The Saskatoon Symphony – Page 15 – Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra

Kelsey Stone

Trained at La Danse in Saskatoon, Kelsey has participated in many exams, competed and adjudicated at different festivals across Canada and performed in musicals around the country. She is currently the Acro and Musical Theatre instructor at La Danse and has

received many awards for her groups and solos. Choreo credits: Footloose (BNTC), Annie (BNTC, SSP), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Fireside), Aida (Fireside), Fireside Christmas Memories, Beauty and the Beast (Fireside), Oliver! (Fireside), Les Miserables (Fireside), Jesus Christ Superstar (Fireside), The Wizard of OZ (Fireside), The Hunchback of Notre Dam (Fireside), Evita (Fireside). Performance credits: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator, SSP), RENT (Maureen, SSP), Cabaret (Sally, SSP),

Beauty and the Beast (Belle, BNTC), Footloose (Rusty, BNTC), Annie (Grace, BNTC).
Kelsey co-founded the award winning theatre company Ppl r Ppl Productions and credits include: The Last Five Years (Cathy), The Rocky Horror Show (Choreographer), Avenue Q (Kate Monster, Choreographer) and Little Shop of Horrors (Audrey, Choreographer), [title of show] (Heidi, Choreographer). Kelsey is determined to grow and foster the love for dance and musical theatre in Saskatchewan and especially help young people gain confidence through the arts.

The Fireside Singers

This year marks 50 years of sharing powerful and engaging music performances for The Fireside Singers. They are thrilled to be collaborating with the SSO again to celebrate this milestone. The Fireside Singers performed previously with the SSO in October 2016 for their “On Broadway” concert. The Fireside Singers’ concerts and theatre productions proudly showcase the amazing choir of gifted singers, stunning vocal soloists, as well as internationally recognized instrumentalists. Their repertoire continues to delight audiences with their wide

variety of musical genres, from classical to contemporary. Previously, The Fireside Singers have been awarded First Place at the National Music Festival Competition on five occasions, recorded seven albums, and produced 12 full-scale Broadway productions including Children of Eden (2007), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2008), Aida (2009), Beauty and the Beast (2010), Oliver (2011), Fiddler on the Roof (2012), Les Misérables (Spring 2013 and Fall 2013), Jesus Christ Superstar (2014), The Wizard of Oz (2015), Pippin (2017), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2018), and Evita (2019). As with every successful production it is essential to draw from the talents and expertise of many people. The Fireside Singers production team is led by the groups Founder and Artistic Director Marilyn Whitehead, Orchestral Director and Artistic Collaborator Bonnie Nicholson, and Stage Director and Choreographer Kelsey Stone. Additional members of the production team include Kennedy Siba, Meaghan Dormuth, Kristin Siba, Sarah Chapman, and Cheryl Kiefer. Marilyn is grateful, humbled and honoured to share the stage with all of these marvelous individuals who have committed countless hours of their time and talent to maintaining the standard of excellence the group has established for 50 years and counting!

Dinuk Wijeratne, Conductor

Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wijeratne is a JUNO and multi-award-winning composer, conductor, and pianist who has been described by the New York Times as ‘exuberantly creative’, by the Toronto Star as ‘an artist who reflects a positive vision of our cultural future’, and by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as ‘a modern polymath’. His boundary-crossing work sees him equally at home in collaborations with symphony orchestras and string quartets, tabla players and DJs, and takes him to international venues as poles apart as the Berlin Philharmonie and the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Dinuk was featured as a main character in ‘What would Beethoven do?’ – the 2016 documentary about innovation in classical music featuring Eric Whitacre, Bobby McFerrin and Ben Zander. Forthcoming projects include new works for Grammy-winning baritone Elliot Madore (featuring Dinuk as pianist) and Grammy-nominated mandolinist Avi Avital, the test piece for the Banff International String Quartet Competition 2022, and conducting debuts with the Calgary Philharmonic and Qatar Philharmonic, Doha.

Dinuk made his Carnegie Hall debut while still a student in 2004 as a composer, conductor, and pianist performing with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. A second Carnegie appearance followed in 2009, alongside tabla legend Zakir Hussain. Dinuk has also appeared at the BoulezSaal (Berlin), Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Opéra Bastille (Paris), Lincoln Center (New York), Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), Sri Lanka, Japan, and across the Middle East. Dinuk grew up in Dubai before taking up composition studies at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), Manchester, UK. In 2001, he was invited by Oscar-winning composer John Corigliano to join his studio at New York’s Juilliard School. Conducting studies followed at New York’s Mannes College of Music, and doctoral studies under Christos Hatzis at the University of Toronto.

