But Nancy Washeim’s light, resoundingly clear soprano voice delivers that same passion through early music, not mainstream dramatic opera scores. An early music specialist with a Master’s Degree from McGill, Nancy’s preferred realm is that of the oratorio. “I have a lighter voice, which lends itself to early music,” Nancy explains. “Music from the Baroque period [1600-1760] really speaks to me and fits with me vocally.”

SPO Messiah 2010: Nancy Washeim, soprano, and Michelle McKenzie, alto

Nancy will be appearing in the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) and Chorus’ Season’s Greetings concert, December 3 and 4, which will feature the Sooke resident in two Baroque pieces: Part 1 of Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s “Flosst mein Heiland” (Christmas Oratorio). The orchestra will also perform Haydn’s Toy Symphony, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasias on Christmas Carols and Greensleeves, as well as other songs and carols.

Oratorios, the most famous of which is the Messiah, don’t include a cast of characters or staging in the way traditional opera, like musical theatre, does. Written primarily to communicate sacred texts through music, oratorios feature a chorus, often representing the people as in Greek theatre, and soloists who take on different roles in the storytelling. “At one point, I’m an angel, then I’m a narrator,” Nancy explains. “The Messiah is a cast of many different characters; I’m just one of a number of people telling a story,” she says. “You’ll even hear the orchestra being sheep!”

Having performed the Messiah many times, first in her youth as a choir member, and again in recent years as the soprano soloist (including last year with the SPO), Nancy knows the music inside out, has spent years exploring the phrasing, ornamentation, and meaning and crafting beautiful, expressive lines. “Even though I’ve sung the Messiah many times, there are so many layers to discover. As I continue to learn more about my voice, I bring something new to the piece.” She laughs, a gentle, musical laugh: “I joke with [SPO conductor Norman Nelson,] that every year [I sing the Messiah] he gets a new soprano because I sing it differently every time, as I apply the new things I’ve learned over the year!”

Nancy Washeim

Coincidentally, Nancy studied for her Bachelor of Music at the University of Alberta at the same time Norman taught there. “I didn’t get the opportunity to work with him while I was at university, but I worked with the orchestra he conducted, the Academy Strings,” Nancy remembers. “I like watching him work, how he conducts, how he works with the orchestra. He has a vision, but he is also open to new ideas and collaboration.”

Nancy also appreciates Norman’s support of local talent, both by giving her repeated opportunities to sing with SPO and by inviting young musicians to perform with the orchestra. “Two of the students from my studio will be singing the echo part in a Bach Christmas Oratorio aria in this concert. That’s really exciting for a young singer. I didn’t have the chance to sing with an orchestra until I was in university.”

While Nancy’s start singing with an orchestra may have been delayed, she is certainly making up for lost time. In addition to performing with Sooke this December, she is also appearing in Respighi’s Laud to the Nativity with the Victoria Choral Society, and in May she will sing Bach’s Non sa che sia dolore with the Victoria Baroque Players. In February, she will perform Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Okanagan Festival Singers. The choir’s Music Director saw a YouTube video of Nancy performing Dixit Dominus, and he was so enchanted with her voice and performance, he invited her to travel to Kelowna to perform with them!

But not to worry, Nancy won’t get swept away from Sooke; she insists she has a fondness for the SPO that guarantees her loyalty to the orchestra. “I love singing with the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, and I will always gladly say ‘yes’ to work with Norman.”

And what does she hope for this concert? “There are a lot of things that resonate very deeply with me in the Messiah. I look at it as a platform to go out and do my very best. I hope the audience is moved in some way, touched in some way. I hope that it affects them, and changes them, and moves them. I hope they walk away with joy.”

By Jessica Woollard

Jessica Woollard

The upcoming SPO concerts October 29th and 30th will find Jessica in the first violin section, where she has played off and on since 2006. Jessica moved to Victoria from Sudbury, Ontario, in order to do a Masters Degree in English at U Vic. She has accomplished this feat and is now employed at Glenlyon Norfolk School as a Communications Officer. As part of her job, she interviewed our soloist Nelson Moneo for the school website and we are happy to provide the link to her post, below Nelson Moneo’s photo.

Jessica also works as a freelance writer and invites you to visit her website: jessicawoollard.ca

Below, a photo of our competition winner, Nelson Moneo.

Photo by Cheryl Alexander.

Here is the link to Jessica Woollard’s interview:

http://w3w.mygns.ca/gns/life-at-gns/student-life/nelson-achieves-childhood-dream

The Lafayette String Quartet has been together for 25 years. High Notes asked our two soloists whether the Quartet is anything like a family.

