RYAN WILLMAN
Arrow Lakes News
To say that QuintEssence, the five piece operatic group, arrived on the Bonnington stage Thursday night would be a gross understatement. A more accurate description of their rousing entrance to start the evening of music and merriment would be to say they crash-landed in a helter-skelter of mock inebriation accented by a pitch perfect and spirited drinking song, Brindisi from La Traviata. Raising champagne glasses the spirited vocalists bade welcome to the assembled crowd of musical enthusiasts and ignited the Bonnington with enough vocal power to make more than one eyebrow raise in astonishment.
There is nothing quite like the practiced and honed power of the human voice and when that force, designed to fill massive auditoriums without technical aid, was cubically contained in the intimacy of our little theatre the result was a thrilling acoustical ride that traveled through a scale of bass rumbling lows from baritone, Peter Alexander and titillating highs from soprano, Robyn Driedger-Klassen. Rounding out the melodious spectrum, mezzo-soprano, Barbara Towell added a sensual element to the performance with her sexually charged rendition of the familiar Habanera from Carmen, while Peter Alexander complimented the quartet with his excellent vocal command and charming charisma. Tina Chang, pianist and musical director, supported the group with the ivory keys, sometimes acting as host, sometime acting as the parental figure as the vocalists playfully bickered about who was going to sing next.
The evening was cleverly designed around the service of a fine meal with the parade of courses represented by thematic choices of music. As mentioned, drinking was the first course, then once the crew had “drunk Nakusp dry” according to Chang, the appetizers and the mains were heavy with the notions of loved gained and lost. Intermission allowed a brief respite to ponder the desert cart, as Chang invited the audience to choose between musical selections of “tasty arias and juicy quartets” by use of applause. Finally, as with any well-orchestrated meal, the evening concluded with the serving of musical liquors, cognac as the group performed their own throwback-Thursday meme with a sing-a-long performance of the old CBC late night favorite the Log Drivers Waltz, no doubt familiar to anyone who remembers bunny ears.
A dazzling show of vocal pyrotechnics, QuintEssence stretched the musical frontier of listeners with an interactive and enigmatically spirited show.