Dinuk has composed specially for almost all of the artists and ensembles with whom he has performed; to name a few: Suzie LeBlanc, David Jalbert, James Ehnes, Kinan Azmeh, Bev Johnston, Joseph Petric, Sandeep Das, Tim Garland, Ed Thigpen, Ramesh Misra, Barry Guy, Eric Vloeimans, Buck 65, DJ Skratch Bastid, the Gryphon Trio, the Afiara, Danel & Cecilia String Quartets, the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, TorQ Percussion, and the Symphony orchestras of Toronto, Vancouver, the National Arts Centre, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Illinois, Fresno, Asheville, Saskatoon, Windsor, Victoria, PEI, and Thunder Bay. Dinuk is the only artist to have served both as Conductor-in-Residence and Composer-in-Residence of a Canadian orchestra (Symphony Nova Scotia).

A passionate educator, Dinuk is committed to helping emerging and mid-career classical artists navigate the classical music industry in today’s increasingly complex, diverse, and globalized world. As a Creativity Consultant he serves private clients as well as students of the Banff Centre (Evolution Classical) and Toronto’s Glenn Gould School. His educational guide ‘Define Your Artistic Voice’ was downloaded 150 times from his blog within the first two days of its release. Dinuk also served as Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra for thirteen seasons. He is also the recipient of the Canada Council Jean-Marie Beaudet award for orchestral conducting; the NS Established Artist Award; NS Masterworks nominations for his Tabla Concerto and piano trio Love Triangle; double Merritt Award nominations; Juilliard, Mannes, & Countess of Munster scholarships; the Sema Jazz Improvisation Prize; the Soroptimist International Award for Composer-Conductors; and the Sir John Manduell Prize – the RNCM’s highest student honour. His music and collaborative work embrace the great diversity of his international background and influences.

dinukwijeratne.com

Shawn Mativetsky, Tabla

Dynamic performer Shawn Mativetsky is considered one of Canada’s leading ambassadors of the tabla, and is a pioneer in bridging the worlds of Western and Indian classical music. Acclaimed as an exceptional soloist and a leading disciple of the renowned Pandit Sharda Sahai, Shawn Mativetsky is highly sought-after as both performer and educator, and is active in the promotion of the tabla and North Indian classical music through lectures, workshops, and performances across Canada and internationally. Based in Montreal, Shawn teaches tabla and percussion at McGill University. His most recent solo tabla album, Rivers, is rooted in the rich traditions of the Benares style of tabla playing. Shawn’s new book, RUDIMENTAAL, features compositions for snare drum, inspired by the tabla drumming of North India.

As a practitioner of Indian classical music, Shawn regularly gives solo tabla performances, as well as accompanying kathak dance and instrumental artists. Since 2003, Shawn has been affiliated with the Pandit Ram Sahai Foundation (UK/India), and in the summers of 2006 and 2008, hosted tabla maestro Pandit Sharda Sahai’s annual summer tabla workshop. Since 2011, Shawn has been hosting his own annual summer tabla workshop at McGill University. In recent years, he has been working closely with santoor player Jonathan Voyer, sitarist Uwe Neumann, and kathak dancer Sudeshna Maulik.

Shawn has performed numerous recitals around the world, and has been featured in the International Pharos Contemporary Music Festival (Cyprus), Clazz International Music Festival (Italy), Pontio / Music @ Bangor, Vale of Glamorgan Festival (Wales), Shastra Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (USA), Sound Symposium, Windsor Canadian Music Festival, New Music in New Spaces, Groundswell, Western Front, Open Space, VICO’s Global Soundscapes Festival, Festival Montréal Baroque, Jusqu’aux Oreilles, Evolutions, Voyages: Montréal-New York, Festival International du Domaine Forget, New Works Calgary, and Music Toronto (Canada). As an ensemble musician, Shawn Mativetsky performs with trio Mativetsky, Amiri & Pagé, violinist Parmela Attariwala’s cross-cultural Attar Project, Indo-fusion group Ragleela, very long cat, a tabla / electronic music duo with live coder David Ogborn, the improv trio Of Sound, Mind and Body, with Tim Brady and Helmut Lipsky, and percussion group Ensemble Duniya. A versatile studio musician, Shawn has appeared on albums by Elsiane, Joel Miller, Yann Perreau, Elephant Stone, Suzie Leblanc, Ramachandra Borcar, and Daniel Lavoie. Regular performances with Galitcha have led to concerts across Canada and the US, as well as tours to France and Tunisia, the chance to play with guest musicians such as Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Salil Bhatt, Harry Manx, and Yves Lambert, as well as a performance for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, during their visit to Canada.