Ann Elliott-Goldschmid responded like this:

We are a family for sure. We have grown up together! We have had to find ways to make our working lives compatible. Like a marriage, this has taken a lot of work on the part of every individual. For the most part, however, we get along well even though we are all extremely different.

Pamela Highbaugh-Aloni had this to add:

The quartet has all the experiences, challenges and supports of a family, but one based in a mutual love for music and not necessarily lifestyle or goals outside of music. All things need to be worked on, but we had some early teachers who helped form our general approach to playing – our dear mentor Rostislav Dubinsky and also the Cleveland and Alban Berg Quartets. We share a mutual admiration for many musicians and each other, which allows us to continue exploring and finding ways to play together with the different ideas and passions each of us bring to the rehearsal.

Compatible? We’re still together after 25 years, but I’m going to say that compatibility is within a spectrum and can change with the topic and the day!

Here is Ann talking about the sound achieved by the Lafayette:

More and more, we are concentrating on the space inside the music, the inner shape of each phrase and on unifying the emotional impact of each phrase and how it leads to the next. I expect that seeing the music from the bigger picture also helps us to be unified. Of course, we’ve played together for a long time. We’re all about communication and being as expressive as possible.

Ann talked about her own part in the Brahms, which High Notes suggested was challenging:
The Brahms is very challenging. It is more difficult for me than a lot of Brahms’ chamber music repertoire, but it is not unlike the middle and late Beethoven quartets in its virtuosic demands for the violin (he sure loves his arpeggios!). In terms of rhythm and actual ear-training it is quite straightforward, unlike more challenging modern chamber works that we often perform, like Elliott Carter or Murray Schafer. Those literally take hours and hours of painstaking detailed work to put together because of their complexities. This work, though it is often awkwardly written, has recognizable, immediately identifiable pitches and intervals and is generally in one time signature throughout each movement. (There are a couple of changes, but they are very simple ones!)

The challenging part about this piece is the pass-offs, but because we have played together for so long, we really did not find them very challenging at all — one of the many beautiful payoffs of years of working together!

Playing with an orchestra, you have a smaller range of dynamics than playing chamber music. We all can play extremely softly in the quartet and often challenge ourselves to do that. Because we are only four, our fortes do not compare to that of an orchestra so we have to dig down for the contrasts in the lower ranges.

Even so, in the larger chamber works, the sextets of Brahms or the Octet of Mendelssohn, for example, I have to play in a soloistic way most of the time in order for my voice to be heard. Everyone’s part is important and even if they are playing very delicately there are still a lot of them and they’re all playing different parts!

In the Brahms concerto, each individual in the orchestra is often called upon to play very quietly, even more quietly than a quartet player would in a pianissimo section Ian McDougall (a friend and trombone-playing colleague of mine, who has recently “retired” from UVic) refers to this as “suckin instead a blowin” – I love that expression and know exactly what he means! When I’m sitting in an orchestra accompanying a soloist, I sometimes don’t even play my instrument, I just look like I’m playing and the orchestra is still overpowering the soloist. So I have learned that you really do have to project out when you are playing a solo part with an orchestra.

But, because the Brahms is so well written, we don’t have to belt out as much as we would if it were, say, the Tchaikovsky concerto or the Sibelius or, for Pam, the Dvorak or Saint-Saens. This work allows the soloists to be in dialogue with the orchestra. It’s wonderfully written that way!

Pam says:

I concur with all that Ann has said and would add that the piece is well written for the instruments, likely because Brahms worked with two marvelous players, Joachim and Haussman. The combination of playing as a soloist and also together with another soloist is in some ways more challenging than playing a solo concerto, but sharing a like-minded performance with another musician is very rewarding and worth all the extra work needed to find a consensus that works for both players. The piece is one of the greatest works written in this era and I am looking forward to playing it with Ann and the Sooke Philharmonic.

The two other orchestral works on the program are also very exciting: Beethoven’s Leonore Overture, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 7.

Beethoven, Brahms, and Dvorak, of course, are also musical friends – whether old or new to you, come and enjoy their company at 8:00 pm on Friday, June 24th at E.M.C.S., in Sooke, and at 8:00 pm on Saturday, June 25th, at Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria.
Norman Nelson, as always, will be holding the reins.

David Stratkauskas

In addition to a background in church choirs, this versatile musician plays organ and piano. David is equally at home in jazz, contemporary and classical music. He currently holds the position of Music Director at St. John the Divine Anglican Church on Quadra Street in Victoria.

David is a Vancouver native who got his start on a Bontempi electronic organ at the age of seven. He says that his parents were not particularly interested in music, but that Yamaha had a comprehensive music education system. Playing an electronic organ led naturally to jazz. If you had a chance to stop by the Jazz Cellar in Vancouver this past November, you would have heard him improvising on their B3 organ.

