Contributed
One is a master of the clarinet and the other is a world champion accordionist, so you’d think that when Kornel Wolak and Alexander Sevastian get together, they will play the traditional music of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe.
But despite their choice of instruments, the men won’t be just playing Klezmer. Instead they will put their own virtuosic spin on classical and folk music, with performances that have been described as “fresh, exciting and fun, dispelling any of the old preconceptions about classical music being stuffy and outdated.”
Wolak and Sevastian arrive in Vernon Saturday, Oct. 21 to perform the first North Okanagan Community Concert (NOCCA) of the 2017-18 season.
Billed as the Double Double Duo, a group that Wolak founded with accordionist-pianist Michael Bridge, Sevastian is actually stepping in for Bridge, who is not able to make this performance due to prior commitments.
This is not the first time Wolak and Sebastian have performed together.
“We don’t really work together anymore but we did for two years while playing and touring while I was a member of Quartetto Gelato, which Alex is a part of. This let us get to know each other very well and to become friends,” said Wolak.
The musicians have something else in common. Both immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe and each has since built a successful solo career that has taken him around the globe.
“We have practiced many long hours and spent even more hours flying around the globe. It has always been a great pleasure to play with Alex for he is a true professional and a very nice person as well,” said Wolak, who last performed for NOCCA in March, 2016 with pianist Chris Donnelly.
Highly praised on two continents for his glorious tone, precise technical control, and musical imagination, Polish-born Wolak began piano lessons at age six and took up the clarinet when he was 12.
“I was not forced into music by my parents, both classical musicians. I was encouraged on a regular basis,” Wolak told The Morning Star last year.
His university studies in Europe earned him a scholarship from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where he earned a master’s in music. He then pursued advanced orchestral studies at the Glenn Gould School of Music in Toronto in the fall of 2005, earning an artist’s diploma.
“I was inspired not by individual clarinet players, but by former clarinet teachers,” he said.
In 2015, Wolak began researching the role of oral articulators in clarinet playing at the speech-language pathology department at the University of Toronto. The results have been published in his new book, Articulation Types for Clarinet, which is intended for use by clarinet instructors. Wolak is also a regularly published author of articles on clarinet-related issues in Your Muse, the largest music magazine in Poland, in which he is an editor and contributor. He is also the founder of Music Mind Inc., an initiative that creates music education programs for schools and communities.
Last seen in Vernon when Quartetto Gelato played for the NOCCA in February, 2011, Sevastian is a native of Minsk, Belarus and a graduate of Moscow’s Gnessin Academy of Music, where he received his master’s degree in performance.
Sevastian made a name for himself when he joined a Russian TV folk instrument orchestra that made a number of TV and live appearances. He moved to Toronto in 2001 and soon after received an advanced certificate in performance from the University of Toronto before joining Quartetto Gelato in 2002.
After becoming a Canadian citizen in 2005, Sevastian won the prestigious Coupe Mondiale International Accordion Competition in 2007, and has since made several solo tours and has performed with symphonies around North America and Europe.
Opening for Double Double is Vernon musician Christopher Dlouhy, who started piano lessons at the age of five and graduated from Kalamalka Secondary School with honours this past June.
Dlouhy is taking a year off school in order to complete his Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto certificate in piano performance. He currently studies piano with Marjorie Close, and completed his Grade 10 piano exam, earning first class honours with distinction. He also studies violin with Imant Raminsh, plays clarinet in the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra, and sings with AURA Chamber Choir. Dlouhy plans to major in piano performance at university next year.
A gala performance, where everyone is welcome to dress in their finest, the Double Double Duo takes the stage at the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Single tickets are $40 for adults and $20 for students 18 and under. Season tickets for all five NOCCA concerts, which also includes performances by collectif9 Nov. 19, Cheng2Duo Jan. 18, Charles Richard-Hamelin March 15 and EnChor April 14, are $125 for adults and $62.50 for students. They can be purchased at the Ticket Seller box office, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.