https://www.shawnmativetsky.com

Tabla Concerto

A note from composer Dinuk Wijeratne about his Tabla Concerto:

1. Canons, Circles
2. Folk song: ‘White in the moon the long road lies
(that leads me from my love)’
3. Garland of Gems

While the origins of the Tabla are somewhat obscure, it is evident that this ‘king’ of Indian percussion instruments has achieved global popularity for the richness of its timbre, and for the virtuosity of a rhythmically complex repertoire that cannot be separated from the instrument itself. In writing a large-scale work for Tabla and Symphony Orchestra, it is my hope to allow each entity to preserve its own aesthetic. Perhaps, at the same time, the stage will be set for some new discoveries.

While steeped in tradition, the Tabla lends itself heartily to innovation, and has shown its cultural versatility as an increasingly sought-after instrument in contemporary Western contexts such as Pop, Film Music, and World Music Fusion. This notion led me to conceive of an opening movement that would do the not-so-obvious by placing the Tabla first in a decidedly non-Indian context. Here, initiated by a quasi-Baroque canon in four parts, the music quickly turns into an evocation of one my favourite genres of electronic music: ‘Drum-&-Bass’, characterised by rapid ‘breakbeat’ rhythms in the percussion. Of course, there are some North-Indian Classical musical elements present. The whole makes for a rather bizarre stew that reflects globalisation, for better or worse!

A brief second movement becomes a short respite from the energy of the outer movements, and offers a perspective of the Tabla as accompanist in the lyrical world of Indian folk-song. Set in ‘dheepchandhi’, a rhythmic cycle of 14 beats, the gently lilting gait of theTabla rhythm supports various melodic fragments that come together to form an ephemeral love-song.

Typically, a Tabla player concluding a solo recital would do so by presenting a sequence of short, fixed (non-improvised) compositions from his/her repertoire. Each mini-composition, multi-faceted as a little gem, would often be presented first in the form of a vocal recitation. The traditional accompaniment would consist of a drone as well as a looping melody outlining the time cycle – a ‘nagma’ – against which the soloist would weave rhythmically intricate patterns of tension and release. I wanted to offer my own take on a such a recital finale, with the caveat that the orchestra is no bystander. In this movement, it is spurred on by the soloist to share in some of the rhythmic complexity. The whole movement is set in ‘teentaal’, or 16-beat cycle, and in another departure from the traditional norm, my nagma kaleidoscopically changes colour from start to finish. I am indebted to Ed Hanley for helping me choose several ‘gems’ from the Tabla repertoire, although we have certainly had our own fun in tweaking a few, not to mention composing a couple from scratch.

“The piece is fantastic, complex, and brilliant. The orchestration and solo writing are masterful. I didn’t think one could pull off [such] a concerto, but Dinuk did. I don’t know of anything like it. The audience went crazy after it for good reason.”– John Corigliano

“This is simply the best Western Classical piece written for my instrument”– Sandeep Das, Grammy-winning tabla player; Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble

“Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto is a breath of fresh air in the repertoire – a vibrant, colourful piece that orchestras love to play, and audiences will never forget.”– JoAnn Falletta, Music Director: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra & Virginia Symphony Orchestra; Principal Conductor: the Ulster Orchestra

“Dinuk is one of the most gifted musicians I know. His Tabla Concerto is a pioneering work of musical fusion, a seamless integration of the most complex aspects of North Indian Classical Tabla music into a totally Western model.”– Bernhard Gueller, Music Director: Symphony Nova Scotia

“Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto is a fresh, engaging, cross-cultural, embracing and original piece, which blends cultures marvellously. Combined with Sandeep Das’ virtuosity and energy as soloist, the concerto delighted both audience and orchestra at its US premieres. To include tabla recitation in the last movement was a stroke of genius.”– Alastair Willis, Music Director: Illinois Symphony Orchestra

“Dinuk’s Concerto for Tabla and Orchestra is utterly spectacular. From the moment it begins, you are drawn into an evocative world where cultures have no barriers, and co-exist in a way that is completely natural. Add to that a high octane, colourful score and everyone…musicians, audience, conductor…all leave excited and looking for more!”– Robert Franz, Music Director: Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Boise Philharmonic

Tabla 101

Our featured Vibrant Light soloist Shawn Mativetsky is a course lecturer at the Schulich School of Music. He was a part of Shulich’s Short Form Studies and created a guide that takes you through rhythmic applications inspired by the music of North India. It begins with an introduction to the tabla and includes a permutation exercise to include in your practice sessions!

