NOC kicks off a new season Saturday
By Cecilia Nasmith
Imagine Mozart with pumpkins – and you have the kick-off of the 2019-2020 Northumberland Orchestra and Choir season this Saturday.
In fact, the Oct. 26 kick-off consists of an afternoon family event in addition to a magical evening event.
Spooktacular! at 2 p.m. takes a Halloween theme for a show that turns a spotlight on the SONG organization. Sounds Of the Next Generation is a musical program ensuring under-serviced local students can enjoy the benefits of musical instruction and performance. Together with the NOC orchestra, the SONG strings will play for the SONG primary, junior and senior choirs.
Just to put the Spook in Spooktacular, the program includes eerie music by Mussorgsky, Gounod, Grieg and more – and the audience is encouraged to come in costume.
The music continues at 7:30 p.m. with Magical Mozart and Friends, with the NOC presenting the composer's Coronation Mass with soloists – soprano Melody Thomas, alto Gillian Stecyk, tenor Jacob Abrahamse and baritone Father Paul Massel.
Other orchestral works on the program include a special presentation of Carl Maria von Weber's bassoon Concerto in F+, featuring former NOC principal bassoonist Patrick Headley. The audience will also look forward to Oshawa-based composer Luc Arsenault's Histoire d'une Petite Pionniere du Nord, a muscial retelling of the struggles the composer's grandmother faced some 100 years ago as a settler in Northern Ontario.
Both concerts take place at Trinity United Church, 284 Division St., Cobourg, with tickets – for either concert or for the season - available through the Victoria Hall Concert Hall box office (905-372-2210).
Four more concerts will make up this season:
Christmas In Northumberland on Dec. 14 at 7:30 p.m. welcomes Lindsay's Kawartha Lakes Singers for choral highlights from Handel's The Messiah, as well as many beloved contemporary seasonal favourites and, of course, their annual sing-along.
Quartetto Gelato on Feb, 8 and 7:30 p.m. joins the NOC for an energetic and toe-tapping performance.
Come Meet The Orchestra on Feb. 29 at 2 p.m. welcomes former La Jeunesse Youth Orchestra concert master Miguel Estaban, former LJYO and NOC principal horn Lucy Nesbitt and two more young soloists for a show that will be followed by an opportunity for audience members to meet these talented musicians and try out their favourite instruments for themselves.
Peace & Joy on April 25 at 7:30 p.m. marks the return of the Kawartha Lakes Singers for a performance of Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man Mass. Pianist Christopher Goodpasture will also be featured in a performance of Gershwin's Concerto in F+.
