MAN WITH THE GOLDEN BOWBENJAMIN BOWMAN HAS MANY PROJECTS ON THE GO, IF ONLY HE HAD MORE HANDS
Toronto Star
ticle/766576–man-with-the-golden-bow
Feb 18 2010
Canada
The more musical variety a city offers, the more top artists are
likely to come visit. Some might even stay longer than they expect.
Like most younger musicians, Manitoba-born violinist Benjamin Bowman
doesn’t want to speculate on how long he’ll be living in Toronto. He
arrived in 2003 to study for a few months at the Royal Conservatory’s
Glenn Gould School with the late, renowned violin teacher Lorand
Fenyves, and has been here ever since.
Bowman has so many challenging jobs on the go, he can’t imagine
leaving anytime soon.
His main work is as associate concertmaster of the Canadian Opera
Company Orchestra. He is concertmaster of Mayumi Seiler’s Via Salzburg
orchestra and regular collaborator with the Art of Time Ensemble,
Amici Chamber Ensemble, and the ARC (Artists of the Royal Conservatory)
Ensemble.
That doesn’t include one-off concerts and recording gigs, private
teaching and even experimenting with improvised and electronic music.
Bowman does manage to get out of town, too. One recent outing was to
the West Coast, where he helped the Vancouver Symphony and conductor
Bramwell Tovey record music for the Winter Olympics.
With the runs of Carmen and Otello well underway at the COC, Bowman
is hard at work in the daytime, practising for upcoming concerts,
which include a performance with Amici Chamber Ensemble at the Glenn
Gould Studio on Sunday.
To celebrate the release of their latest album, Armenian Chamber Music
(on the ATMA label), Amici has programmed several pieces by Armenian
composers alongside the full instrumental suite of Igor Stravinsky
L’Histoire du soldat and Ernest Chausson’s gorgeous Piano Quartet in
A Minor.
"There is so much interesting stuff happening," says Bowman of Amici’s
exploration of Armenian music since pianist Serouj Kradjian replaced
founding member Patricia Parr last season. The other two permanent
members of Amici are Toronto Symphony Orchestra principal clarinet
Joaquin Valdepeñas and assistant principal cello David Hetherington.
Bowman also loves the work of ARC Ensemble artistic director Simon
Wynberg, who has helped the group gain an international profile as
advocates of forgotten composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
"There is so much digging, so much research going on in this city,"
Bowman says. "It makes it more interesting for me. It sure beats
recording Schubert’s `Trout’ Quintet for the 100th time."
This kind of diversity is tailor-made for a violinist who trained
at the top American schools – New York City’s Juilliard, to start,
then the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Those institutions
foster great soloists, but Bowman also wanted to work collaboratively
in chamber music.
He caught the bug for creating his own music at Curtis. "There is a lot
of pressure to play great works of the Classical and Romantic periods,"
Bowman explains. "There was so much structure, that I needed a break."
So he started recording improv sessions with a cello student. "Then
I started writing them out," he recalls.
His independent streak was clear early on. Bowman recalls how, as
the youngest of three children, he couldn’t wait to show his older,
violin-playing sisters what he could do.
"I got a violin for my 5th birthday. But I was humbled when I picked
it up the first time," he says with a smile. Determined, Bowman worked
hard for four years. "When I was 9, I realized it was not cool to
play the violin. It was difficult and frustrating."
Seeing that their son was about to abandon the effort, his parents
tried reverse psychology. "They said, fine, quit," Bowman says. "It
was then that I realized that I wanted to do it for myself."
That drive for self-satisfaction has propelled the violinist ever
since – straight to Toronto.
Just the facts WHAT: Amici Chamber Ensemble, with Benjamin Bowman
WHERE: Glenn Gould Studio, 250 Front St. W.
WHEN: Sunday, 3 p.m.
TICKETS: $10-45 at 416-872-4255
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress