{"id":32991,"date":"2019-07-19T03:50:11","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=32991"},"modified":"2019-07-18T23:16:49","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T06:16:49","slug":"chopins-poetry-and-beauty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/07\/19\/chopins-poetry-and-beauty\/","title":{"rendered":"Chopin\u2019s poetry and beauty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Byron Schenkman performs in the concert called Chopin Preludes on Aug. 1 at Christ Church Cathedral. (photo from Byron Schenkman)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think Chopin was an exceptionally sensitive pianist and composer \u2013 more of a poet than most. Sometimes his music is almost painfully beautiful. And, these days, I think we need all the poetry and beauty and sensitivity we can find!\u201d Byron Schenkman told the Independent<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Schenkman returns to the Vancouver Bach Festival this year. Presented by Early Music Vancouver, they will perform preludes by Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Chopin on Early Music\u2019s 19th-century Broadwood fortepiano on Aug. 1, 1 p.m., with a pre-concert talk at 12:15 p.m., at Christ Church Cathedral.<\/p>\n

The concert is a collaboration with the Vancouver Chopin Society. Describing Chopin as \u201ca central figure of 19th-century Romanticism,\u201d the program summary notes that \u201chis connections to Bach are clear in his own preludes, which were directly inspired by Bach\u2019s The Well-Tempered Clavier.\u201d To place \u201cChopin\u2019s music in the context of Romantic composers who influenced his work,\u201d Schenkman\u2019s performance will include pieces by Maria Szymanowska, Robert Schumann, Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms.<\/p>\n

Of playing Chopin, Schenkman said, \u201cI think the biggest challenge \u2013 and the greatest joy \u2013 is honouring the delicacy of Chopin\u2019s music even when it is intellectually complex and emotionally very deep. Compared with performing most other composers\u2019 work, it\u2019s like creating art out of glass instead of marble or bronze.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schenkman performs on piano, harpsichord and fortepiano<\/em>, which is, simply, a piano made in the 18th and early 19th century. They also have contributed to more than 40 CDs, including some on which they have played on historical instruments from the National Music Museum, in Vermillion, S.D., and from the Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston. The award-winning musician is a founding member of several ensembles, and teaches music history at Seattle University, as well as being a guest lecturer on the harpsichord and fortepiano at other institutions. In 2013, they launched Byron Schenkman & Friends, a Baroque and classical chamber music series in Seattle.<\/p>\n

A graduate of the New England Conservatory and Indiana University, Schenkman said, \u201cI grew up in a home with lots of music. I often heard one of my older sisters practising the piano and it is still a very comforting sound for me, especially the repertoire that she practised most: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Chopin.\u201d<\/p>\n

In past Bach Festivals, Schenkman has performed Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn and Ignaz Moscheles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am really happy to be returning to Vancouver, one of my favourite cities,\u201d they said. \u201cAnd I am honoured to be part of the wonderful Vancouver Bach Festival along with so many inspiring colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s 14-concert festival, which runs July 30 to Aug. 9, begins with EMV\u2019s ensemble-in-residence, Les Bor\u00e9ades, in a performance over two nights \u2013 July 30 and 31 at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts \u2013 of Bach\u2019s Complete Brandenburg Concertos. It also closes at the Chan Centre \u2013 with Henry Purcell\u2019s Hail Bright Cecilia \u2013 but the other concerts take place at Christ Church. For tickets and more information, visit earlymusic.bc.ca<\/a> or call 604-822-2697.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Byron Schenkman performs in the concert called Chopin Preludes on Aug. 1 at Christ Church Cathedral. (photo from Byron Schenkman) \u201cI think Chopin was an exceptionally sensitive pianist and composer \u2013 more of a poet than most. Sometimes his music is almost painfully beautiful. And, these days, I think we need all the poetry and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[788],"tags":[9182,9179,9180,9181,267,9183,8521],"class_list":["post-32991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-bach-festival","tag-byron-schenkman","tag-chopin","tag-classical-music","tag-early-music-vancouver","tag-fortepiano","tag-piano"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}