The Wellington Advertiser, Friday, June 12, 2009 PAGE TWENTY THREE
ELORA FESTIVAL SINGERS
Celebrating 30 Years Message from Elora Festival Artistic Director, NOEL EDISON A great man once said, “If you can dream it, you can do it.” This is not a statement from the ever popular Barrack Obama, or even from Martin Luther King. This universal sentiment happened upon four people over thirty years ago in the Village of Elora. Look what we have now - a festival of worldwide acclaim that has hosted more than 5,000 national and international artists. As we begin our venture to our next thirty years, we celebrate this anniversary with the epic Berlioz Requiem, the internationally acclaimed soprano Dawn Upshaw, Carmina Burana, A Night at the Opera, the great Canadian pianist Oliver Jones, and a return to concerts in the Elora Quarry. This is a year of celebration. This is a landmark occasion. This is your Elora Festival. Whether you are coming for the first time, or coming once again, I invite you to experience the fulfillment of a dream that began 30 years ago. Noel Edison Artistic Director, Elora Festival and Singers
Message from Elora Festival & Singers Chair, JAY BAKER Again this year it is my privilege and pleasure to be the Chair of the Elora Festival and Singers and to welcome you to the village of Elora for this the 30th season of the Elora Festival. From opening night with the monumental Berlioz Requiem to the final strains of the Handel Coronation Anthems, this year’s programme is a fitting testimonial to the success of the festival throughout the last thirty years. Whether your preference is classical, choral, chamber, jazz or popular we can accommodate your musical tastes. We have even brought back the quarry series as part of our celebration, and are pleased to inaugurate our Festival Academy in this important year. Our seasoned Artistic Director Noel Edison and our novice General Manager Jurgen Petrenko have arranged such a stellar list of performers that I am sure choosing which concerts to attend will have proved to be as big a challenge for you as it was for me. Take this to be an invitation to attend as many as you like. The success of our season is very much measured by the satisfaction of our audience. Our success also depends on a capable, energetic office and production staff, a dedicated volunteer board of directors, and an army of volunteers all of whom need to be recognized for their enthusiasm and hard work. We also thank our government, corporate and individual sponsors as well as the Members of the Elora Festival who have chosen to support us beyond the ticket price and continue to show faith in this organization.
Kitchen table talk of four led to world renowned Elora Festival On a late summer afternoon in 1978, four people sat around a kitchen table and discussed the idea of having a music festival in Elora that would be similar to the popular Tanglewood Music Festival tucked in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts. Bill Ellis, Michael PurvesSmith, Annette Smith, and a 19-year-old Noel Edison spoke about the pros and cons. Who would attend a festival like that? Who could they get to perform? Where would the money come from? Where would they perform? After all, Tanglewood had received a gift of 210 acres of buildings, lawns, and meadows. That was almost bigger than the entire village of Elora. It seemed like an impossible dream. But it was a dream that the four believed in, and in 1979, Three Centuries Festival was incorporated. Ellis was the founding Chair, and PurvesSmith was the founding Artistic Director. From Aug. 8 to 17, 1980, concerts were set, all consisting of music from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. “It was a nail-biting experience,” recalled Edison, now the Artistic Director. “Purves-Smith had the [Wilfrid Laurier] university connections, and I worked the community, telling every one I ran into that they should come to this great, new event. And they did! The community was fantastic with their support. We started with a $40,000 budget. But in the end, I felt triumphant. We made just over $600.” It was quite a festival. Performers included the Amadé Trio, Susan Prior, Peter Orme, and Christel Thielman. A special concert for children was programmed, and Edison, along with five additional performers, dressed in Shakespearean costume as a pied piper led the children to their event. Most concerts were held at St. John’s Church in Elora. A year later, Three Centuries Festival Choir was formed. “We were desperate for artists, so I pulled together
the best choristers I could find. There were eight of them,” Edison remembered. “And they did one concert, Bach’s Cantata BWV 209. But everyone just loved it!” That was 30 years ago. Since then, Three Centuries Festival has been renamed the Elora Festival, has a million dollar budget, and has evolved into an internationally acclaimed annual music festival that attracts capacity audiences to the scenic village. Edison has been the Artistic Director for 26 of those years, and has increased the scope of music to include a wide array of genres, from chamber to jazz, with close to 40 concerts performed over three weeks in July and August. St. John’s Church is still the main venue; however other, larger churches are also included in the roster, as well as the Elora Quarry. Originally the "old swimming hole," the Elora Quarry is a two-acre