Rosebud festival remembers beloved pianist

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

The sixth annual Rosebud Chamber Music Festival will be dedicated to the memory and legacy of pianist Peter Longworth.
Peter Longworth, a teacher at Glenn Gould School in Toronto, and an internationally-acclaimed pianist, performed at the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival (RCMF) during its first four years.
At the festival in 2013, Longworth also met violinist Sheila Jaffe. They were married in 2015 and welcomed the birth of their daughter in 2017, just weeks after Longworth was diagnosed with cancer. Longworth passed away in June of this year.
Keith Hamm, RCMF artistic director, said Longworth will be missed for many reasons.
“(Peter) was an extraordinary grounding force for the company, for all us younger players – but also musically, on stage,” Hamm said.
“He can empower the performers in the group to really play their best and to bring a sense of unity to a performance, and a sense of art. He was that wave that we all could ride, as a pianist and a collaborator. He was just an amazing collaborative pianist.
“He gave us a lot of legitimacy too,” Hamm added. “He’s just a serious player that knew how to really bring a performance and a festival together, just to rally people around.”
According to violinist Aaron Schwebel, another founding RCMF performer, Longworth set the bar high for the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival.
“On top of his playing, he brought the Peter Longworth camaraderie – a deep enthusiasm to connect, joke and philosophize with people around him. There’s undoubtedly a huge hole left by his passing. If anything, we have even more reason to come back every summer to play.”
Jaffe, along with Hamm, Schwebel and cellist Johanne Perron, is returning to play at this year’s festival.
“Rosebud is clearly a very meaningful place (for Sheila), being the spot where she and Peter met, and it was very special to the two of them,” Hamm said. “The audience and the community hold a very special place in her heart.”
New to the RCMF will be Leana Rutt, assistant principal cellist of Winnipeg Symphony, and violinist Robert Uchida, Edmonton Symphony concertmaster.
Along with music by Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn, the company will perform Tchaikovsky’s string sextet Souvenir de Florence.
“It’s just an absolutely gargantuan work that’s really going to blow the doors off,” said Hamm. “I feel like we’ve never had something that grand. It’s a very orchestral sound. It’s very immersive.”
The sixth annual Rosebud Chamber Music Festival will to be held Aug. 7-12. On Aug. 7, the festival will open with an informal music reading party in Rosebud’s Haskayne Kenney Mercantile. On Aug. 9, the company will give a concert at the Three Hills Arts Academy. On Aug. 10 and 12, they’ll perform concerts at Rosebud Church.
Learn more at rosebudfestivals.com, and purchase concert tickets at rosebudtheatre.com.