The women of string and flute perform at Douglas College
By Kayla Steinman, Contributor
Last Thursday in the Laura C. Muir Theatre, a concert starring four amazing musicians—Brenda Fedoruk, Nancy di Novo, Isabelle Roland, and Heather Hay—was performed to a resounding success. Each of these talented women comes from a background of performing in orchestras, from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to Victoria Symphony, Toronto symphony and Vancouver Opera Orchestra. These four came together for a show entitled “Music for Strings and Flute,” something I was lucky to be a part of.
These four women put so much passion into their playing that it wasn’t hard to see why they are so high up in their respective instrument’s world. The music performed was best listened to while having one’s eyes closed, making it easier to escape into the music—falling into it and forgetting the world around you. Within the first few movements they played, you were able to see the bulls running in Spain and all of the hustle and bustle of a regular day, being watched by people in their houses up on the hills overlooking the cities.
Listening to the flute, viola, and violin was interesting; the choice of their music, such as a movement that was meant to be played as background music in other cultures, was amazing. It was amazing how the composers were able to put together these four instruments—a flute, a cello, viola and a violin—to make a movement that made such interesting images go floating through a person’s head, giving the audience the feeling that they’re right there where the music was meant to be played.
I think the brief moments of hearing the history of where and when these movements came from was a great addition, but also knowing who was playing them and why they were made in the first place helped a lot in being able to visualize how the composer meant these pieces to be heard. With the movement that was meant to be background music, you could see children running around, and the original musicians watching everything and trying to replicate what they saw; trying to keep the mood joyous and easygoing, and keeping party goers happy.
These four talented women played with their heart and soul, pouring it all out into the music. If they come back to Douglas College, I strongly recommend that you go and listen to them play.
