outdated repertoire,” Quilico explains. “That was sort of the premise of it.”
We requested the award-winning pianist in regards to the music she’s chosen for this system.
Christina Petrowska Quilico performs Ann Southam jazzy alternatives (Cool Blue Pink Sizzling, 5 Shades of Blue, 3 Shades of Blue) at a York College recital in 2018:
Christina Petrowska Quilico: The Interview
This system begins with composer Ilse Fromm-Michaels and her piece Langsamer Walzer, or “gradual waltz”. Fromm-Michaels was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1888, and died in 1986 on the age of 97.
“She was fairly the pianist,” Quilico relates. Fromm-Michaels was identified to carry out Rachmaninoff’s difficult Concerto No. 3, and the equally troublesome works of Max Reger. “She did finger busters,” Quilico provides. “She was very a lot into the Rachmaninoff fashion.”
The Langsamer Walzer is among the final waltzes she composed, it’s believed round 1950.
“It’s filled with nostalgia. I really like Korngold,” she says. “It’s quirky, it’s distinctive. It’s not like a Chopin waltz.”
This system, the truth is, started with Fromm-Michaels’ work. “I began along with her.”
Three items by Meredith Monk observe — St. Petersburg Waltz, Paris, and Railroad (Journey Tune). American composer Meredith Monk typically creates multidisciplinary works that mix dance, theatre, and music. Born in 1942, she’s a multi-award winner, together with the Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.
“She’s fairly distinctive,” Quilico says “She’s an ingenious composer, actually an icon.”
Alongside along with her compositions, Monk is understood for her work as a director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer.
“She was a pioneer in prolonged vocal approach. She deserves credit score. She had groundbreaking music,” she provides. “I picked 4 of her items.”
The St. Petersburg Waltz is a tragic composition. “The harmonies are shifting. She has written directions for efficiency: Dancing, mild, ahead, movement.”
Quilico cites the frequent adjustments of tempo within the piece. “She makes them natural.” It was written in 1994, and Christina says Monk makes the fitting hand sound like a balalaika, a standard Russian stringed instrument, giving the work a folk-like dance power.
“There are quite a lot of surprises.”
Paris was written in 1972. Quilico calls in a unusual piece, filled with tempo adjustments, with a brief improvisation within the center. “It’s in a dance fashion from Paris,” she says, likening it to “a little bit of Debussy”. “It’s acquired quite a lot of surprises.”
Railroad (Journey Tune) is supposed to imitate the rhythm of a prepare travelling down the tracks. “It’s a very neat piece. It’s acquired quirky rhythms. It’s very bluesy,” Quilico says “For me, this was an introduction into the blues fashion.”
Christina has notably recorded music of Ann Southam’s. The live performance program consists of her items 5 Shades of Blue and three Shades of Blue.
“She had these jazz items,” Quilico says. “Who would have thought that Ann Southam could be into jazz? I believe they’re completely fantastic.” Quilico recorded each for one in every of her albums. “I play it, and it’s blues. She makes use of jazz language, the 12-bar blues construction.” Christina cites the piece’s syncopated rhyyms and improvised passages, together with a traditional jazzy strolling bass line
“She has a few wild gestures,” she provides. “It’s acquired a showy, virtuosic fashion, with a blues swing. In classical music, there’s that pressure between consonance and dissonance,” she notes. “A few of them are very tough to play. You really want to get into the fashion.”
It’s led to a lifelong love of the style. “What I really like about jazz gamers is that they’re so into the music.”
Alice Ping Yee Ho’s A Manic Journey By means of Lollipop Hell rounds out the primary half of this system. In September, Quilico will likely be recording a second quantity of Ho’s music, and A Manic… will likely be a part of that album. Christina describes it as footage of an imagined panorama.
“She’s a number of enjoyable to work with,” Quilico says. “She writes particularly effectively. It’s sensible.”
Ho describes the piece in her writing.
