Cameron Crozman just got back home after spending the last three weeks performing in concert halls in Paris, Frankfurt, Monaco and Barcelona.
This week the globe-trotting classical cellist goes from crossing the Atlantic to crossing the Straight of Georgia as he takes on the role of guest musician in the Vancouver Island Symphony’s first performance of its 2018-19 season.
The concert, called Happiness: Brahms and Dvorak, includes a rendition of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and Crozman, who hails from London, Ont., will play the solo. The symphony opener will also include Weber’s Overture to Euryanthe and Brahms’ Symphony no. 3.
Taking place at the Port Theatre on Saturday it’s Crozman’s first Nanaimo show and his second time on Vancouver Island after taking part in last summer’s Victoria Summer Music Festival.
He calls the concerto a “blessing and a curse” for cellists.
“On one hand it’s such a phenomenal piece of music and we’re so lucky to have it,” he said. “But because it’s such a great piece it’s often the thing that orchestras want us to play all the time. But I’m always happy to have a chance to play it.”
Crozman said it’s the concerto that he’s played the most. In 2012 he performed it while touring Canada and the United States with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and since then he’s had it “permanently etched” into his mind.
He said the composition, written in the 1890s, takes an interesting approach to how it utilizes the cello in conjunction with the rest of the orchestra.
“The cello, once it enters, is quite evidently the focus of the music. It’s the solo instrument, it’s sort of the hero of the story,” he said. “But there’s so much going on playing with other instruments or sections of the orchestra.”
He said what makes the concerto notable is that while it has a “symphonic, larger-than-life quality,” there are also quiet, intimate moments between the soloist and orchestra.
When he’s not on stage Crozman is putting the final touches on the booklet for his upcoming debut album, Cavatine, due in January.
The album is composed of a number of pieces by early-20th century French composers, with Debussy as the starting point.
“It sort of explores how the composers that were both contemporaries and lived later than Debussy were able to take what he had innovated and take it further and where they go with it,” he said.
Crozman recorded the CD with pianist Philip Chiu, a longtime accompanist who also used to live in London.
“The type of collaborator you want is someone who’s going to push you to do new and interesting things in the music, but at the same time … when you play together it feels like you’re slipping on an old glove and that’s always the feeling I get with Phil when we play together,” he said.
In recording an introductory album, Crozman said the goal with Cavatine was to make a record that balanced cello standards with “new discoveries.”
“As soon as the album drops it’s on all the streaming platforms and so anyone around the world can listen to it,” he said. “So it really is in a way very much my entry into the world stage.”
WHAT’S ON … The Vancouver Island Symphony presents Happiness: Brahms and Dvorak at the Port Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. with a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. Tickets range from $33 to $54, $18 for students.
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