Called “the Dean of African-American composers”, William Grant Still (1895–1978) worked in all genres of music – from jazz to Broadway musicals to modern classical music (he studied in New York with Edgard Varèse, who encouraged Still to find his own voice as a composer, explore his black heritage and exploit his talent for melody). Still achieved many firsts for an African-American – the first to have a symphony performed by a major symphony orchestra; first to conduct a major orchestra; first to conduct an orchestra in the Deep South; first to have an opera (‘Troubled Island’) produced by a major company; and first to have an opera (‘A Bayou Legend’) broadcast on television (posthumously in 1981).
Like his contemporary George Gershwin, Still successfully mixed the idioms of jazz with classical music. In his Suite for Violin and Piano, the third movement contains a syncopated violin line and a jazz piano style called stride. His African-American Symphony is infused with the blues of the Deep South. More subtle than Gershwin’s ‘Broadway jazz’, Still used the African American elements not simply for orchestral colour but places them at the heart of the work. The symphony boasts rich harmonies, brilliant orchestration, jazz-inflected rhythms in a work which can easily stand up against the best of the genre. There is sweetness and sadness, depression and joy, and a beautiful, heart-rending finale. His piano music, notably Three Visions, demonstrates his remarkable talent for blending and contrasting colours to support a melody with wonderful subtlety, and the spiritual qualities of this music, most evident in ‘Summerland’, are on a par with the late piano music of Beethoven or Schubert.
Still’s musical language was not bound to one genre, nor did he set out to write distinctly “African-American” music, and he firmly believed that one should be a master of all styles. Some of his music displays distinctly modernist idioms, especially that written in the latter part of his life, while his experiences as an orchestrator and pit musician informed his later compositions and led to his success in both popular and art music.
The SSO is thrilled to perform Still’s Symphony No 1 on February 10th as part of our concert Roaring Twenties – see it live or stream it from home!
McKenzie Warriner is a Saskatchewan born and raised soprano bringing
Duff Warkentin has been a choral conductor and clinician for many years. His formal post-secondary education was at Canadian Mennonite Bible College in Winnipeg, the University of Waterloo, and the University of Regina. He has conducted children’s choirs, high school choirs, church choirs, university choirs, and community choirs. He has sung under the direction of noted conductors such as Robert Shaw, George Wiebe, Helmut Rilling, John Martens, Elmer Iseler, Wayne Riddell, Jon Washburn, and Bramwell Tovey. He has prepared and conducted many of the Requiems, Masses, oratorios, and other larger works in the standard repertoire. Two particular choral experiences stand out for him. He conducted the Station Singers of Rosthern, a non-auditioned community choir, since its inception in 2000. That choir discontinued at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and this summer the decision was made to end the choir. It was a difficult decision, arrived at after considering a number of factors. He was honoured to conduct this wonderful choir. He also conducted a Warkentin family choir at their triennial family reunion. This experience too is one that is tremendously important and meaningful to him. The commonality between these two experiences is that both groups were, and are, amateur choirs, in the truest sense of the word. Singing for the sheer love of music and singing together, creating together what we cannot create alone, recognizing that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, building community through music, through singing together – this is what inspires and energizes Duff Warkentin, and he is thrilled to be able to participate in Handel’s Messiah again!
Martin MacDonald is one of Canada’s most dynamic and outstanding young conductors and has been awarded both the Heinz Unger Award and the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award for orchestral conducting. Martin has guest conducted extensively across Canada having worked with the orchestras of Toronto, National Arts Centre, Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kingston, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Niagara, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. He has served as a Cover and Guest Conductor for the National Ballet of Canada for several productions, and has worked with the Minnesota Ballet, Atlantic Ballet, and Halifax Dance. Martin has recorded extensively for the CBC and for several commercial recordings. Most notably, Martin has served as Resident Conductor, Associate Conductor, and a regular guest conductor of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2008 with over 200 performances in a diverse range of programs and artists. Previously, Martin served as Associate Conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and has participated in several international conducting workshops and competitions.