A decades-long musical friendship will reverberate at the Raven’s Cry Theatre on Oct. 15 as Frances Heinsheimer Wainwright marks 20 years as artistic director of the Coast Recital Society.
Art Beat correspondent Rosemary Bates Terry shares that the upcoming Coast Recital Society concert will begin with an original composition in honour of Heinsheimer Wainwright. The work for piano and cello, titled La Bella Strega di Sechelt, was composed by conductor and teacher Yehudi Wyner, and will be played by the visiting Cheng2 Duo.
“I first met [Wyner] backstage after his performance with the Bach Aria Group, when I was a student at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio,” Heinsheimer Wainwright recalled. “We shared a love of music, Italy and all things Italian, and a strong connection through my father, a long-time executive with the New York City music publishers, G. Schirmer.”
Their friendship spanned her career as a music producer with CBC Radio in Montreal and his work as a composer, performer, teacher and ambassador for classical music. Their correspondence continued when she left Montreal, retired to Sechelt and applied her experience and knowledge to the Coast Recital Society.
In the notes accompanying his composition, Wyner explains that the title of the piece, La Bella Strega di Sechelt, “might suggest menace or spiteful derision, but for us it reveals a playful affection. We would often exchange pleasantries in Italian, with Frances assuming the role of La Strega, the witch... a benign spirit of fun and beneficence, the opposite of wicked.”
Wyner, now 94, was born in Canada and grew up in New York City. He studied at Juilliard, Yale and Harvard, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his piano concerto Chiavi in mano.
Wyner offered an affectionate dedication: “This lyrical love-offering for Frances, is conveyed con dolcezza infinita (infinite sweetness). My wish is that this modest composition be heard as a love letter.”
Following the Wyner premiere, Cheng2 Duo will perform music by Georgian composer Sulkan Tsintsadze, and American contemporary composer Paul Wiancko. The second half of the program will include works by Jean Sibelius and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
For more information, browse to coastrecitalsociety.ca or email [email protected].
Designs on your input
The Gibsons Public Art Gallery recently received funds from the B.C. Arts Council to launch a community consultation and planning process for its 1960s-era building.
The gallery hopes to develop an action plan for increasing inclusivity and accessibility for public arts on the Sunshine Coast.
The gallery has gathered a team of architectural, Indigenous and community engagement consultants to help with the planning process.
“We want to hear from the public, whether they’ve visited the gallery before or not,” says longtime board member Stewart Stinson. “How can we improve the visitor experience of the gallery and make it a more inclusive space? How can we increase the gallery’s overall value to the public art community?”
A public survey is available online at gpag.ca until Oct. 31. As an incentive, everyone who completes the survey will be entered into a draw for a $100 gift certificate at the gallery gift shop.
Full-throated call for climate justice
The Rev. Dr. Joyce Parry-Moore, vicar of St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, will present a concert on Oct. 21 to help the church reach its climate action goals.
Parry-Moore, a trained soprano, was in February appointed to a part-time position called Minister for Climate Justice by the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster. The vicar works with all Anglican churches to set goals and establish projects that address the climate crisis. She is empowering parishes to reach a goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
“I’m honoured to be playing this important role,” said Parry-Moore. “As community gathering places, churches can be leaders in demonstrating how to respond to social challenges.”
Parry-Moore will be accompanied by Katherine Hume, a concert pianist who teaches and performs on the Coast. The concert will feature several familiar pieces, including those by Samuel Barber, Dvořák, and Ludovico Einaudi.
Proceeds from the concert will go toward purchasing an environmentally friendly heat pump for St. Bart’s.
Doors open on Oct. 21 at 6:30 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 and available from St. Bart’s, One Flower One Leaf Gallery, and Strait Music. For more information visit stbarts-gibsons.com.
Seniors demand justice, dramatically
The popular Off the Page play reading series continues on Oct. 15 with a comedy about three seniors who decide to take the law into their own hands after a home invasion.
Home, by Melody Anderson, is the 2023 winner of Touchstone Theatre’s David King prize for new comedic scripts.
The reading features actors Karen Bruce Webb, Ingrid Bilton, Monica Davis, Angie Cruikshank and Patrick Visser. The performance takes place at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons, starting at 1 p.m. on Oct. 15. Admission is by donation.
