Rosebud Chamber Music Festival kicks off 2015 season

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

A music reading party on July 27 opened this year’s Rosebud Chamber Music Festival (RCMF). The RCMF Ensemble and guest musicians played hours of unrehearsed music.
This was a much more relaxed event than the chamber music concerts I’ve attended before. We – children, teens and adults – sat around tables in the Haskayne-Kenney Mercantile, enjoying barbecue food and drinks, mingling with musicians between their sets.
I was glad to see lots of children and teenagers in the audience, and thought it was a great way for them to enjoy chamber music in a comfortable environment. I hope it will help to dismantle some common misconceptions about classical music.
The RCMF Ensemble – Keith Hamm on viola, Aaron Schwebel on violin, Sheila Jaffe on violin, Arnold Choi on cello and Peter Longworth on piano – opened the party with Schuman’s String Quintet.
They were later joined, in various groupings, by Johanne Perron on cello, from Mount Royal University, and Timothy Dawson, who plays double bass with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
John Stetch, a Juno-nominated, New York-based jazz pianist who was born in Alberta, gave us a foretaste of his July 29 solo concert by playing ‘Circle Dances.’ It was a highlight for me when he played the keys of the grand piano while also reaching inside to pluck its strings. It was also a treat to hear Jaffe and Perron, a mother-daughter duo, play together, with Peter Longworth on piano. My favorite was Schubert’s Trout Quintet, featuring Dawson on the double bass.
In this relaxed context, it was fun to watch the musicians smile and signal each other so they could keep time, but despite their lack of practice on these pieces, their music was amazing and impressive.
Dawson, who’s originally from Edmonton, has also established ‘Beethoven Returns to the Badlands,’ which has a joint performance with the RCMF in Drumheller on July 30, when he and the RCMF Ensemble will perform together.
Dawson also hosted a Kids Makin’ Music event for Rosebud children on July 28, jointly creating a musical composition, then performing it for family and friends.
The Rosebud Chamber Music Festival will host a concert at the Three Hills Arts Academy on July 31, and a final performance at Rosebud Church on Sunday, Aug. 2. Learn more at rosebudchambermusic.com. Tickets are available at rosebudtheatre.com or 403-677-2001.