Angela Hewitt Concert at Christ Church Cathedral, Ottawa

We went to hear Angela Hewitt at Christ Church Cathedral on Sparks Street. This Anglican cathedral is said to be the un-official National Cathedral in Canada but in reality we do not have such a designated church in Ottawa because we also have a Roman Catholic Cathedral on Sussex Drive. Nonetheless Christchurch is often use in State Ceremonial and several Prime Ministers and Governor Generals had their funeral service performed at the Cathedral. The Cathedral was built in 1832 on land given by Nicholas Sparks in Neo-Gothic style, the site is a bluff overlooking the Chaudière Falls and the Ottawa River.

Angela Hewitt's father Godfrey Hewitt, who was himself a great musician who turned down the position of organist at Westminster Cathedral to accept the position of organist and choir master at Christ Church were he worked for 50 years, (1931-1980). It was touching to hear his daughter who is an international Star in the Music World play a program of Couperin, Ravel and Schumann accompanied by the Chamber Players of Canada. As an encore she played a piece by J.S. Bach, a favourite of her late father.

The piano was a Fazioli, a wonderful instrument, the great wood ceiling of the cathedral gave very good acoustics.  The presenter was Lawrence Wall of CBC Radio who has the old style radio news reader voice once favoured by the likes of the BBC World Service. He reads the 6 o'clock evening news on the radio in the Capital.

This series of concerts given in Ottawa by Angela Hewitt is connected to her own music festival at Lake Trasimeno, Italy. The Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson was on hand and made a short speech. The concert was very well attended given the virtuosity of Ms Hewitt and her renown as a pianist.

She played the Piano Quintet by Schumann, Sixième Ordre by Couperin and Le tombeau de Couperin by Ravel. The encore was Jesu Joy of man's desiring by J.S. Bach.

A wonderful evening.

Musical Evening in Ottawa

Our friend Blake, invited us to the house of his neighbour in Old Ottawa South, a district of the city which at one point about 60 years ago was the southern border of the City marked by the Rideau River. The other side, today's Riverside drive, was all farmland.
It remains a very nice quiet neighbourhood of prosperous looking homes. A neighbour, John has opened his house for musical evenings, it is by invitation only and it is a select small group. We were about 55 last night, the recital was held in what could be described as the music room with a large grand Steinway piano at one end. These evenings happen from time to time in an informal sort of way.

  see her web page   www.silviecheng.com

We heard a pre-concert recital by Bryan and Silvie Cheng, natives of Ottawa. Though Silvie was born in Tokyo. They will make their debut at Carnegie Hall in NYC at the Weill Recital Hall on October 16.

Bryan is 13 years old and studies in Montreal with Yuli Turovsky. It is amazing to hear this young cellist. Such talent and he is also well spoken and poised, something that is very rare in someone that age.

His sister Silvie is older by a few years. She is a pianist and has a beautiful light touch on the keyboard.  They had a good program and no easy pieces, it showed their talent. Being so close in this intimate music room, I realized for the first time that a cello makes a breathing almost asthmatic noise as it is played, at first I did not understand where the sound came from and then I realized it was from the instrument. As Silvie mentioned when introducing Sonata no. 59 by Haydn, this was composed for his client the Princely Esterhazy family whose great Estate at Eisenstadt was a cultural hub in the 18th century. The piece was played in a setting much like the one we attended for a small group in an intimate setting. It gives a completely different feel to the music being so close to the instrument and the musician.

Esterhazy Palace, Eisenstadt, Austria

Another piece they played and I enjoyed a lot was Bringing the Tiger down from the Mountain, by Canadian composer Alexina Louie. A modern piece composed in 1991, with great shifts and shows what one can do and the range of the cello.

The parents of Bryan and Silvie were also present, they had brought the refreshments for the evening, we had Peking duck, fresh fruits, cheese plates, and fancy cookies, wine, coffee and tea. It was such a nice convivial evening.

I also found this quote this week, in a newspaper article and I really liked it because at the moment their is so much talk about integration and multiculturalism in Canada:

“Being Canadian is not about losing your identity, but adding your identity to what is the fabric of Canada.”

                            Queen's Park Provincial Legislative building, Toronto

In fact the Provincial Election this week in Ontario ( pop. 11 million) saw the re-election of Dalton McGuinty also known as Premier Dad, for his 1950 fatherly style of government, more dotting than adventurous. A lot of the candidates in this election to the Provincial Legislature at Queen's Park were of immigrant stock, having been born abroad and raised in Canada. This is certainly a change from 25 years ago when most if not all candidates were white born Canadians.  Our re-elected member of the Legislature is Yasir Naqvi a Pakistani born Canadian who came to Canada as a boy. I spoke with him and he came across as well informed, well spoken and involved. I asked about him to colleagues and friends and everyone had good things to say about him.

Today is Thanksgiving Sunday,  we are going out for dinner tonight at Grill 41. Tomorrow off the Merrickville on the Rideau Canal. The weather is summer like at 25 C., it's what we called Indian Summer. It will not last so better enjoy it. I just discovered that the first Canadian Thanksgiving service was held in 1578 on Baffin Island in the far North by Martin Frobisher and his men. Our modern version dates from the end of the First World War.  It was Thanks Giving to God for Peace, Canada had sent 10% of its population at the time into that war. This contribution was more than any other allied Nation in the world including the USA who arrived very late in the conflict.

Fall colours in Ontario.

In the Gatineau near Ottawa