Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra to perform in Strathmore
By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor
Photo Courtesy of RMSO
The 45-member orchestra will open the program with Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto, written just after the Second World War when Elgar had lost a close family member, said Carlos Foggin, the orchestra’s artistic director.
“It was kind of (Elgar’s) last major work and it explores loss. It explores tragedy,” Foggin said.
“It has extraordinarily gorgeous cello playing. There’s nothing more beautiful for the cello than this.”
For the second half of the concert, Foggin said, “We’re playing the Second Symphony by Brahms, which is anything but tragic and anything but sad. It’s like a babbling brook.”
The RMSO comes to Strathmore and its other “signature communities” once a year, Foggin said, bringing musical experiences to people in small communities – the musical experiences Foggin didn’t have as he grew up in a small Alberta community.
Though he studied piano at the University of Lethbridge from the time he was eight years old and had performed the piano internationally and won national awards by the time he was in high school, Foggin didn’t know any professional music performers.
Following the advice of his high school guidance counselor, he pursued medicine for a while. Then he had a life-changing conversation with his grandfather, days before his grandfather died.
“He told me to go back to school (and study music), or he’d come back to haunt me,” Foggin said with a laugh. So, in his 30s, he got a music degree.
“That’s why we come to places where maybe travel, time or accessibility or maybe costs for families (are barriers to hearing orchestral music),” he said. “We’re trying to remove all the things that give me a 15-year-late start on my career.”
Wherever the RMSO goes, their goal is to make it possible, even easy, for people to hear and enjoy well-performed, good quality orchestral music.
“We pause before or maybe even during (the performance), to explain what’s coming up, to give you kind of a roadmap and maybe some road signs to look out for, so that you know kind of where we are in the landscape. The programs often include good notes that you can read before, during or in the intermission.”
At the Strathmore concert, there’ll be a bar, so patrons can sip a soft drink or wine during the performance.
“It’s going to be a professional sound in a casual setting,” said Foggin.
For tickets, go to strathmoresymphony.ca. Children’s tickets are $5, students $15 and adults $35.