A Virtuosic Afternoon with Nikki Chooi. Amici Chamber Ensemble live performance. Ondrej Kukal’s Current; J.S. Bach’s Chaconne from Partita No.2 in D Minor BWV 1004; Pablo de Sarasate’s Zigeunerweisen, Op. 20; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in f-sharp minor, Op. 10. At Trinity St. Paul’s Centre, 427 Bloor St. West. October 5, 3 p.m.
One of many nice pleasures in attending a live performance by the aptly named Amici Chamber Ensemble is the sensation of amiability that pervades the Jeanne Lamon Corridor because the music is carried out.
The Amici trio — cellist David Hetherington, clarinetist Joaquin Valdepenas and pianist Serouj Kradjian — have been making music collectively for many years and the sensation they convey is one in every of clever, joyful sharing. Their packages are playfully put along with oddities and discoveries from the classical canon blended with recognizable masterpieces to fulfill probably the most discerning of listeners. Including to the pleasure of their live shows is their collection of visitor artists to carry out with them — some well-known, some much less so.
Within the well-known class is Canadian violinist Nikki Chooi, who’s a Laureate of the Queen Elizabeth and Tchaikovsky Competitions, and a First Prize Winner of the Michael Hill Worldwide Violin Competitors amongst many accolades.
He’s the Concertmaster for the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra and has carried out as a soloist in lots of symphonies together with the Boston, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Sydney. Amici dubbed their live performance with Chooi a “virtuosic afternoon,” and, certainly, it was.
Bach To Kukal To Sarasate
When you’ll function a positive musician, it’s an excellent concept to have them carry out a surprising solo piece. Amici did simply that, showcasing Chooi’s prowess with the Chaconne from Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D Minor. Chooi performed it with precision and refined energy, ringing by way of the emotional and technical challenges with depth and understanding.
Chatting with Chooi after the live performance, he mentioned, “I’ve worshiped the chaconne since I used to be a child. It’s not solely a masterpiece — it’s a feat for humanity to put in writing one thing so significant. The construction, the group of the composition, it’s simply so outstanding. We’re fortunate to have it.”
Chooi adopted that masterpiece with a stunning — however actually much less important — composition by Pablo de Sarasate, Zigeunerweisen, carried out as a duo for violin and Serouj Kradjian’s piano.
The composition was one of the crucial in style within the latter a part of the nineteenth century and is overwhelmingly Romantic. One can think about {couples} swooning to it again then, taken in by the wonder and melancholia expressed by way of the practically weeping violin and the flamboyant piano. Heard right now, it affords the chance for a few positive performers to evoke the previous whereas working by way of a nonetheless pleasing piece.
This system had begun earlier than the Bach centrepiece with a recent composition by the Czech Ondrej Kukal, Presents, which gave Chooi the possibility to play a duo with David Hetherington. The 2 know one another very effectively, as Chooi’s spouse studied cello with Hetherington, and that’s how the violinist first heard the Ensemble in live performance.
Chooi informed Ludwig Van, “We love the group’s chemistry, the music that they play, and the interplay with the viewers.” The Kukal composition is propulsive and charming, undoubtedly a pleaser when it’s carried out primarily in Czechia.
Second Half
After an intermission, Amici provided the third of their trio, clarinetist Joaquin Valdepenas a chance to showcase a composition. Valdepenas discovered a bit by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a pioneering Black composer of the nineteenth century, which subtly positions the clarinet because the main instrument in a string quintet. Chooi refers back to the piece as “actually cool” whereas Valdepenas acknowledges that it’s influenced by Brahms however has parts of the gospel as effectively.
Coleridge-Taylor’s Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 10 is a pleasant piece — and it acquired its Toronto premiere on the live performance, over 100 years after it was composed.
Ultimate Ideas
Amici means friendship — a reputation that harmonizes with the which means of this distinguished ensemble’s programming and efficiency fashion.
Chatting with Ludwig Van, Serouj Kradjian says that the group’s musical curiosity leads them “to discover the repertoire exterior of the standard.” Quietly avant-garde, the Amici ought to — and almost definitely will — proceed to be a voice for progressive values in North American music and tradition.
By: Marc Glassman for Ludwig-Van
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