Québec!!

I'm in Québec! I am happy to be a part of the 2nd "Série Grands Concerts" in Trois Rivières. We have 5 concerts and 2 master classes this week throughout the region. It is April but there is still a great deal  of snow, which looks beautiful against the blue skies and rivers.

Série Grands Concerts, Édition 2014

So thrilled to be in Québec for a week long concert tour! We'll have concerts and master classes in Trois-Rivières, Nicolet, Shawnigan-Sud, Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, and ending with the final concert back in Trois Rivières. I'm with Sébastien Deshaies from Québec and Alberto Cumplido from Chile. The concerts are solo sets from each of us, and a set of trios of Canadian music. This is my first time in Québec!

Practice, practice, practice!

Our beautiful practice space!

Practicing trios (check out the April snow!)

Practicing Alberto's composition "Sahara" for violin and guitar with Sébastien

Since we live in different countries, we learned music ahead of time and practiced pretty intensely for a few days before the concert tour. Sébastien chose the music, and we ended up performing some lovely trios by Canadian composers, as well as "Joy" by Marcos Vinicius from Italy/Brazil. We had the most amazing practice space in Sébastien parents' home, a sun room which glowed with the outdoor scenery of the snow!

Slow Snow

Let it snow

Let it snow

Let it snow!

OK, so we were practicing the trio "Slow Snow" (neige lent) by the Canadian composer Guy Bergeron, when I looked up at the window and saw...slow snow from the sky! Very exciting to see snow, especially in April! Here in Seattle it snows very rarely in the city, and it is always a major event. It's even more rare for Alberto, who's from South America, so we had no choice but to go out and play in the snow. We borrowed some snow clothes and boots and snow shoes, and went snowshoeing out in the forest in the backyard. Then--back to practicing!

Radio-Canada (and TV)

Monday morning, bright and early, we made our way to the Radio-Canada station for an interview to promote the shows. It was all in French, so Sébastien took over most of the talking (but I am very proud of my excellent contribution of "bonjour" and "merci.") We played some trio music on the air as well. Then off to Église St-Laurent for a TV interview, which was in both French and English, and we played quite a few selections from our program. The interviews went very well, and I did have a chance to hear and see them on the internet that day. However my google search to place them here on my blog came up empty. I could only find the most current radio and TV spots, so I guess our media spots are floating around somewhere in land of the internet. C'est la vie..

Concert d'ouverture, Trois-Rivières

Our first concert at Foyer Gilles Beaudoin, Trois-Rivières

After our first concert at Foyer Gilles Beaudoin

We played 5 concerts throughout the week. Sébastien organized the entire tour, and gave each concert a very poetic name (although everything in French sound quite poetic.) The first concert, Concert d'ouverture, was in Trois-Rivières in a beautiful building, Foyer Gilles Beaudoin. It was great to finalize the program and share the music we worked on with the very enthusiastic audience. After the concert Alberto told me he saw a reviewer there taking notes (!!!) More about that in the next post...

Reviews in French

Thank you, Le Nouvelliste!

Woke up the next morning to a review, my first one in French! A very positive review for the whole concert (hooray!) With a little help from my French friends and Google Translate, here are some blurbs:

From the newspaper "Le Nouvelliste":

"l'Américaine Hilary Field a manifesté une grande rigueur technique dans des interprétations sans faille et marquée par une technique impeccable."
"the American Field Hilary showed great technical rigor and flawless interpretations marked by impeccable technique."

" Les trois ont présenté quelques pièces très sympathiques en trio dans la seconde partie. Globalement, on a eu droit à un joli concert, très accessible et dans un genre qu'il nous est trop rarement donné d'entendre."
"The three presented some very nice pieces trio in the second part. Overall, we were treated to a lovely concert, very accessible and in a genre that we are rarely given to hear. " 

Thank you for the kind words

More kind words for everyone, merci beaucoup!
"Hilary Field quant à elle, promène ses doigts avec tellement de grâce sur les cordes, qu’on a l’impression qu’un ange les fait vibrer. Une justesse et une légèreté presque aérienne, qui soulève l’âme "
"Hilary Field moves her fingers with such grace on the strings, we feel an angel makes them vibrate. Precise and almost ethereal lightness that lifts the soul."
 "Merci à vous amis guitaristes pour cette excellente soirée remplie d'émotion , de virtuosité , dans une ambiance relaxe et sympathique"
" Thank you guitarist friends for this excellent evening filled with emotion, virtuosity, in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere"

Le Printemps de la Musique, Nicolet

A classroom transformed into a beautiful concert space at Collège Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption

With students after the concert

After the concert at Collège Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption 

With Nathalie Houle, Fondation CNDA

Our second concert, Le Printemps de la musique, was at Collège Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, Nicolet

This is a school for students ages 12-16. We talked with the students and gave them lessons in the morning and afternoon, and then had the pleasure of playing in their acoustically vibrant and beautifully lit concert space that evening.

Classes at Collège Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption

Playing for the students

Our morning guitar students

Our afternoon guitar students

We had a fantastic time sharing music and teaching the students (ages 12-16) at Collège Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption! We each did a small demonstration, and then worked with two students at a time on their music.

