‘INVESTMENT’ PAYS OFF FOR GRAMMY-WINNING TOVEY AND VSO
Stuart Derdeyn, sderdeyn@theprovince.com
The Province
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Canada
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Where: Orpheum Theatre, corner of Seymour and Smythe streets
When: Saturday and Monday nights at 8
Tickets: 604-876-3434 and vancouversymphony.ca
Bramwell Tovey was a busy man even before the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra’s big Grammy and Juno award wins.
The VSO’s maestro is principal guest conductor for L.A.’s Philharmonic,
hosts a composer festival series in New York and only just returned
from conducting in Australia. On Monday the 73-piece orchestra was
in Surrey’s Bell Centre for a recording session of more than 100
national anthems of countries competing at the 2010 Winter Games and
Paralympic Winter Games for VANOC. And next month, the VSO embarks
on its first Asian tour.
"Winning the Grammy was like a gold medal because people know
they don’t just give them away," says Tovey, who caught up with The
Province as he prepared to open the VSO’s 2008/2009 season. "Given the
competition we were up against — Berlin, Paris and Moscow orchestras
— the win gave corporations’ and individuals’ faith in us a big boost
and encouraged government agencies to reconsider their investments.
"I use the word investment, not a subsidy, because it is an investment
in quality of life in a city that has really paid off."
The concert season ahead is certainly an exciting one, with the VSO
presenting the brilliant Armenian-Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian,
stunning violinist Hilary Hahn and violinist James Ehnes, who shared
the Grammy with the orchestra, as well as the very popular Bugs Bunny
On Broadway!
"The music for those cartoons is not easy. It’s very challenging for
the musicians and for me. But it’s great fun for the audience."
Doubtless, Tovey hopes that the reception for his composition
Urban Runway will be a lot of fun for the crowd at the season
opener with acclaimed cellist Lynn Harrell tackling Schumann’s Cello
Concerto. Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet: Suite rounds out the program
for this concert.
Inspired by the "gentle swagger" of all the fashionable shoppers
on city streets of both New York and Los Angeles, Urban Runway was
co-commissioned by the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics. Tovey
is extremely thrilled to have it played here.
"It is funny that the performances of the work in both New York and
Los Angeles were picked up by the local radio stations, but won’t be
[here]. What does that say about classical music broadcasting in the
United States and Canada?"
The VSO becomes the last game in town for symphonies with the coming
demise of the CBC Radio Orchestra. Tovey is also critical of recent
changes to the programming on CBC Radio 2 and the impact it will
have on groups such as the VSO. The loss of a serious classical-music
focus on the national broadcaster in favour of celebrity-hosted shows
focussing on soft rock, pop, smooth jazz and so on with the requisite
"DJ speak" doesn’t wash with him.
"It’s a bit of an embarrassment, really, and rather like watching
the difference between a TV advertisement compared to a scene from
Shakespeare."