“It’s primarily based on my one act horror anime opera, Labyrinth of Tears,” she writes. It’s a piece she’s nonetheless within the midst of writing in regards to the journey and friendship between 5 schoolgirls from an academy of arts. “That is captured in three actions of contrasting character.” The music is a crossover between pop and classical “…and calls for nice technical virtuosity.”
The piece is dramatic and intense.
“It’s fairly one thing. It’s tough,” Christina says. “Then I’ll have intermission, and I’ll want it for certain.”
Program: The Second Half
After intermission, the live performance veers away from strictly classical or Western artwork music. Masamitsu Takahashi’s Capriccio opens the second half. “It’s jazz. It’s troublesome too.”
There’s not quite a lot of info obtainable in regards to the Japanese composer, even supposing he’s a member of a lot of organizations dedicated to conventional Japanese music.
“I acquired the composition by way of some Japanese composers some years in the past,” Christina says. “This one caught my fancy due to the jazz aspect. It’s troublesome, it’s virtuosic.”
Jazz nice Artwork Tatum’s hits I’ll By no means Be the Identical and Don’t Get Round A lot Anymore are subsequent in this system.
“After which we go to one in every of my favourites, Artwork Tatum,” Quilico says. “I found him many, a few years in the past. I used to be in my 20s, and I had been in a world piano competitors.”
One of many judges reached out to her after the competitors, and it started a musical friendship. “He was the one who launched me to Artwork Tatum,” she says. “He performed him, and I virtually handed out.”
As she notes, Artwork Tatum was legally blind, but performed with an virtually inconceivable pace, together with a left hand with a stride beat. “It’s like having a chocolate dessert — it’s so wealthy and flavourful. His artistry is unbelievable.”
As a pianist steeped within the classical custom, she was amazed by Tatum’s present each as a performer and composer, and notes that giants of the classical world like Rachmaninoff and Vladimir Horowitz have been equally incredulous at his approach.
“This to me talks about jazz. They really feel the beat so strongly, however they’ve the liberty to mess around with it.”
Christina Petrowska Quilico performs Ernesto Nazareth’s Fon Fon in recital at Hart Home, College of Toronto, on July 28, 2015:
From jazz, this system ends with Brazilian Tangos by Ernesto Nazareth.
“I assumed I’d finish with tangos,” Christina says.
She factors out the variations between Argentine and Brazilian tangos; amongst them, that the latter incorporates a extra upbeat end, the place tragedy can develop into optimism.
“Nazareth had a sort of tongue in cheek sense of humour.”
Quilico’s two-CD set Tangos Brasileiros – The Music of Ernesto Nazareth got here out in 2013. “I did 24 tangos, it’s a two-CD set.”
To immerse herself within the flavour of the music, she took an uncommon route.
“I didn’t go to a musician, I went to my dance instructor,” she says.
Nazareth had aspirations of changing into a classical pianist, however took work the place he might discover it, together with taking part in piano for motion pictures. He did compose two items that grew to become hits, however had bought the rights to his writer.
“He didn’t have the happiest life, he didn’t make a lot cash, however he actually wrote rather a lot,” she says. “He launched Afro-Brazilian rhythms into polkas and waltzes.” Nazareth left a legacy of 211 accomplished works, together with 88 tangos.
Quilico notes the steadiness in his works between a strong left hand, and the gently shifting moods produced by the fitting.
“In contrast to the Argentine tangos which have the rubatos written in, with Nazareth, as a result of they’re rhythm-based, the Afro-rhythms take priority. You must watch out they don’t develop into chunky. It’s a high-quality steadiness.”
The tangos end this system with a flourish.
“I begin with a dance and end with a dance.”
- Discover live performance particulars and tickets for the August 15 opener of the BigLake Competition [HERE].
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Anya Wassenberg is the Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. Beforehand, she was a contract author with a specialty in tradition and journey for 3 a long time, and a artistic writing teacher for Ontariolearn.