Music of Québec

Here is Sébastien playing traditional music of Québec for two guitars and violin with his music students at the Collége Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption (CNDA.)

Classes at École Villa-de-la-Jeunesse, Saint-Élie-de Caxton

École Villa-de-la-Jeunesse

Demonstrating classical guitar for the students

A photo with Gaétan Thériault, the very dynamic music teacher

We found hats in the music room!

We had two days of teaching in Québec. Here is École Villa-de-la-Jeunesse, Saint-Élie-de Caxton, on our way to Le Rond Coin. The very gracious and exuberant music teacher, Gaétan Thériault, was so pleased to share this music with his students (around ages 10-12.) He also thought it was important for the girls in his class to hear a woman play classical guitar. The students were visibly amazed by the music, and had great questions and feedback.

Ambiances acoustiques, Shawinigan-Sud

After the concert at Église St-Sauveur

Playing trios

The Mayor came to our concert!

Another gorgeous concert space

Onward to Shawinigan-Sud for our third concert. Great audience; even the mayor was there!

Concert intime, Saint-Élie-de-Caxton

Playing inside a yurt at Le Rond Coin, Saint-Élie-de-Caxton

After the concert with friends, Le Rond Coin

The most amazing concert space!

Our fourth concert was in the most amazing space, an actual yurt (yourte)! Le Rond Coin is a restaurant and resort in the woods, and we took a fun tour of the grounds with the owner before the concert, who built the structures.
Here is the wikipedia definition of a yurt:
"A yurt is a portable, bent dwelling structure traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia as their home. The structure comprises a crown or compression wheel, usually steam bent, supported by roof ribs which are bent down at the end where they meet the lattice wall (again, steam bent). The top of the wall is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. The structure is usually covered by layers of fabric and sheep's wool felt for insulation and weatherproofing."

Mon Dévidoir, live at Le Rond Coin

Here is a video from our concert in the yurt at Le Rond Coin, Saint-Élie-de-Caxton. This is a traditional French Canadian song, Mon Dévidoir. This is music from Sébastien's homeland; he literally dances in his chair while playing this music!

Sanctuaire Notre-Dame-du-Cap

Sight seeing at Our Lady of the Cape Shrine (beaucoup de neige!)

Cité de lénergie

Our friendly and informative guide at Energy City

On top of the observation tower at Cité de l'energie (no filters on the photo, the natural colors look black and white)

Using energy from the wind

We had two days without concerts or classes, and had the great opportunity to tour the city. We took a private tour of Cité de l'´energie, learned about alternative energy sources, and saw the most amazing view from the top of the tower.

A sight seeing tour of Trois Rivières

Our guide at Boréalis, a museum of Québec's paper industry, with the original architecture and machinery of the filtration plant of the Canadian International Paper Company

At the Québec Museum of Folk Culture, the set of a popular Canadian TV comedy show

and for something completely different, adjacent to the Museum is the Old Prison of Trois-Rivières

Trois-Rivières is the second oldest city in Québec, founded in 1634

The Laviolette Bridge, across the St. Lawrence River

The most wonderful dinner at a Cuban restaurant with my Québec family

On one of our two days off, I had the pleasure of touring the picturesque historic city of Trois-Rivières with Sébastien, Paul-André, and Lise, my adopted Québec family!

Three Rivers, or One?

It seems that Trois-Rivières is not really three different rivers. From Wikipedia:
"The city's name, which is French for three rivers, is named for the fact that the Saint-Maurice River, which is divided by two small islands at the river's opening, has three mouths at the Saint Lawrence River."

From Canadian Geographic Magazine:
"the dark iron-rich waters of Rivière Saint-Maurice can be seen swirling like a watercolour wash into the green flow of the St. Lawrence River. A sandy beach fringes Île Saint-Quentin, at the mouth of the Saint-Maurice, and crisp white sails punctuate the river’s three channels, which form a delta and long ago inspired a French captain to give the area its misnomer, Trois-Rivières (“Three Rivers”)."

Mistaken identity aside, the name Trois-Rivières is much more elegant than Une-Rivière.

 

La langue française

I studied so much Spanish for my trips to South America, Pimsleur CDs in the car, workbooks at home, apps on my phone, but alas, la langue française, not so much. I knew it would take a great deal of effort to get the pronunciation and grammar, and since I am in the midst of recording a new solo CD, I just didn't have the time. I did pick some more up while I was there, and had fun playing with a French app with Lise, who was also trying to learn English.

Mes Amis

One of the nicest parts of visiting another country and sharing music is meeting all the fantastic people!

With Paul-André and Lise, my warm and generous hosts!

Sébastien, the artistic director of Série Grands Concerts, virtuoso guitarist, and an incredible friend

Mélanie, Sébastien's fiancée, photographer exraordinaire, and beautiful spirit

Renée-Claude! Symphony violinist, lovely woman

Hélène, great conversations at Le Rond Coin

Keven Gélinas, the owner of Le Rond Coin, who built the structures.

Alberto with Paul-André and Lise. Musician, composer, film maker, poet. I was honored to perform the piece of music he composed for me, Retrato Antiguo.