It’s a great introduction to the tabla and a sneak peek into what we will experience with Dinuk Wijeratne’s Tabla Concerto.

Music Talk – Vibrant Light

We’re going live from the travel section of McNally Robinson Booksellers for Music Talk from McNally! The SSO’s Mark Turner is joined by conductor and composer Dinuk Wijeratne who leads the SSO in Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and his Concerto for Tabla and Orchestra which features Shawn Mativetsky. To read the full program, buy tickets, and find out more go to: https://saskatoonsymphony.org/event/v…

Ryan Davis | Radia

Touted by The WholeNote as a “lovely violist,” Radia, the moniker for Saskatchewan-raised artist Ryan Davis, is swiftly emerging as a singular creative force. Combining his rigorous classical training with the inspiration of folk, electronic, and hip-hop music, he finds himself seamlessly blending in between creative spaces. Using the viola as his voice, his unique sound has garnered attention and has been featured in diverse spaces, including in Toronto’s Koerner Hall, The Violin Channel, in Los Angeles’s Skid Row, and on ABC Channel 7 News LA. Of Glow & Abandon, his debut EP, was released on all major platforms on December 18th, 2021. He was named one of “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” by CBC Music in 2021.

Some recent highlights include an appearance on former Toronto Raptors forward and NBA Champion Serge Ibaka’s Instagram Live show How Talented Are You?, a performance with The Gryphon Trio and vocalist Patricia O’Callaghan as a featured guest artist in Kingston’s Isabel Bader Theatre, a solo curation called Chromatophores as part of the Banff Centre’s Evolution Classical festival, and a performance of Christos Hatzis’s The Mega4 Meta4 as an invited solo artist as part of 21C Music Festival at The Royal Conservatory of Music. Ryan was chosen as the principal violist of the string ensemble Les Jeunes Virtuoses in Montreal, as part of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival in the fall of 2021.

He had a solo concerto debut with ensemble Prairie Virtuosi in January 2016, and has since returned in that role in 2020. Mr. Davis was the principal violist of the Colburn Orchestra’s 2018 tour of Scotland and Ireland, and was selected by the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra as their principal violist for the 2017 summer festival. He has been fortunate to collaborate in chamber music settings with many world-renowned musicians, including Martin Beaver, Jonathan Crow, Steven Dann, Roberto Diaz, Mark Fewer, Matt Haimovitz, Ernst Kovacic, Joel Link, Anthony Marwood, Johannes Moser, Eric Nowlin, Erika Raum, Wolfgang Redik, Lara St. John, and Axel Strauss. Festivals include the Banff Centre for the Arts, Creative Dialogue France, Orford Arts Center, Ottawa Chamberfest, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Napa Valley Music Festival, Ritornello Chamber Music Festival, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival.

Ryan’s passion for community engagement has led to working closely with Street Symphony, focused within the Skid Row neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Along with trombonist Jared Dickerson and violinist Simone Porter, he created the media co-op The Upnote, a platform and podcast focused on the exploration of young artists in an ever-changing music industry. After over 50 episodes, The Upnote was selected as the inaugural Entrepreneurs In Residence at the Colburn School for the 2019-2020 academic year, and were awarded the Grand Prize at the New Venture Competition.
In 2014 Mr. Davis completed a Bachelor of Music degree at McGill University, graduating with “Outstanding Achievement in Viola” as a scholarship student of Andre Roy, and graduated in 2016 with a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music as a student of Ettore Causa, and in 2019 graduated from Los Angeles’s The Colburn School, receiving an Artist Diploma under the tutelage of Paul Coletti. Ryan was then chosen as the first ever violist to be selected as a Rebanks Fellow in 2019, in the Rebanks Family Fellowship & International Performance Residency Program in Toronto, where he now calls home.

Music Talk – Nordic Light

We’re live from the travel section of McNally Robinson Booksellers for Music Talk from McNally! The SSO’s Mark Turner is joined by Nicolas Ellis who leads the SSO, the Greystone Singers, and Aurora Voce this weekend in what promises to be a stunning performance of Ērik Ešenvalds’ Nordic Light. Turner and Ellis will chat about Ešenvalds’ work and the other music on the program. They will also dive into what it’s like behind the scenes with over 100 musicians on stage, and all the technical aspects of performing a multi-media piece.

