HPO travels to worlds of famous composers

Light Emerges on Nov. 8 features great melodies of Verdi, Elgar, Kilar, and Mendelssohn with guest conductor Nil Venditti.

Editor’s note: HAMILTON CITY Magazine is thrilled to embark on a partnership with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra that will feature each show of the concert season. 

Take an orchestral voyage from brooding passion to joyful exuberance with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) at Light Emerges. On Nov. 8, the HPO welcomes guest conductor Nil Venditti for a program of great melodies and famous composers. 

How famous? Well, when asked his address by an acquaintance, Guissepe Verdi replied: “Oh address it simply, Maestro Verdi, Italy.” British composer Edward Elgar had 65 roads named after him in the U.K. and was on the 20-pound note for eight years. You may recall his “Pomp and Circumstance” march from your graduation ceremony. 

Speaking of ceremonies, you may have been to a wedding with Felix Mendelssohn’s famous wedding march (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream) playing as the couple walked down the aisle. Queen Victoria set that trend when she had it played at her daughter’s wedding in 1858. It has become so famous, it is now essentially a wedding cliché. These composers were so famous that their reach extended well beyond the concert hall.

Many great concerts begin with an opera overture. At Light Emerges, audiences will experience the overture from La Forza del Destino by Guissepe Verdi. Verdi was such a tunesmith that immediately after the premiere of a new opera, gondoliers, street performers and bands were singing and playing his melodies in the streets. Even though it was a compliment, it drove him crazy. 

A friend once found him on vacation in a villa filled with several dozen mechanical organs. When asked why, Verdi said that he rented them all for the summer so he wouldn’t have to hear his own melodies endlessly playing in the streets. What a problem to have… It wasn’t all rosy though. Verdi considered himself overworked and struggled when negotiating with censors, singers and management with every opera. “Since Nabucco, you may say, I have never had one hour of peace. Sixteen years in the galleys.” 

In his opera, translated as The Power of Fate, a young immigrant falls in love with a nobleman’s daughter and is unaccepted. The father finds them together and the young man accidentally kills the father and the drama unfolds throughout the opera. At Light Emerges, the orchestra performs only the instrumental overture, which sums up the story and gives us big, sweeping melodies that you might find yourself humming on the way home. 

Some might consider modern-day opera equivalent to film. What do Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Truman Show, and The Pianist all have in common? The Polish composer Wojciech Kilar. He was a highly trained avant-garde concert composer who surprisingly became a major film composer in both his own country and Hollywood. At Light Emerges, audiences will experience his most famous concert work, Orawa, one of a collection of pieces inspired by the Carpathian region on the Polish-Slovac border. Mountain ranges and rivers come to life with the sound of the strings. 

Edward Elgar had a slow start to his career. He started out working with amateur players and was even “composer in ordinary” for the Worcester County Lunatic Asylum. His first job as a conductor was when he started his own Ladies Orchestra Class. In his early career, poor Elgar suffered under the stifling class system of the day as the son of a shopkeeper and piano tuner. All of these issues were overcome in 1901, when his first “Pomp and Circumstance” march became an instant hit and the accolades, opportunities and fame followed. Soon enough, he was credited with bringing back British music after centuries of drought and his family background didn’t matter so much anymore.   

Just after World War I, Elgar wrote a piece for solo cello and orchestra, a favourite of cellists everywhere. The HPO’s principal cellist, Leana Rutt, will be performing the solo role at Light Emerges. 

“I’m incredibly honoured to be performing Elgar’s Cello Concerto with the HPO,” says Leana about the performance. “Since joining the orchestra three years ago, I’ve been learning how special an organization it really is, and I’m proud to be representing as principal cellist-turned-soloist for the night! While I’m preparing my part, I get to picture my colleagues’ individual musical voices playing all the other lines of music, something that a guest soloist who doesn’t know the orchestra wouldn’t be able to do. Although in my preparation I’ve had my moments of nerves and anxiety, it’s both comforting and exciting to look forward to making music in this different capacity with my colleagues, and I know it’ll be a rewarding adventure.” 

Felix Mendelssohn was certainly one of the most talented children music ever saw, even more talented than Mozart, according to the influential German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. With a wealthy and dedicated family behind his talents, Mendelssohn grew up with his dreams becoming reality. For his 12th birthday party, he was treated to a performance of his first opera in the family living room by members of the Berlin opera. That same living room was filled weekly with the most interesting minds of the day from all walks of life. Mendelssohn turned dreams into reality as an adult as well. He started Germany’s first music conservatory in Leipzig, he brought back the music of J.S. Bach from obscurity, he became a brilliant and celebrated composer and was conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra.  

At Light Emerges, the HPO performs his famous Italian Symphony. After completing his studies, his parents sent him on a three-year tour of Europe at age 19 to deepen his horizons. When touring Italy, he didn’t merely write his thoughts and observations in a travel journal but rather created an artistic response: watercolour paintings and a symphony. Three years later, he completed this symphony as a commission from the Philharmonic Society of London.  

British audiences adored Mendelssohn and his music. He had a close friendship with Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. His trips to London invariably included a royal visit with the royal couple performing his songs for him — the Queen singing and the Prince playing piano.  

The Italian Symphony is uplifting with Mendelssohn describing it as “Blue Sky in A Major” and the “happiest music” he ever wrote. From recalling impressive Italian processions, architecture, and a medieval jumping dance, the music is pure joy from start to finish.

Experience an emotional spectrum through music with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra at Light Emerges on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at FirstOntario Concert Hall. Come early for the pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. featuring the soloist and conductor; or come to the Talk and Tea Friday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. to learn more about the fascinating lives of these composers and get a behind-the-scenes look at an orchestra rehearsal. 

Abigail Richardson-Schulte is the HPO composer-in-residence.

NEED TO KNOW 

Light Emerges
Saturday, Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.
FirstOntario Concert Hall 
1 Summers Lane, Hamilton
Tickets here
Learn more about soloist Leann Rutt here
Learn more about the conductor Nil Vendetti here