This fall marks the advent of some big acts in the world of classical music in Squamish, and the Howe Sound Arts Association (HSAA) couldn't be happier.
Starting in October, the HSAA will be kicking off the 2004/05 season in grand style as the first event in their Professional Concert Series comes to town. The Borealis String Quartet have been lighting up the skies of the Canadian chamber music scene with their major classical repertoire of significant 20th century works, including Bartok, Shostakovitch and other Canadian classical music icons.
In less than two years, they have been engaged by the prestigious Vancouver Chamber Music Festival as one of three resident string quartets, qualified for the BC-Yukon finals of the Great Canadian Music Dream competition on CBC-TV and have embarked on a new season with a 32-concert tour of BC, Alberta and Ontario.
Each of the four members of the quartet - Patricia Shih, Yuel Yawney, Nikita Pogrebnoy and Joel Stobbe -has come to their university residence with a well-honed and active performance career. Together they form Canada's newest chamber music asset, The Borealis String Quartet, created as a vision of Professor Andrew Dawes, head of strings at the University of British Columbia, and formerly First Violin of the Oxford and Tokyo String Quartets.
The second half of the program includes the Dvorak piano quintet as well as distinguished pianist Robert Silverman.
Many aspects of Silverman's playing are frequently noted - a polished technique, an extraordinary range of tonal palette, an uncanny ability to sing his way into the heart of a phrase and his probing interpretations of the most complex works in the repertoire.
The show is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 1 at 8 p.m. at the Eagle Eye Theatre. Tickets are $20, $15 seniors and $10 for students and children and are available at Mostly Books, Billie's Bouquet and Highland Video.
