C’mon Festival

2022 Program

All performances are at Winspear Centre

4 Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton


Thursday, July 14

12 pm | Festival Preview

Fiddle or violin? Come check out the difference!

with Alissa Cheung and Daniel Gervais

Slip Minuet (2014)Martin Arnold b.1959
Traditional Fiddle Tunes TBA

Friday, July 15

7:30 pm | Eclectic Music for string quartet, with various musical guests

Gerald Finzi’s Bagatelles, featuring the clarinet, cheered a London audience when they were first performed in the midst of the Second World War. The premiere of new piece by Edmonton composer George Andrix is a rare opportunity to hear the alto trombone in chamber music. The bassoon is not the first instrument that comes to mind when you think of the blues, but Wynton Marsalis’ Meelaan will convince you that it should!

with Alissa Cheung & Ewald Cheung violins, Ethan Filner viola, Nicholas Yee cello, Rob Spady clarinet, Matthew Howatt bassoon, Kathryn Macintosh alto & tenor trombones

Five Bagatelles op 23Gerald Finzi (1901-1956) arr. Christopher Alexander
2nd movement of Trombone Quintet (1999)Owen Underhill b. 1954
Romanze from String Quartet in Eb Fanny Mendelssohn (1804-1847)
Rondo – Allegro giocoso from Clarinet Quintet op 34Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Elaboration and Fugal Fantasy (2019) George Andrix b. 1932
Meelaan (2000)Wynton Marsalis b. 1961

Saturday, July 16

7:30 pm | Violinissimo!

The violin (or fiddle) has been a favourite instrument for both classical composers and traditional musicians for centuries. This program features violin solo, duo and quartet music from around the world, and finishes with Julia Wolfe’s Blue Dress for five violins. If you’re not already familiar with her music, it “is distinguished by an intense physicality and a relentless power that pushes performers to extremes and demands attention from the audience. (Wolfe) draws inspiration from folk, classical, and rock genres, bringing a modern sensibility to each while simultaneously tearing down the walls between them. Blue Dress is pretty much a hoedown – (her) folk roots come to the fore.” (from the composer’s program notes)

with Alissa Cheung, Aiyana Anderson, Anna Kozak, Sylvia Chow & Ehren Moser

Sarabande from Partita in d minorJ.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Darshan (2018)Reena Esmail b.1983
Stand Alone (2019)Michael Oesterle b.1968
Sonatine Baroque (1952)Murray Adaskin (1906-2002)
Quartet (1949)Grazyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Melody (1982)Miroslav Skoryk (1938-2020), arr. AnKo
With a blue dress on (2010, rev. 2014)Julia Wolfe b.1958

10 pm | Late night Improv Set

with Alissa Cheung violin & Mark Segger percussion


Sunday, July 17 

3 pm | Festival Finale

An adventure in genre-hopping, the final program of the festival showcases the remarkable versatility of this year’s musicians. Extreme virtuosity is on display in music by Paganini’s teacher, Alessandro Rolla (his duet for violin and viola). The utterly charming Boris Kerner, by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw is a Baroque-inspired duet for cello and clay flower pots. And the C’mon tradition of the Blue Danube singalong returns!

with Alissa Cheung & Ewald Cheung violins, Ethan Filner viola, Nicholas Yee cello, Rob Spady clarinet, Matthew Howatt bassoon, Kathryn Macintosh trombone, Mark Segger, percussion, Kimberley Denis vocalist

Three MOB Pieces (1968, rev. 1977)
Patrol
After Heine
Verse
H. K. Gruber b. 1943
Duetto op.15 no. 3

Analogia (2012)
Alessandro Rolla (1767-1841)

Alissa Cheung b.1985
Stefania (2022)

Boris Kerner (2012)
Kalush Orchestra arr. Nicholas Yee

Caroline Shaw b.1982
One Note (2014)Mark Segger b.1981
The Beautiful Blue DanubeJohann Strauss Jr (1825-1899) arr. Claude Lapalme

All programs subject to change