(Posted 9:30 a.m., March 31)
Young musicians use recital to prepare for upcoming music festival
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Thirteen-year-old Lindsay White performs 'I Don't Know How To Love Him' from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar at the Gloucester Music Club concert last Friday night. Fred Sherwin/Photo

The Gloucester Music Club held the third and final installment in its annual concert series on the weekend and the lineup of young musicians who performed was deeper and more talented than ever.

The lineup for the Friday night concert was especially strong and varied, largely due to the fact that many of the performers are in the midst of their final preparations for the Kiwanis Music Festival which gets underway on April 6.

Besides the large number of young pianists which usually dominate the Gloucester Music Club recitals, there were four vocal performances, a violin recital and a recorder solo.

Nine-year-old Jeffrey Xia started the concert off with a spirited and mistake free performance of the "Elephant Tune" by Nina Perry.

Xia was followed on stage by youngsters Anne-Marie Lafortune and Magalie Labbé who both played compositions by Nancy Faber. Lafortune chose "Alarm Clock" for her recital, while Labbé went with "The Haunted Mouse".

Geneviéve O'Keefe then performed the lone violin recital of the evening, choosing Bach's "Minuet in G+" to enchant the audience. She was followed on stage by Rebecca Atkinson who delivered the first vocal performance of the evening, singing the melodic "How Could I Ever Know" by Lucy Simon.

Following a pair of piano recitals by Taneisha Kandiah and Émilie Lafortune, young Bethany Lau wowed the crowd with her rendition of "Madrigal" by Mel Bonis.

After Lau's impressive performance, six year-old Alice Yang, dressed from head to toe in pink and red, almost stole the entire show with an amazing performance of "Floating Clouds" by Last that belied her young age.

Other highlights of the evening included 11-year-old Meghan Lau's absolutely flawless performance of Dabelli's "Sonatina in F+", 13-year-old Lindsay White's vocal performance of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from the musical "Jesus Christ Superstar", and Kevin Yang's rendition of Spindler's "Sonatina in C+". Yang recently scored a 94 on his Royal Conservatory of Music Grade 5 exam.

The concert was brought to a close by a trio of veteran Gloucester Music Club performers starting with Danielle Lemieux who sang "The Trees They Grow So High" which is a British folk song made famous by Sarah Brightman.

Felix Lu then performed Haydn's "Sonatina in D+", followed by 15-year-old Rebecca Xu who brought the evening to a close with an incredible performance of the rather ambitious "Ballade in Ab+" by Chopin.

XU recently completed her Grade 10 RCM exam and is preparing to take her ARCT exam next year. She will also be competing in the upcoming Kiwanis Music Festival, which gets underway next week, along with many of the other musicians who performed on the weekend.

The Kiwanis Music Festival brings together the best young musicians and vocalists from across the region, who then compete for a long list of bursaries and scholarships that up for grabs.

The Music Festival is spread out over the course of four weeks with classes held in 12 different venues across the city. The event wraps up with a Highlights Concert featuring some of the top performers in the various instrumental and vocal categories on May 14. For more information about the Kiwainis Music Festival visit www.ottawakiwanismusicfestival.com.

Here is a complete list of Friday night's Gloucester Music Club concert program:

Jeffrey Xu - "Elephant Tune" by Perry
Anne-Marie Lafortune - "Alarm Clock" by Faber
Magalie Labbé - "The Haunted Mouse" by Faber
Genevieve O'Keefe - "Minuet in G+" by Bach
Rebecca Atkinson - "How Could I Ever Know" by Simon
Taneisha Kandiah - "Struttin" by Norton
Émilie Lafortune - "Inner-City Stomp" by Norton
Bethany Lau - "Mandrigal" by Bonis
Alice Yang - "Floating Clouds" by Last
Julia Rougeau - "Matchmaker, matchmaker" by Hornick and Boch
Armin Farhoudi - "Flower in the Vase" by Ghuanea/Shabazian
Jeremy Xia - "Bourée in D+" by Graupner
Meghan Lau - "Sonatina in F+" by Diabelli
Natalie Du - "Evening in the Village" by Bartok
Catherine Gallagher - "Poetic Tone Picture" by Grieg
Sara Cowell - "Trotto" trad. 14th Century Italian
Cynthia Taing - "Sonatina in A-" by Gurlitt
Lindsay White - "I Don't Know How To Love Him" by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Tiffany Hnatiw - "Romance" by Kuzmenko
Julia Lemieux - "Mississauga Rag" by Norton
Kevin Yang - "Sonatina in C+" by Spindler
Oliver Ng - "Invention No. 1 in C+" by Bach
Trisha Kandiah - "Simple Gifts" Arr. Hayes
Anieke Walker - Sonatina in C+" by Mozart
Sabra Abdi - "Suite in G+" by Fiocco
Danielle Lemieux - "The Trees They Grow So High" Arr. Britten
Felix Lu - "Sonatina in D-" by Haydn
Rebecca Xu - "Ballade in Ab+" by Chopin

For more information about the Gloucester Music Club visit www.gloucestermusicclub.ca.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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