former limestone quarry encircled by sheer cliffs up to 40 feet high. Jennifer Lopez chose the quarry as a location in her movie Angel Eyes. Festival performers took their place on a barge in the middle of the water. The largest location is the Gambrel Barn. A salt and sand storage facility for the county in the winter, the barn is magically transformed into a concert hall during the Festival. “Many people, artists included, think that the Gambrel Barn is just the name of the hall,” said Edison. “And they are always surprised to find that it really is a barn. But the acoustics are magnificent. Guest artists are always overwhelmed by how perfect the sound is. In fact, Kiri Te Kanawa told me last year that she wanted to take the barn with her as her personal performance hall. You can’t get any higher praise than that.” The festival is renowned for presenting the finest Canadian performers, including Richard Margison, Measha Brueggergosman, Karina Gauvin, and Michael Burgess. And each year, Canadian composers are commissioned to write new works, including Saul Irving Glick, Robert
Evans, Imant Raminsh, and Glen Buhr. It also nurtures emerging talent through the establishment of TD Canada Trust Festival Competition for young performers and the newly formed Elora Festival Academy of Music. Three Centuries Festival Choir has also grown. It was renamed Elora Festival Singers, a group of 24 of the finest choristers in Ontario. They remain the choral ensemblein-residence during the Festival, and in 1997, became professional core of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Toronto Mendelssohn Singers. Through regular concert series, recordings, broadcasts, and touring, the Elora Festival Singers have been named by the Canada Council as one of the finest chamber choirs in Canada. They contribute to the musical life of not only of the community, but on an international stage. Global touring has brought the choir to audiences around the world, including the Chan Centre in Vancouver, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Musikverein in Vienna. They perform not only as a choral choir, but also as backup musicians for international contemporary artists. Roger Hodgson, former front-man for Supertramp, has performed with the Singers on three separate occasions at Casino Rama near Barrie, and would not consider using any other choir. In 2005, the two companies merged and became the Elora Festival and Singers. Even the media have started to pay attention. In 1980, William Littler, music critic from The Star wrote:“Take a dentist from Elora, a lawyer from Guelph, add a student and faculty member from Wilfrid Laurier University and what have you got, aside from a potentially acrimonious game of bridge? The founders of a music festival, that’s what!” Hardly a glowing review. But in 2008, Ken Winters from the Globe and Mail said, “Edison's choristers have risen in strength in the 28 years
since he founded them ... the Singers were intelligible, immaculately in tune and responsive to the beauties and dramas of Handel's choral writing. As for their articulation in coloratura passages, it could serve many soloists as an object lesson." Proof that, with faith, hard work, dedication, the support of both corporate and individual donors, and the artistic excellence that makes the Festival unique, the Elora Festival and Singers has earned its reputation. From July 10 to Aug. 2, 2009, the Elora Festival celebrates its 30th anniversary. The celebration begins with the epic Berlioz Requiem on opening night, and includes Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Purcell’s The Fairy Queen, A Night at the Opera, Handel’s Coronation Anthems and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. A frequent visitor to the festival, André Laplante, performs an afternoon of the music of Liszt. Preeminent soprano Dawn Upshaw presents a solo recital on July 18. A breast cancer survivor, Upshaw is honoured that the Elora Festival will donate $5 from the sale of each ticket to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Ontario Branch. Popular performers include Oliver Jones, Capital BrassWorks, Lily Frost, and Michael Occhipinti and The Sicilian Jazz Project. The Quarry Series presents Natalie MacMaster, and Serena Ryder. The Elora Festival Singers will also perform excerpts from Sound Over All Waters with special guest Paul Halley. Chamber concerts include Lawrence Wiliford, Daniel Bolshoy, the Zapp String Quartet, and a special performance of the Kreutzer Project. “A great man once said, ‘If you can dream it, you can do it,’” said Edison. “This sentiment inspired a small group of people over 30 years ago in the Village of Elora. Look what we have now - a festival of worldwide acclaim that has hosted more than 5,000 national and international artists.”
In these challenging economic times we all need a respite from our very real cares and worries. What better way to soothe our minds and revitalize our spirits than to plan a relaxing day in Elora, perhaps have a picnic in the Gorge, and take in a concert or two. From the days of the psalmist David we have been aware of the healing power of music. As a physician and a singer I am very aware of it. Come experience that power for yourself. I look forward to seeing you in Elora this summer. Jay Baker Chair, Elora Festival and Singers
Winner of the 30th Anniversary Art Competition - David Wilcox