Hi everyone!

We have reached the last two weeks of this orchestra season, and it’s going out in style. I’ll be playing concerts on the next two Saturday afternoons.

May 30th: Civic Orchestra of Victoria

This Saturday afternoon, you can come see the final concert of the Civic Orchestra of Victoria’s 2025-26 season, which we’re ending with one of my favorite symphonies.

I’ll be in my usual seat as principal second violin for:

Felix Mendelssohn — Hebrides Overture

I’ve been playing a lot of Mendelssohn lately and I regret nothing, even if he is a meticulous, demanding composer. This is a fabulous piece of music, inspired by Mendelssohn’s trip to Scotland - it’s nicknamed Fingal’s Cave, and it’s a wonderful depiction of a beautiful geological feature. I can just imagine the opening depicting something awe-inspiring coming into my view.

One time, Eldan and I got to go to Rome, and he indulged me in one very nerdy afternoon during which we went to the locations that inspired the different movements of The Pines of Rome, and we sat and listened to recordings of them at those places. I would now like to visit Fingal’s Cave and do the same thing.

Camille Saint-Saëns — The Muse and the Poet

Raya Fridman, violin, and Alex Klassen, cello

As if Raya and Alex don’t have enough to do, what with leading orchestral sections for the rest of this concert and playing string quartets (see below) and running marathons and heaven knows what else, they are also the soloists in this gorgeous piece.

Come hear what fabulous musicians they are. I’m so happy they get a bigger spotlight.

Jean Sibelius — Symphony No. 2

I first encountered this symphony something like 30 years ago, when I played the last movement in some youth orchestra setting or another, and I can’t help but smile when I hear the trumpets come in during it (28 seconds in, here). I have loved Sibelius ever since. This symphony is huge, it’s epic, it’s intimate, it’s tender, it’s everything at once. It’s a tiny little wildflower on top of a huge mountain. And yeah, Finland’s on that travel list now too.

The concert is at 2pm on May 30th at the Dave Dunnet Theatre in Oak Bay High school; you can get your tickets here. Kids are free; seniors and students get a discount.

Come at 1pm for Grant’s pre-concert talk and learn stuff that even I don’t know, and then tell me about it after the concert.

June 6th: Watershed String Quartet

The previously un-named string quartet that I formed with other string principals of the Civic Orchestra of Victoria is playing a benefit concert to support Friends of Bowker Creek.

As you may know, Eldan and I have been involved with Friends of Bowker Creek since we moved to Victoria, and other folks in the quartet have a connection to that organization as well, so it’s only natural that we’d play a show for them.

The silent auction features items from businesses in Oak Bay, as well as local artists, and even a set by The Bald Eagles, who I also got to know through FoBC, so put on your music-enjoying and impulse-purchasing hats and come on down to the Friends Meeting House. We’d love to see you there.

There aren’t advance tickets available. If the show sells out by some miracle, I’ll consider it the biggest success of my musical life to date and we’ll play out on the lawn so you can all hear it or something, I don’t know.

Speaking of that, here’s what we’re playing for this one - I’m on second violin for all of them:

Haydn: Quartet No. 32 in C major ("The Bird"), Op. 33, No. 3

Haydn is considered to be the person who took string quartets from being the kind of music you have playing in the background at your fancy dinner or whatever to being something you could sit and listen to and engage with as art that holds your attention. He also wrote at least 68 of them, so I’m thankful that a lot of his quartets have nicknames. This one is called The Bird because the theme in the first movement resembles a bird call, but once the idea of birds was put in my head, I started hearing them all over in here. This one was written in 1781.

Beethoven: Opus 18, No. 2

Beethoven moved to Vienna in his early twenties and ended up studying with Haydn for the first few years that he lived there. This quartet premiered a few years after Haydn left the city, so the student had time to take those teachings and incorporate them into his own style. We’re all students at some point, even Beethoven. I love every single one of Beethoven’s quartets, so it’s a joy to play this one.

Schumann: Opus 41, No. 3

If you were at the March Civic Orchestra of Victoria concert, you would have heard us playing parts of this in the lobby. Here’s your chance to hear the whole thing! I love the tricks that Schumann plays with the rhythm in this, even though it makes it hard to put together.

The concert is at the Victoria Friends Meeting House at 1831 Fern Street, on Saturday June 6th, at 1pm. Tickets are a suggested donation of $20 at the door.

As always, thanks for listening!