David completed two music degrees at UBC, mostly centered on classical music. His Master of Music is in music theory. When he graduated, he paid off his student debts by playing Broadway show tunes on the piano, on a cruise ship.

For years David worked as a musician for hire, accompanying choirs and singers, and teaching. He moved to Europe in 2003, following an interest in church music. He was appointed as the musical director at St. Michael Church, Wandsworth Common, and in 2007 he moved to St. Mary’s Church, Stoke Newington. While in London, David also played piano in Brown’s Hotel for their afternoon tea.

David taught at the Colourstrings Music School in Muswell Hill, London. Colourstrings is a Kodaly-informed teaching approach that started in Finland and has been taken up in a few other places such as London and Vancouver.

Another recent concert he was involved in (March 12, 2011, at St. John the Divine) was a performance of James Tenney’s In a Large Open Space, together with the Montreal string quartet Quatuor Bozzini. This work gives musicians a set of pitches based on the harmonic series of a low F, based on the range of their instruments, and asks them to perform these while spread out in the space. The effect is said to be like being inside a sound wave.

David Stratkauskas enjoys working with children and tells us that you have to keep things interesting with the youngsters, but that the basics of a children’s choir are the same as for adults: good repertoire and respect. Children recognize fine music and enjoy a challenge, just like anyone.

Stratkauskas is a Lithuanian name, but you have to go back to his paternal grandparents for the generation that was Lithuanian-born. David is married to Soile Stratkauskas, a fine Baroque flute player who studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has played with such groups as The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

The Stubbs Trio

How did this busy professional land in the Gulf Islands?

That was our first question to Jim, when we recently had a chance to talk to him.

He said that he knew of the existence of the Canadian west coast (not all New Yorkers do) through two adult children of his, who knew the region and had been to Victoria.

Back in New York, Jim and Laurie, his wife, a professional bassoon player, spent a lot of their time in the car, getting to rehearsals, getting to concerts. Although they lived just across the river, on the New Jersey side, they would have to leave home an hour or an hour and a half before down beat, to be on time. Jim names traffic as one of the big stressors of life in the city. Also, he was a very busy man, as his biography fully attests.

One day Laurie Stubbs Googled Saltspring, and liked the alternative look of the Island: organic farms, sheep, plenty of artists. She liked that it’s built on a rock. Next, she Googled condos. Three and a half years ago, the Stubbs arrived, with son Matthew, then 11, and daughter Sarah, then 15, ready to try something completely different.

Jim says he is pleased his children have experienced both New York and Saltspring, two contrasting lifestyles.

Jim has done more than sit on the Ganges dock and watch the tide go in and out. Together with Laurie and Matthew, who is a pianist, he founded the Saltspring Chamber Players, which has presented a variety of interesting work, from Stravinsky to all six Brandenburgs, to solo piano works, presented by Matthew.

Jim tells us that he often put together informal concerts in New York City, for reasons as varied as fundraising for immigration lawyers, to playing for the homeless. In New York City, he says, it’s always easy to find people who are willing to play.

Another of his Saltspring endeavours is Bach on the Rock, a chamber choir and 

chamber orchestra, which gives combined concerts twice a year together. They are doing Elijah, this spring; they have done the Christmas Oratorio. The orchestra also performs on its own and recently played the Haffner Symphony;

We know opera fans wouldn’t forgive us if we failed to ask about his twenty-five years at the Met. He tells us he enjoyed playing on stage and did it many times. He played herald trumpet, an instrument that looks like the trumpets in Egyptian hieroglyphs: long, straight and narrow. Usually they have a flag of some kind hanging down.  At the Met, they are used on stage in a number of productions such as Aida and Lohengrin. He also played in the Meistersingers, Carmen, and the one onstage trumpet note in The Magic Flute. 

For the Haydn concerto, Jim will be using a relatively small E-flat trumpet. The work was originally scored for clarina, a kind of keyed woodwind, which had (it is assumed) the elegance and flexibility of a woodwind instrument, and which makes it a challenge to perform on the trumpet.

Jim is more than up to it. We have already enjoyed his playing in the Christmas Oratorio and the Messiah.

Sooke: EMCS at 8:00 on Saturday, February 19^th .

Metchosin: New St. Mary’s at 2:30 pm on Sunday February 20^th.

See you there!

interview by Sonja de Wit of Sooke Phil High Notes

This weekend is Messiah weekend in Sooke and Metchosin.

Join us Saturday at Sooke Community Theatre at Edward Milne School,

or Sunday afternoon at New St. Mary’s Church in Metchosin.

