Darkness to Light

Ronald Beckett - Nature's Cry

Dimitri Shostakovich - Cello Concerto (Lexie Krakowski, cello)

Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 1

Music Director and Conductor - Charles Demuynck

We all experience difficulties in life, negative things will happen, ideally, we deal with them, and move on/move back to a state of positivity. One of my favourite concert ideas is the process of darkness to light, in which this facing of challenges and moving forward to positivity is expressed, and celebrated.

This version of the theme moves away from the personal and towards the universal. Brantford composer Ronald Beckett has written a moving tribute to our relationship with the natural world, entitled Nature's Cry. It addresses, on an emotional level, the state of our connection to the animals that we share the planet with.

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Russia is very much on our minds these days, as it moves closer and closer to the totalitarian state that it was when Joseph Stalin was its ruler. Dmitri Shostakvich lived through the darkest years of Stalin's terror, and it marked him for life; he later said that all of his music after that point, was a memorial to Stalin's innocent victims. His Cello Concerto #1 is a particularly moving and poignant tribute. Lexie Krakowski won 1st place in the senior category of our concerto competition, and is a truly memorable cellist.

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These are dark things to think about, and I wouldn't leave you in that state of mind.... positivity is recovered in the second half of the concert with Beethoven's sparkling, brilliant, funny, Symphony #1. Here's a taste of it: Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 1 in C major op. 21 - IV Finale: Adagio - Allegro molto e vivace (youtube.com). I hope that you'll join us on our journey towards optimism!

Host or Publisher Oakville Chamber Orchestra