Return of the Gimquat
By Jude Campbell
Friday, February 18, 2011
It‘s been two decades since an awkwardly lovable bird stepped on to the stage to enchant and engage children and adults alike.
Adorned in colourful fabrics instead of feathers, the Gimquat weaves a spell that takes her young
audience on a very important quest.
She must find her song.
Creator and artistic director Peter Duschenes of Platypus Theatre discovers the unhappy six-foot-tall bird crying in a tree and offers to help her on a quest to find her true song.
The rare and exotic bird is also sassy and spirited. Duchenes plays the magical musical wizard who aids her in her quest and together they travel back through time visiting cathedrals and marketplaces along the way.
The story creatively blends theatre with the beauty of symphonic music, inventive puppetry and special effects on a wondrous journey.
“The story is perfect for children from four to 12. Kids who are eight and nine years old really relate to the search the Gimquat takes on,” he said. “While searching for her unique voice and her own song, the Gimquat takes a journey through several eras of music.”
With a symphony orchestra backing the story, the Gimquat begins her search with a Gregorian chant, which will be performed by the members of the Okanagan Symphony.
Through their travels around the world, the bird and wizard explore an eclectic array of
musical eras, including a look at music from the medieval times, baroque, classical,
romantic and even French musical eras
featuring a lively
can-can.
“But the Gimquat is frustrated with her search, because none of music seems to fit her, nothing feels right,” Duschenes said.
“The story takes a very Canadian turn when she flies off to the north and begins to wail. The sound soars across the lake and bounces back to her, and that‘s when discovers her voice and her own song.”
Aptly, the tale ends with the gawky, awkward bird
discovering that she is a sleek and beautiful Loon.
In one part of the performance, Vernon singer Justin Moore will make a cameo appearance to sing the famous aria by Johann Sebastian Bach, Bist du Bei Mir (If You are With Me).
This will be his first stage role with the Okanagan Symphony, one that the 10-year-old is “really excited about.”
“I‘ve been singing all of my life,” Moore said, “but it‘s the first time with this orchestra. The song is classical, and it‘s very short but very beautiful.”
The young singer first performed at the age of four,
entertaining some 40 people at a Christmas event.
He went on to study music under the guidance of his renowned mother Melina Moore, an international opera singer and father Paul, also an opera singer.
“I do lots of singing, and I like anything that has to do with theatre and performing,” he said. “I really enjoyed my role as Gavroche in Les Miserables that we did with Powerhouse Theatre last year. It was a lot of work, but fun too.”
The enthusiastic youngster also created a band, Adrenaline Rush, where he played electric guitar and was lead singer, and continues to play with his school band.
“Music will always be part of my life, and I like everything from opera to rock,” he added. “It‘s exciting to have the chance to perform with the symphony.”
The Gimquat‘s tale is a heart-warming and
award-winning creation that brings classical music to life in an entertaining and interactive way.
“We inject a lot of humour into the story, and by telling it in rhyming verse, it really draws the kids in,” Duschenes explained. “It‘s very Dr. Seuss-like in that aspect. The kids relate to it.”
How the Gimquat Found Her Song is the first production in the family matinee performances in the Young People‘s Concerts programs offered by the OSO.
QUICKFACTS
What: How the Gimquat Found Her Song, with Platypus Theatre and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra.
When & Where: Saturday, Feb. 19 in Kelowna at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m. at Rotary Centre for the Arts.
Sunday, Feb. 20 at Vernon Performing Arts Centre at 1:30 p.m.
Tickets: Available at SelectYourTickets.com or call 250-717-5304 in Kelowna. Call 250-549-7469 in Vernon or Ticketseller.ca.
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Simply the best
By Jude Campbell
Monday, October 11, 2010
To say that Jasper Wood is living his dream would be an understatement. Touted as Canada‘s foremost concert violinist, Wood fell in love with the sound of violin at the tender age of four, performed his first concert at age five, and hasn‘t looked back since.
He laughs when recalling his teenage years, which for most are a time of
bemusement mixed with angst, trying to mix in with the crowd and still remain true to his violin studies.
“It was a bit of a difficult time, because it‘s not the coolest thing in high school to be a classical violinist,” he said. “But, my friends stuck with me and I made it.”
In hindsight, he still remembers the
summer his dream was rocked with tremors of doubt.
“I was at summer camp when I was 15, and so frustrated with my playing that I was just going to give up. I was ready to pack it in. I‘d decided that this was it –
forget the whole thing,” Wood said.
“Then, I listened to Beethoven‘s concerto and it changed me. It reignited my passion, I was so moved.”
It‘s that concerto Wood will offer up as guest artist at the start of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra season, a symphony that conductor and music director Rosemary Thomson dubs “the most famous four notes in music history.”
“In Symphony No. 5, Beethoven engages the soul of each listener deeply and intimately in a sense of longing where grief and joy embrace,” she noted.
“We‘re kicking of the season with a
performance that‘s infused with passion,” Thomson said.
Thomson chose Wood as guest artist very much aware of his stature in the world of classical music.
“I‘ve not played with this symphony
before, but am very much looking forward to it,” Wood said. “This is my favourite piece. I‘m in awe of the size of it, the history of it, the challenges of it.
“It ranks as one of the most difficult pieces, and that makes it so worth playing,” he added. “Musicians have a vision of how we want to play the piece, we aspire to play it a certain way, and yet the piece changes every time. For me, it‘s ‘the one‘ to play.”
Currently a much sought after soloist across North America, Wood made his solo orchestral debut “many years back” in 1987 with Symphony Nova Scotia. He has since been awarded the Sylva Gelber Award and the Virginia Parker prize given by the Canada Council for the Arts.
He‘s melded his concert work with a recording and teaching career, taking a seat in the Faculty of Music at UBC in Vancouver.
“I‘m doing what I want to do, and just
enjoying all of it,” he said. “I love doing concerts, which I seem to be doing constantly and travelling a lot.
“I‘ve gone past the hurdles on my way to this point. In the early years, there‘s not a lot of potential and musicians typically don‘t make a lot of money.
“That really freaked me out, but now I‘m not that emerging artist any more. People seek me out, and I think I‘m finding a
balance between work, music and family.”
When teaching, Wood keeps those “trying” years in mind, and likes to infuse his students with a desire to keep being “the best musician that you can be.”
“Opportunities do come knocking,” he said. “I like my students to be open-minded. Don‘t go in just one direction. There are tons of possibilities, so it‘s best to be
flexible. And a big part of ‘making it‘ is just hanging in there. Don‘t give up.”
The OSO‘s first concert will begin with Overture to the Passion of Carmen,
composed by Elizabeth Raum from the
ballet score she wrote for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
Thomson noted it is a “10-minute work that‘s a swirl of colour and tells a most
passionate story.”
Wood will play Beethoven‘s only violin concerto, which Thomson called both
“expansive and dramatic” and an
“exquisite work in the great hands of Jasper Wood.”
“He shapes sounds of seductive
tenderness, and he has open, luminous tones mixed with an impeccable
technique,” she said.
The OSO will also offer the concert in Penticton and Vernon, with an open and free dress rehearsal on Friday at 2 p.m. in the Kelowna Community Theatre.
QUICKFACTS
What: The Okanagan Symphony Orchestra opens its 51st season with guest artist Jasper Wood.
When & Where: Oct. 15 at 8 p.m., Kelowna Community Theatre;
Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the Penticton Trade & Convention Centre; and
Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre
Tickets: Available at Ticketmaster in Penticton, 250-770-1470 and Kelowna, 250-860-1470; Ticketseller Vernon, 250-549-7469.
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See more by going to:
http://okanagansymphony.com
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