Delwynne Windell, tenor, Sam Marcaccini, baritone, and Nancy Washeim, soprano, answered a few questions about this stirring work.

(contributed by Sonja deWit of Sooke Phil High Notes)

Delwynne Windell is a tenor soloist renowned for his meaningful, elegant, powerful, and emotionally stirring interpretations of oratorios with audiences in Victoria and Sooke. He is South African and has performed extensively on the African continent.

Is this your first time singing Messiah, or have you sung it many times already?

This is not my first time singing Messiah. I have sung the tenor solo roles on 63 occasions.

Is there one aria that you sing that’s your favorite? Yes, the aria “Ev’ry valley shall be exalted” is a firm favourite of mine, together with the preceding recitative “Comfort ye,” which were quite poignant for audiences in Harare, Zimbabwe, most of whom, owing to socio-political crises, were hungry on that night and had no homes to which to return. Some approached me and mentioned that the words of these two pieces from Messiah are quite inspirational, uplifting, and encourage them in their faith to look ahead and hope for better times.

What makes these pieces so good?

Throughout Messiah Handel employs a technique called text painting, where the musical notes mimic the lines of text quite effectively. At KwaSizabantu Mission Station in South Africa, the Zulu speaking audience understood the chuckling effect of the word “exalted” in “Every Valley” and smiled back or chuckled with me. It was quite an energizing experience. Messiah has universal appeal, and the text-painting technique enables the text to cross the barriers of language and culture.

What do you think is the biggest challenge to a good Messiah performance?

Because of its powerful message, and the way its religious text can uplift the audience, clarity of diction throughout, from soloists to choir, is of prime importance. Messiah‘s message is also intimate, and musically this needs to be achieved  by taking some weight out of the sound, which is quite a challenge.

How do you explain the incredible popularity of Messiah?

The richness and variety of the music, the insightful matching of word and sound, and the consistently inspired evocations of such universal emotions as pathos, serenity, and joy. It is also a deeply satisfying work to perform, be the artists seasoned professionals or enthusiastic amateurs.

What is your next endeavour after this one?

Two performances of Mozart’s Requiem conducted by Wade Noble at Sooke on 9 April  and at Metchosin on 10 April.

Sam Marcaccini is a rising Canadian baritone born and raised on the West Coast. He is known for his rich, powerful voice and robust stage presence.

Is this your first time singing Messiah, or have you sung it many times already?

This is my first full Messiah concert. I have sung parts of Messiah before, but have never performed the entire piece.  

Is there one aria that you sing that’s your favorite?

“The People That Walked in Darkness.” It is very moving to sing, and I really enjoy the interval changes throughout the passages.

What do you think is the biggest challenge to a good Messiah performance?

The biggest challenge is to sing with the original intent of the piece at all times and not get caught up in just singing the notes.

How do you explain the incredible popularity of Messiah?

Messiah is popular for many reasons. It is a beautifully composed piece that is very expressive and sensitive. It is also an annual tradition for many people during this season.

What is your next endeavour after this one?

I will be performing Messiah with the Vancouver Island Symphony in Nanaimo on 12 December. After that I will be singing the role of Father Christmas in the Mummers Masque with Saltwater Productions at St. Anne’s Academy. The piece is composed by Canadian Dean Burry and is centered on Maritime tradition during the holiday season. Come and see it on 16 and 17 December at 7:30 and on 18 and 19 at 2:30pm.

Nancy Washeim is well-known to Sooke and Victoria audiences, particularly for her sensitive Early Music performances.

Is this your first time singing Messiah, or have you sung it many times already? Care to guess how many times? I have sung Handel’s Messiah ten times, and will be up to fourteen at the end of this season. 

Is there one aria that you sing that’s your favorite? I really love so many parts of Messiah. It is a very exciting experience to be part of. There are many wonderful choruses and meaningful arias, and there is beautiful orchestra writing. It’s pretty tough to pick a favourite and for me, it changes from year to year. I enjoy Handel’s word painting, how he brings the text to life in music.  Whenever I hear the Christmas story being read, I hear it as Handel wrote it.

What do you think is the biggest challenge to a good Messiah performance?

Accuracy. It is not an easy piece to sing. It takes a lot of practice. You really need to listen to everything that is going on around you. By the time a Messiah performance takes place, most voices are in great shape because of all the careful work that is done in preparation.  I remember hearing an interview with Bryn Terfel, and he said that he “works out in the gym of Handel and Mozart.” Messiah is a great workout.

How do you explain the incredible popularity of Messiah?

