Gary's and Toni's Excellent Island Adventures

Symphony in the Harbour

Picture yourself sitting under the dappled canopy of a Japanese maple on an August Saturday evening in Maffeo Sutton Park by the Nanaimo Harbour. It’s drizzling slightly, enough for umbrellas, so that in front of you, is a rainbow spinnaker-like sea of colour blocks, with a backdrop of yacht masts, a strip of water, and the forests of Newcastle Island. Did I mention the best part? The reason you’re here is for the Symphony in the Harbour, the annual harbour side concert put on by the Vancouver Island Symphony, with Maestro Pierre Simard making his debut as their artistic director.

Despite this being our fifth August in Nanaimo, it was our first attendance at the annual open-air concert. We had been fortunate enough to have been present for  Simard’s “audition” with the Symphony last October when he conducted Rhapsody, a concert featuring Ian Parker playing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The audience gave Simard and Parker a standing ovation at the conclusion of piece, and one could tell that the orchestra members were every bit as enthusiastic as the audience with Simard’s passionate and dynamic style. It was the best we had heard the orchestra play, so we were very excited when we learned that Nanaimo had scooped the Calgary Philharmonic’s resident conductor and Maestro Simard was heading west!

The Nanaimo "Pops"

We had always been big fans of Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops 4th of July concerts from the Esplanade on the Charles River, and this evening reminded us very much of those Pop Goes the 4th concerts, complete with a Sousa march. Of course, there were several hundred thousand fewer people in attendance and no traffic congestion, both selling features for us! Apart from lacking a fireworks extravaganza at the end of the evening, this concert was every bit as satisfying (and again, with the no traffic problems). We had seen the Pops with Keith Lockhart while we were in Ottawa, and loved the performance, but we agreed that both evenings we have spent with Maestro Simard and the VI Symphony have been just as enjoyable musically, plus we can have that extra level of smugness because this is “our orchestra” and “our conductor”.

Around the World in 80 Minutes

The Symphony in the Harbour program was entitled “Around the World in 80 Minutes”, and it certainly lived up to its name. Maestro Simard is committed to educating his audiences about music, and he made a very charismatic tour director as he took us on our journey. The tour began in New York with Bernstein’s West Side Story Overture. (On a side note, if you’re a Bernstein fan, check out the CD Canadian Brass Plays Bernstein. It was recorded in 1996, but copies pop up occasionally on Amazon.) Then we were off to Europe for a Carmen Suite, returning to the US for Sousa’s Liberty Bell March. At that point, quite a number of children joined the orchestra with the instruments they had made from recycled materials in an afternoon workshop. The kids were as fun and perky as their instruments, and a slight drizzle did not deter them at all. When introducing Anderson’s Summer Skies, Mastro Simard  hoped that it would encourage the Powers That Be to put an end to the rain, and it apparently did the trick! We had a real treat (and another opportunity for local pride) when the orchestra played Cycling, from Mind Over Mountain written about three years ago by Tobin Stokes, composer in residence at the Victoria Symphony. C. Nielson’s Oriental Festive March provided a nice prelude to the  Beijing Olympics. It was a  piece new even to Simard, and a good example of his interest in discovering and presenting new music. More of his talents were on display in his own arrangement of Holst’s Hymn to the Travellers, originally written for women’s voices and harp, and featuring Hindu harmonies. It was lovely! Then it was time for one of those sublime-to-ridiculous shifts. Apparently Concertmaster Calvin Dyck is known for his guest appearance in character (we’re talking hats here) solos. From where we were sitting, it was hard to see exactly what that hat looked like, but its brilliant yellow colour combined with an extremely long plume of some sort, seemed to make it ideal for playing Hot Canary, which featured Dyck’s violin making wild and crrrr-azy sounds we’d never heard a violin make before! The smooth jazz of April in Paris was next, then back to the US for New York, New York. A medley of tunes from Oklahoma included a hoedown section, showing off more of the Maestro’s many talents. Had the podium been a little larger, we probably would have been treated to a wicked two-step demonstration! He remarked at the end of the piece, “You can’t conduct in Calgary without getting pretty good at country and western!” The tour concluded with a beautiful Strauss waltz, Roses from the South, and an invitation to the audience to dance. (A ballroom dance note to Maestro Simard - speak with Assistant Conductor Gerald van Wyck who last February conducted the Symphony with guests Sarah Liang and Zillion Wong, BC Amateur Ballroom Champs for both Standard and Latin. Viennese Waltz and grass – just not happening!)

Anyway, the tour was magnificent, the setting superb, and our new artistic director – WOW! We will be regulars at future Symphony in the Harbours, and hope to get to several Symphony performances this season. We suggest you do the same, should the opportunity arise. Check out the Symphony website at www.vancouverislandsymphony.com as well as the Port Theatre’s site at www.porttheatre.com.

Happy listening!

Toni and Gary