[This post follows on from Exploring the Okanagan, which describes places we visited in May whilst staying with my sister Di and partner Darrel in British Columbia.]
As the final strains of the concert finale settled upon the audience, there was hardly a dry eye. Vernon Counterpoint Choir had entertained us for an evening, with a variety of popular songs. Canada’s election results had just filtered through that same day, confirming the winners to be the Liberal party led by Mark Carney.
The nation was smarting from Donald Trump’s proposal to incorporate Canada into the USA. He’d threatened to force the issue by applying economic pressure. In other words, to bully Canada into submission. How apt were the words:
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
-o-O-o-
My sister Di(ana) is a music-lover in various different ways. She plays fiddle and spoon(!) at ‘Celtic Jam’ evenings, similar to those I enjoy in Rastrick. Most notably, she’s an accomplished Soprano and sings in Vernon’s prestigious Aura Chamber Choir. It was a shame we couldn’t sample these during our stay. But as it turned out, we had chance to enjoy her singing, in a quartet whose repertoire includes traditional hymns and also classical songs in French, German and Latin! The photo shows them in the foyer of Vernon’s Paddlewheel Community Hall, with Di second to the left. Jane and I declined her invitation to join in all but the simplest items. Instead, I had a special assignment.
Glen, the Tenor who leads the quartet, had invited me to play duets with him. He sent me four arrangements of pieces by Bach, Corelli and others which he’d typed into ‘Sibelius’ (music writing software). These I learned beforehand on my viola. Another of Di’s friends kindly lent me an instrument, and I met Glen to rehearse. I could never have imagined a classical guitar played with such precision, sounding exactly like a harpsichord! Happily we quickly ‘gelled’ as a duo as we refined the dynamics, repeats and endings.
Then Glen handed me a written manuscript with a piece called Sunlit Window Pane. It was an exquisite meditation, a blend of optimism yet melancholia, with a variety of styles within a single piece. To me, it expressed fresh hope amidst wistfulness. Once again we worked hard to perfect it. Then we ‘performed’ it to the choir members and their friends, alongside the classical pieces.
Back at home, there was a part for Jane, too, on the piano as Di and I played two Beatles numbers.
-o-O-o-
Another evening, we were treated to Vernon’s amateur Powerhouse Theatre production of ‘Radium Girls’. This was a moving dramatisation of Kate Moore’s story uncovering the scandalous way that, from around 1910 to 1925, profits were put before people. Hundreds of workers at companies such as the U.S Radium Corporation were poisoned by radioactive dust in the manufacture of luminous clocks, watches and other fancy goods.
-o-O-o-
The most remarkable musical event we attended was given by Okanagan Recorder Orchestra in Kelowna’s small Anglican cathedral. Perhaps, like me, your previous experience is influenced by the shrill sound of thirty descant recorders in a school class? Well, I was amazed, and very impressed, by the depth and breadth of sound that this orchestra achieved, and the variety of musical styles in which it could play. ORO’s website invites you to listen to a selection; I’ve chosen this A Swingin’ Safari clip which was played in the concert. Di is a very skilful descant player but not on this clip; she’s conducting!
-o-O-o-
You’ll have gathered that we’d have had enough to do on our holiday without sightseeing…
johnhearsonwrites.com 