Music in town

It hardly matters what cultural event you attend in Ottawa; it seems there's always a good turn-out for it. A concert given by aspirant young musicians at the University of Ottawa last week attracted an audience of over eighty people. This Tuesday I went to a similar one at the Museum of Civilisation, both concerts put on as part of the NAC's Young Artists' Programme that offers lucky participants a series of master classes at the university.

In the first concert I heard an Impromptu for Flute and Oboe by Thea Musgrave, with swirling, off-beat phrases, performed by a young man from New York State and a girl from Montreal, then the Saint-Saëns show piece (Rondo Capriccioso) for violin and piano well executed by a young man from New Jersey, followed by a long movement from a piece by Vaughan Williams that I'd never heard of, a Piano Quintet (with violin, viola, cello and double bass) written in 1903. The ensemble made a romantic sound and the performance was full of energy. At the second concert string performers who were still of high school age played the demanding first movement from Schubert's Death and the Maiden Quartet (I was close enough to read the music from the first violinist's stand) and the whole of the third of the Beethoven Opus 18 quartets.

Plenty of music happening in Ottawa these days, with the Jazz Festival just starting, the noisy Blues Fest coming up after that and not one but two (rival) chamber music festivals in the offing this July. Chris and I have bought festival passes for the less expensive of the two, Music and Beyond, which promises such great things that since reading the programme we have had to rethink our going-away-for-a-holiday plans .