A seasoned trio of classical musicians will soon return to the city, bringing a night of beautiful sound to the Trail United Church.
This latest performance by the Rossland-based chamber music ensemble of La Cafamore is titled “Mozart and More,” and is slated for Sunday, Aug. 25 in the downtown Trail venue.
The group tours the Kootenays twice a year, with violinist and manager Carolyn Cameron responsible for picking out the theme of each concert.
“Of all the composers in the classical music repertoire, Mozart is the one that has been the most requested when we tour,” says Cameron.
“People do ask why we don’t play more Mozart. This is why when we do actually put Mozart on the program, we like to shout it out.”
This is only the third major Mozart chamber work that the group has performed in their decade-plus of performing.
“We have a pool of five musicians to call on and what we perform is firstly determined by who is available for each concert,” Cameron said.
“And secondly, we try to accommodate the tastes of each player. Mozart can be a hard sell because it is deceivingly difficult to play.”
Cameron says violist Alexis More summed it up best when she stated that “when you play Mozart, it’s as if he makes it hard to play, but he’s laughing at you the whole time because it has to sound easy to play.”
Of all the group members, More has been the most reluctant to play Mozart, which makes it truly ironic that the concert series is called ‘Mozart and More’ as Alexis will not be performing in Trail.
“Alexis More is on leave from the group as she will be giving birth right around the time of the first concerts” Cameron shared.
The group welcomes newcomer violist Jeffrey Chow to fill the void.
“Jeffrey comes highly recommended by our cellist, Maria Wang and we are super excited that he will be playing with the group.”
The piece in question for this set of concerts is Mozart’s iconic string Divertimento in E flat major.
“This wonderful work was written towards the end of Mozart’s short life and as such is a showcase of his abilities as a composer,” Cameron explained.
“It is interesting to note that Beethoven seemed to use the string trio format early in his career and then abandoned the format for the string quartet.”
In Mozart’s case, Cameron describes the format as “reverse,” the result being that the parts of viola and cello are much more developed than in many of his string quartets.
Jean Francaix’s Trio a Cordes and Richard Strauss’ Variations on a Hungarian Theme round off the program which will be played in the communities of Trail, Kaslo, Invermere, Fernie and Kimberley.
Cameron has a particular soft spot for the Trail concerts, having lived just up the road for over 20 years.
“I can’t say enough about the Trail United Church. It is a beautiful venue to look at and acoustically, unsurpassed,” she said. “The church has been extremely generous with their space, allowing us to rehearse there too.”
Cameron also looks forward to an audience full of familiar faces.
“When you know that you are supported by an audience, it makes performing much less nerve-wracking,” she said.
“I can’t say enough how important audiences are to performers”.
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m.
Admission is $20 at the door or online at thebailey.ca. Children 12 and under enter at no charge.
Trail Society for Performing Arts, Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and Columbia Basin Trust have contributed to sponsor this performance.