To me, it is something that stays current: the sentiment, the human condition, the hope and joy it expresses. It’s hard not to be moved, and to me the Christmas season would not be the same without it. It’s great to hear different interpretations, different tempos… each performance is slightly different. The energy changes. You can usually walk away singing at least one thing you heard. It really stays with you. Perhaps that is part of its great appeal.

What is your next endeavour after this one?

I’m looking forward to singing more Handel (Dixit Dominus) as well as Bach’s Cantata 198 (Trauerode) with the Victoria Philharmonic Choir and the Victoria Chamber Orchestra. I’m also looking forward to working with the Vancouver Handel Society and the Chilliwack Symphony in Spring 2011.

Philip Manning is this year’s Don Chrysler Concerto Competition winner, and we are looking forward to hearing him play Max Bruch’s wonderful First Violin Concerto in our concerts on 30 and 31 October.

This young man of eighteen has already had some notable successes. He told High Notes that, in particular, playing the Victoria Symphony Splash last summer was a unique experience—the outdoor venue, the beautiful August evening, the thousands of people everywhere on shore.

Philip has been playing the violin since he was six, when he began lessons with Carol McIsaac. His current teacher is Robert Skelton, of Mill Bay.

Philip was born in Victoria. His grandfather played clarinet and saxophone, and his mother plays piano. He has a younger brother who also plays piano.

He is a graduate of Lighthouse Academy and lives in Metchosin.

He enjoyed playing in a piano trio, Trio Tesoro, for three years,; in 2008 the three young musicians traveled to Edmonton to take part in the National Music Festival. At present he is attending Camosun College, taking a few non-music electives. He is interested in political science and intends to take a course in this subject in January. He plans to continue his post-secondary studies in music in September 2011.

Philip says he loves the Bruch (which doesn’t surprise us) and named the slow movement in particular as a musical jewel. That was what he played at the Symphony Splash.

We can’t promise you a beautiful evening along the waterfront, but we can promise a wonderful performance of an exciting work by an accomplished young musician

See you this coming Saturday in Sooke, and Sunday in Victoria.

No need to bring a blanket.

- contributed by Sonja deWit

We raised a mighty $3,308.76 in total. The Silent Auction alone raised $1,349. Not bad considering we did not take credit cards and so all of you had to scrape your pockets and wallets for cash or in some cases get the wife to write a cheque!

Dave at Godfrey Brownell Vineyards offered to give 20% of the proceeds of our total purchases back to the event. This came to the plum sum of $120. Dave also offered lovely food and suggested that we the guests make a contribution to “the cookie jar” to be donated to the Tour. This came to $123.  If your generosity was equal to your appreciation of the food then you must have liked it a lot! Thanks to all and thanks to David for his donations.

As for the Fun side of the Tour, well, from what I saw and heard, I think that everyone had a jolly good time!

For those of you who could not join the Tour, we visited four vineyards in the Cowichan Valley and Duncan: Silverside Farm & Winery, Rocky Creek Winery, then on to Cherry Point Estate Vineyards where we had an excellent lunch to the sweet sounds of a select group of Sooke Phil musicians: Norman Nelson, Alison Crone, Lee Anderson, Sue Innes & Trevor MacHattie. This was followed by a silent auction and a Belgian chocolate ‘Degustation’ (google it if you are not sure what it means!) with ‘Chocolatiere’ Annie Perron of Sooke. Our last stop was at Godfrey Brownell Vineyards.

On the bus, our witty musicians provided a good dose of fun and laughter with their reminiscing on “life as a musician”.  Alison Crone had prepared a quiz which tested everyone’s musical knowledge – or not! Pat Phillips shared her knowledge of local wines.

In all, we did a pretty good job at organizing the Tour (even if I say so myself) and all of you did a fabulous job at giving and giving and giving some more.

Thanks a million to all who gave so generously and to those of you who helped organize the tour and make it a successful Event. Also a big thank you to our local businesses and individuals who gave items for the silent auction.

A la prochaine

Nicole Kedge

Fund Raising Events

Sooke Philharmonic Society

Alix Goolden Hall, Victoria

Conductor: Norman Nelson

Soloists: Shanna Fong, Andrew Kang, Grace Ma, Sunny Shams, Carolyn Tsao, Jordan Vermes, Brandon Zhou Charles

Featuring: Mozart, Beethoven, Grieg, Puccini & more!

A fundraising concert to benefit the Sooke Philiharmonic Orchestra and the Victoria Conservatory of Music.  Tickets $25 adult, $20 senior.

Enjoy photos courtesy of Brian Potter and ANGi PHOTO and DESIGN…

Just click on read more then click a thumbnail to see a larger copy of the photos