Musical prodigies and seasoned veterans from around the world will descend on Powell River from Tuesday, June 21 until Friday, July 1 for the annual Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific (SOAP).
Organized by Powell River Academy of Music, the festival is an opportunity for talented, near-professional young classical musicians to meet some of the biggest names in the scene and soak in vast amounts of knowledge.
Taking part in the event will be 69 students from all over the world including the United States, Mexico, New Zealand, Switzerland, Turkey, France, Brazil and South Korea, along with students from across Canada. All of the students are heavily involved in music and many already have masters degrees in their chosen instruments. They come to SOAP to hone their skills in an ensemble and prepare
for the process of auditioning for jobs with orchestras.
Of the students coming two will be here to study conducting, something which has occurred at SOAP before to a small degree, but never so officially. The two students will be conducting pieces during rehearsals, not during main performances, but it will be a great opportunity for students who prefer to face the orchestra rather than the audience.
This year will also give harp students a great opportunity for some extra training. This year’s harp players will be starting three days ahead of the other students for intensive harp training leading up to the main program. Rita Costanzi, former principal harpist with the CBC Radio Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, will be instructing the harpists, who will be featured heavily in many of the performance pieces and will play their own recital at 5:30 pm on Tuesday, June 28 at Evergreen Theatre.
SOAP artistic director Don James said that every year he looks forward to meeting the students, watching them interact with guest faculty and hearing the music they produce.
“You’d have to go to Tanglewood [Music Festival] or New York or MusicFest Vancouver to hear that kind of stuff going on,” said James. “It’s rare in a community of 20,000 people, mostly non-existent. Powell River should take pleasure in it, get out and take it in.”
The main performances during the festival will be two by the guest faculty who have come to instruct and two by the students. At 7:30 pm on Friday, June 24 faculty will perform George Frideric Handel’s Rejoicing from Music for the Royal Fireworks, a selection for Johann Sebastian Bach’s Art of Fugue and the Flute Partita and Franz Danzi’s Wind Quintet Op. 68 No. 2 in F major. The Bach piece is of particular interest as it will be played by four separate small ensembles on stage, as well as a solo flutist, and each will play a section of the piece.
On the evening of Saturday, June 25 the Symphony Orchestra of the Pacific will perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Overture Fidelio, Op. 72, Antonin Leopold Dvorák’s Cello Concerto in B minor and Richard Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59. James said this night will make for a wonderful night of music, with the subtle, mournful beauty of the Bach piece bookended by the extravagance and scope of the Beethoven and Strauss pieces. Ariel Bornes, the principal cellist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, will be the soloist for the Bach piece.
The final concert of the festival will take place on the evening of Friday, July 1 at Evergreen Theatre. The concert will consist of the student orchestra, conducted by Arthur Arnold, playing two shorter pieces by Johann Strauss and Claude Debussy, followed by the 70-minute Symphony No. 4 composed by Anton Bruckner. James said the Bruckner piece will be challenging for the students, given its length and complexity, but that they come to the festival for that very reason: to be challenged.
“They never get to play that stuff and here they have the opportunity,” said James. “You have this beautiful classicism then you have this passion and then you have flash and flare and you feel like you’ve had a good evening.”
Every year is a challenge to get the event organized, he said, and to make sure that enough students are able to attend. Organizers worry at times about getting a full orchestra but this year has come together to make that happen, despite the high Canadian dollar which can make it harder for international students to be able to afford to come. Financially the festival struggles, with each year running a deficit for the academy of music. James would like to see the concerts have better attendance but believes in the importance of the festival enough to keep it going despite the financial losses.
James said it has been estimated that the event brings in around $1.5 million into the community through students and faculty coming to the city and spending money here. James also believes that the festival brings more to the community than just money.
“Not only that, it brings value to the town as a place to live,” said James. “A lot of people move here because of it, both [International Choral] Kathaumixw and SOAP and the arts programs done throughout this community.”
Tickets for the main performances are $20 each or $70 for all four. For anyone under the age of 18 the performances are free with a student concert voucher, an offer the academy makes to encourage youth to experience classical music. Tickets are available at the academy box office, 604.485.9633, or at the door. All rehearsal performances are by donation. For a full list of events interested readers can visit the website.
