Violist Jordan Vermes is a Sooke resident who is headed to a national competition in Kitchener/Waterloo. His Collegium Quartet placed first in the B.C. Provincials in Chilliwack after only seven months as a group and also placed first on the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival. The members met while studying at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, in the Collegium Program. Vermes, 20, lives in Sooke and was home-schooled.
Jordan Vermes plays viola, Blythe Allers on violin, Ethan Allers on cello and Ceilidh Briscoe plays violin.
To raise money for their trip to Ontario, the quartet is performing at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church on Friday, July 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Violinist Blythe Allers will be going to the Nationals as a soloist as well. He will perform a Beethoven Sonata and Conus Violin Concerto at the Friday concert.
“We are playing the Ravel String Quartet,” said Vermes. “It’s basically the four movements.”
The Quartet in F and Reval were at first rejected when submitted to the Prix de Rome and the Conservatoire de Paris in 1904, but the loss catapulted his career by a sympathetic public who rallied behind his compositions and musical style.
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects. Along with Claude Debussy, he was one of the most prominent figures associated with Impressionist music.
In 1905, Claude Debussy wrote to Ravel: “In the name of the gods of music and in my own, do not touch a single note you have written in your Quartet.” Ravel’s string Quartet in F major stands as one of the most widely performed chamber music works in the classical repertoire, representing Ravel’s early achievements and rise from obscurity. On CD, it is often coupled with Debussy’s own string quartet.
Admission to the performance on Friday, July 19 is by donation. Holy Trinity Church is located at 1962 Murray Road.
