Last night we attended a concert in the relatively new performance space at the Canadian Music Centre.  It’s a very pleasant room, set up for recording, and seating maybe 50.  The program consisted of four recent works by Canadian composers; three short opera scenes for soprano and piano and a piano piece.

First up was Stockholm Syndrome, a 2009 work by Fiona Ryan, exploring the psychological world of a kidnap victim.  This was quite an intense piece requiring a range of vocal techniques with sometimes very sparse piano accompaniment and sometimes with something much more lyrical.  It packed a lot of punch for such a short piece.  It was followed by The Hipster Grifter, another short “opera” with music by Elisha Denburg to a libretto by Johnnie Walker.  This played out the true story of a compulsive fantasist con artist in a series of very short but varied mini scenes illustrating aspects of her real and imagined life; the tone and mood changing kaleidoscopically.  Both these works were sung by soprano Maureen Batt accompanied by Wesley Shen.  The rapid changes of mood, style and technique made the most of Maureen’s strengths.  She has great technique and is a very committed actress and those were just the qualities needed here.  Shen, too, showed great versatility and virtuosity.

After the break Wesley Shen got to showcase his talents in Five Celestial Pieces, a 2013 work by Adam Scime inspired by the night sky.  This was a very evocative piece making extensive use of extended techniques to create a really interesting combination of textures.  Finally, Maureen was back in a more lyrical piece, Aunt Helen by Monica Pearce.  This took the form of a “one sided radio interview” with Nova Scotia folksong collector Dr. Helen Creighton into which were woven folksong fragments creating an interplay between the lyrical and the conversational.  Again, the changes of mood nicely brought off by Maureen.

To add to the fun, the concert was part of a series sponsored by 13th Street Winery, long time purveyors to the Kitten Kondo, so there was free wine.  The 2011 Pinot Gris was pretty decent, if a trifle bland, but the “Old Vines” Sandstone Vineyard Gamay certainly reinforced my opinion that nobody in Niagara does Gamay better.  A lovely wine!

I think the organisers and sponsors are to be commended on a very imaginative, well thought out and well executed programme.