Marcus Goddard, composer

Marcus Goddard is an award-winning composer and internationally respected trumpet player whose music has touched the hearts of audiences around the world. His catalog of over fifty works includes ten pieces for large orchestra, many frequently performed chamber works, and a large body of innovative work for solo instruments and electronics. Goddard is the Composer in Association and Associate Principal Trumpet with the Grammy and Juno Award-winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in British Columbia, Canada.

Described by New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini as “atmospheric” and by the CBC’s Bill Richardson as possessing a “shimmering, translucent, winning eloquence”, Goddard’s work is routinely praised by musicians, audiences, composers, and critics alike. Goddard’s unique ability to connect across these lines has led to frequent performances of his works. His quartet Allaqi, which was commissioned for the St. Lawrence String Quartet by Chamber Music Kelowna and CBC Radio, was recorded by the St Lawrence Quartet received the 2011 Western Canadian Music Award for Best Composition. Allaqi has been performed nearly one hundred times by quartets across North and South America, including performances at Carnegie Hall, the New World Center, and the Banff International String Quartet Competition. The work has been a staple of the Astera String Quartet’s repertoire in its recent first place performances at the M-Prize, Fischoff, and Saint Paul String Quartet Competitions. The Archytas Quartet recently recorded an album dedicated to Goddard’s chamber music for strings featuring Allaqi; Wind, Sand and Stars; and his newest string quartet, Three Wings.

I Send Only Angels was commissioned by Maestro Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and has received over thirty performances to date, including one led by Maestro Tovey with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal as well as multiple performances during a national tour by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra recently commissioned a Violin Concerto, written for and premiered by Rachel Barton Pine, and a new orchestral work titled Spooky Action at a Distance. Upcoming commissions include a trumpet concerto, cello concerto, and sonata for trumpet and piano. Goddard has enjoyed frequent creative partnerships with performers, dancers, and visual artists, including a recent collaboration with First Nations artist Mike Dangeli and Vancouver’s Standing Wave Ensemble on a work titled Raven Tales. Standing Wave’s recording of the work was nominated for a 2017 Western Canadian Music Award.

As an enthusiastic educator, Goddard has been inspiring and instructing students of all ages for over twenty years in composition and trumpet performance. He has taught at the master’s level at the University of British Columbia and has taught undergraduate performance majors as an Associate Instructor at Indiana University. Goddard has been on the faculty of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra Institute at Whistler, B.C. As a long-time Guest Artist at the PRISMA Festival in Powell River B.C., Goddard has taught and mentored many students in orchestral performance and audition training. Many of Goddard’s students have gone on to win professional positions in orchestras and educational institutions in North America and Europe.

Inspiring young people’s creativity has been an ongoing mission for Goddard. In 1999 Goddard created a composition program for students at the Quiring Chamber Music Camp in Vancouver, B.C. Since then, he has nurtured the interest and curiosity of over four hundred composition students between the ages of five and twenty in this program. Goddard regularly shares his enthusiasm for the trumpet and composing as a clinician with festivals, secondary schools and Universities across North America. In partnership with the Trio Accord ensemble, he has been a featured speaker on collaborative creativity for MBA students at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business.

Goddard has been the recipient of fellowships from the Spoleto Festival and the National Orchestral Institute. While completing a Master’s degree at Indiana University he was awarded the coveted Performer’s Diploma and performed Edward Gregson’s Trumpet Concerto as the winner of the Concerto Competition. Goddard graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan. His major trumpet teachers include John Rommel, Charles Daval, Armando Ghitalla, Chris Gekker, Louis Ranger, and Jeff Stempien. He has attended seminars with John Corigliano, William Bolcom, Philip Glass, and Krzysztof Penderecki and his major composition teachers include David Dzubay, Marta Ptaszynska, Steve Rouse, and Claude Baker.

In his free time, Goddard explores the Pacific Coast Mountains with his family and friends by foot on skis and mountain bikes. Goddard was born in Burlington, Vermont and holds both Canadian and U.S. citizenship.

Kelsey Stone

The Fireside Singers

Dinuk Wijeratne, Conductor

Shawn Mativetsky, Tabla

Tabla Concerto

Tabla 101

Music Talk – Vibrant Light

Ryan Davis | Radia

Music Talk – Nordic Light

Marcus Goddard, composer

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