St. Albert Chamber Music Society’s next concert brings together a trio of musicians who discovered playing together is an inspiring adventure of like-minded musical explorers.
Violinist Neda Yamach, cellist Ronda Metszies, and pianist Sarah Ho selected works by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzola, Czech composer Antonín Dvorák and St. Albert composer Michael Massey to be played on Sunday, April 7 at St. Albert United Church.
Opening the concert are several compositions by Piazzolla, a musician and band leader who ignited an international craze for the tango. The local trio will play three of his works including the accordion driven Ausencias, the jazzier Psicosis as well as the Spring and Summer movements from Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
Piazzolla originally wrote The Four Seasons as separate works. Spring reflects the new leaves and blooming flowers. Through Piazolla’s signature harmonies and tango rhythms the listener travels through Buenos Aires absorbing its nighttime ambience.
In Summer, the infectious rhythm of the tango is everywhere. It starts with a contained, disciplined heat. Slowly an echo of winter sneaks in and the rest of the movement sways between summer’s nostalgia and winter’s lonely violin sweeping into the landscape.
Yamach, at the invitation of Nancy Watt, St. Albert Chamber Music Society founder, formed the trio for this concert. She is particularly excited about playing Dvorák’s masterpiece Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor.
“I’ve wanted to play this for more than 20 years since I was a student at McGill,” said Yamach. “It’s just such a rich and expressive piece of music. Up until this point, Dvorák was known for using folk melodies in his music. This represents a shift from that to romantic, expressive music like Brahms,” said Yamach.
“At around this time, Dvorák lost his mother and that inspired his work. He was grieving and you can hear the turmoil in his work, but you can also hear it resolving itself. It’s so beautifully expressive, and when you play with others it’s very inspiring.”
The program’s third highlight is St. Albert composer Michael Massey latest composition. The Order of Canada recipient wrote Three St. Albert Sketches for Piano Trio. He will be attending the concert to give a short introduction to this world premiere.
“I saw Michael at the ESO in December and we enjoyed a chat. I mentioned this program wasn’t firmed up and his face lit up. He offered to write a piece for us,” Yamach.
The 10-minute work reflects Massey’s impressions of St. Albert. Although descriptions of the music are kept tightly under wraps, the three movements are titled Le Fleur nous parlent; Little River – Big Lake, and Commutango, a reference to the morning commuter traffic.
“This is a great rich variety of music from different eras, and I hope it speaks to the audience. I’m curious to hear the takeaways and I hope everyone will feel enriched and fulfilled.”
The concert’s emerging artist is Niles Maj-Pleger. The young violinist will play Niccolo Paganini’s Cantabile, Op. 17, a sweet composition filled with emotive melodies. Maj-Pleger has played violin since he was seven. Now in Grade 12, he performs with Edmonton Youth Orchestra and received the 2023 St. Albert Rotary Music Festival String Concerto Award.
The afternoon concert starts at 3 p.m. St. Albert United Church is at 20 Green Grove Dr. Tickets range from $15 to $35 and are available in person at Musée Heritage Museum or online at eventbrite.ca.
