Inaugural Vancouver Arts and Music Festival a smash hit!

Salvador Brotons and the VSO

The inaugural Vancouver Arts and Music Festival turned Esther Short Park into a magical, canopied landscape (August 4 -6). Kids jumped, climbed, slid, ran, and had a blast at the playground. People strolled into avenues of artisanal food vendors and galleries promoting the visual arts. The weather was downright perfect, and that contributed to the big turnout. The large lawn in front of the main stage was chock a block with blankets, low-profile chairs, and lots of people eager to hear the Vancouver Symphony and a lineup of international artists.

The orchestral portion of the festival featured Time for Three on Friday night (August 4), violinist Anne Akiko Meyers on Saturday evening (August 5), and pianist Orli Shaham on Sunday afternoon (August 6). VSO Music Director Salvador Brotons led the first concert, and Gerard Schwarz helmed the second and third concerts.

Introductory comments by prominent sponsors, including Lorin Dunlop of the Murdock Charitable Trust, which provided most of the funding for the extravaganza, welcomed festival goers to Vancouver’s living room. An historic airplane loudly buzzed overhead during before Brotons took the stage.

 

Photo by Paul Quackenbush

An ebullient Brotons led the hometown band in the “Candide Suite,” an arrangement by Charlie Harmon of music from Berstein’s opera. It aptly concluded with the expansive message of “Let Your Garden Grow,” a perfect tune to kick off the festival.

Time for Three

Warren Black from All Classical Radio introduced Time for Three, the energetic, genre-defying string trio that won the 2023 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Consisting of violinists Charles Yang and Nicolas Kendall, and double bassist Ranaan Meyer, the group dived right into on of its bluesy, bluegrassy numbers called “Philly Phunk.” That was followed by their arrangement of “Sweet Child of Mine,” which featured some major shredding. “Vertigo” began with a long pizzicato passage before the orchestra joined in, blending the piece into a lush love song. Kendall showed off his serious vocal chops with soaring “Deanna,” and the threesome lit up the audience with their fingers flying in a scintillating “Csardas.”

Astral Mixtape

During intermission, Hollywood actor Lawrence Gilliard Jr., who studied clarinet at Juilliard, welcomed Astral Mixtape, a Los-Angelese based ensemble to show off its eclectic, new style of music. The foursome (violinists Misha Vayman and Michael Siess, cellist Juan-Salvador Carrasco, and synthesizer-virtuoso Nathan Ben-Yehuda) impressively delved into a piece that breezed from bluegrass to jazz to funk.

Lawrence Gilliard Jr.

 For the second half of the concert, Brotons and the orchestra pumped up the crowd with the striking dance-rhythm of “Danzón No. 2” by Mexican composer Arturo Márquez. Time for Three returned to centerstage for an exquisite rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Astral Mixtape collaborated with T3 for a dynamic “Stand by Me,” and Yang blew everyone away with his superb singing in “Joy.”

The festival drew a larger number of people the next evening for the orchestral concert – introduced with panache by All Classical CEO Suzanne Nance – that was highlighted by violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and conductor Gerard Schwarz. Both have appeared with the orchestra a couple of times and audience responded to their artistry with rapt attention. Meyers burnished her reputation with a stellar performance of Barber’s “Violin Concerto.” The concertgoers were so taken with her sweet sound during the lush and lovely first movement that they applauded for a long time. The second movement also drew applause and the sustained, quicksilver passages of the third movement brought them to their feet for a vigorous standing ovation.

Anne Akiko Meyers

 For this all-American program, Schwarz and the orchestra played Walter Piston’s “The Incredible Flutist,” which depicts a series of scenes when a circus comes to a small town. The musicians had a field day when they broke out in yelling and cheering that was topped off with two dog barks. Principal flutist Rachel Rencher excelled with her solos, and the piece enhanced the festival with its carefree spirit.

Gerard Schwarz

Charles Ives’ “Variations on America” with its tongue-in-cheek style and glorious fanfare at the end also added to the light-hearted mood of the evening. Adolphus Hailstork’s “Four Hymns without Words” featured outstanding playing by principal trumpeter Bruce Dunn. Gershwin’s “American in Paris” provided an uplifting and grand finale to the concert. The musicians elicited the sauntering, jazzy sound with an excellent flair that suggested an American finding his footing through the hustle and bustle of Paris.

Music from a band a couple of blocks away interfered with the quieter segments of music during the Time for Three performance, but it was not so loud when Akiko Meyers played the Barber, thank goodness. That kind of interference is a factor to consider changing or at least reducing before next year’s festival gets underway.

Unfortunately, I was not able to hear Orli Shaham’s performance of Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with Schwarz and the orchestra on Sunday afternoon. Shaham, the VSO’s Artist-in-Residence, has performed with the orchestra several times and has also done chamber music concerts with members of the VSO.

Orli Shaham

With Vancouver’s waterfront development surging and completely redesigning the city’s look – making it a vibrant player in the Pacific Northwest – the VAMF successfully gave the city a sense of community that is growing. Needless to say, VAMF is making Portland look pretty bad. This year, due to the lack of funding and political willpower, Portland will not mount its annual Waterfront concert, which celebrates the Oregon Symphony and other arts organizations. But even that one-day wingding does not have scope of the VAMF. Bravos and kudos to Vancouver and the Vancouver Symphony for such a magnificent extravaganza.