News from Great Castle Wilson

Tag: Music

  • Divertimento Spring Concert

    (This is an old post from March 29, 2016, recovered via the Wayback Machine…)

    Please join me and the other members of the Divertimento Orchestra for a wonderful Spring concert:

    Donizetti! – Overture to Don Pasquale
    An exciting, rip-roaring overture with some brutally fast playing.

    Beethoven — Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 “Pastorale”
    This is a deeply moving, powerful Symphony that paints beautiful images, from a shepherd tending a flock, to a ferocious thunderstorm. The more I play this piece, the more I discover in it.

    Grieg — Symphonic Dances, Op. 64
    Originally written for piano duet, and then orchestra, this is a cycle of four pieces founded on Norwegian folk dance melodies.

    The concert dates are:

    April 22 & 23, 2016 at 8 p.m.
    L’Eglise St. Thomas d’Aquin
    1244 Kilborn Avenue
    Ottawa

    Tickets prices are:

    $20 for adults
    $10 for Students and Seniors
    $5 for kids under 13
    Free for kids under 6

    I hope to see you there.

  • Divertimento Fall Concert

    Just letting you know that the Divertimento 2013 Fall Concert is in just over a week:

    November 8 & 9, 2013, 8pm
    L’Église St. Thomas d’Aquin
    1244 Kilborn Avenue
    Ottawa

    This is the orchestra that I play cello for, and I certainly hope to see you there. The pieces we are playing this time are:

    • Cardy — Kissing the Joy as it Flies
    • Wolf-Ferrari — Suite Concertino, Op. 16
    • Tchaikovsky — Symphony No. 4 Op. 26

    The Cardy is a nice modern little piece built around the cycle of fifths. The Wolf-Ferrari is a bassoon concerto, with Ben Glossop as the soloist; it’s also reduced orchestra, which means I’m not playing in it, but that is fine with me given that the Tchaikovsky is definitely taking all of my energy — seriously, there are parts in it that that my cello teacher claims she would have difficulty playing.

    Anyway, as usual, I can get tickets for $2 off the price at the door, but unfortunately if you want me to get you some I need to know by Thursday (i.e. tomorrow). [Apologies for leaving it so late]. The price at the door is:

    • Adults — $20
    • Seniors/Students — $10
    • Children under 13 — $5
    • Children under 6 — free

    If you’ve got a printer handy, and you’d like to help us by putting up a poster, here is a PDF…

  • Bill C-61. Ugh.

    I saw Pookzilla’s post — link left for posterity, even though it looks like their blog is gone forever — about C-61, and that reminded me that I hadn’t blogged about this yet. I too think that C-61 is an epic fail, and for the first time ever, I felt sufficiently strongly about it that I wrote my MP. Here’s what I wrote:

    Sir,

    I am writing to express my strongest possible displeasure with the new bill C-61. This bill is a sledgehammer, where deftness is required. In a misguided attempt to prevent a small number of illegal activities, it will introduce new, significant constraints on the legitimate activities of all Canadians. As one small example, imagine a world where, as a parent, you could no longer load one of your children’s MP3 players with songs you had legitimately downloaded — that is a very real, likely outcome of this bill. The impact will be far reaching, and serious.

    Please research the situation as thoroughly as possible, with particular reference to those who do *not* have a vested interest in profit over the rights of Canadians, and vote appropriately.

    For context, I am a 48 year old member of your constituency who is:
    – a software architect (see http://www.eclipse.org/eclipse/team-leaders.php)
    – a published author (http://safari.awprofessional.com/0321256638)
    – an electronic musician (http://mikew.ca/blog/?p=336)
    – and a member of an orchestra (http://www.divertimento.ca)

    Despite being an obvious potential beneficiary of some of the provisions of the current bill, I feel that it should be strongly apposed. This is the first (and may in be the only) time you hear from me. Please do net let this effort be wasted.

    With complete sincerity,
    Mike Wilson