Trio brings antics to Langley stage

Who says one can’t mix the classics, clowns, coffee, and concerts?

Langley Community Music School is proving it can be done, with a series of concerts and events in the next week aimed at not just entertaining but celebrating BC Youth Week.

It all starts Friday night (May 1), with the Joe Trio show demonstrating how high art and high camp can co-exist in the LCMS’s Cafe Classico concert series.

The piano, violin and cello trio will treat the audience to an array of music from the classics to contemporary works, and backwards and sideways again, along with a good measure of humour, said the school’s artistic director Elizabeth Bergmann. 

“We are excited to welcome Joe Trio,” Bergmann added. “Not only are they amazing musicians, they truly know how to make a show engaging for all audiences.”

Joe Trio features Cameron Wilson on violin, Charles Inkman on cello, and Allen Stiles on piano – Stiles on the faculty of LCMS among a long list of other accomplishments.

He is a founding member and artistic director of The Little Chamber Music Series That Could Society, a member of the contemporary chamber group Standing Wave, also on the faculty of Douglas College’s community school, and currently the music director for the Richmond Gateway Theatre’s annual winter musical theatre productions.

This event, as the name implies, also includes a coffee component.

The Cafe Classico event actually kicks off at 7 p.m. with a conversation with Joe Trio’s three performers and Bergmann, followed by coffee and refreshments, then the concert at 8 p.m.

“Learn more about the trio, their humorous history with gorilla suits, and their lively interpretation of diverse styles of music. And then hang tight for a stunning performance,” Bergmann said.

Celebrating youth

That is just the beginning, said music school principal Susan Magnusson.

“Langley Community Music School is thrilled to bring two special concerts to our community at the start of BC Youth Week,” she said, explaining there’s also a Sunday afternoon and Monday evening concerts. 

On Sunday, May 3, at 2:30 p.m., the violin-fiddle duo of Marc Destrubé and Jaron Freeman-Fox will present  J.S. Bachwards, a stunning re-imagining of the works of Bach, Biber, and Baltzer. 

Then, on Monday, May 4, at 7 p.m., the acclaimed Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir will join LCMS’ children’s choir to perform Canadian traditional, folk, and popular songs – including a joint performance of this year’s Music Monday anthem We Are One. 

Music Monday (www.musicmonday.ca) is the world’s largest single event dedicated to raising awareness for music education, Magnusson explained.

Launched in 2005 by the Coalition for Music Education, this annual event engages hundreds of thousands of students, educators, and music makers in a simultaneous nationwide concert performance of an original song written by a Canadian artist.

The 2015 anthem, We Are One, was written by 16-year old Canadian singer-songwriter Connor Ross.

“Langley Community Music School is thrilled to bring two special concerts to our community at the start of BC Youth Week,” Magnusson said.

“When I learned that Early Music Vancouver was presenting Marc Destrube together with his former prodigy Jaron Freeman-Fox, I had to invite them to also perform in Rose Gellert Hall.”

The principal explained that BC Youth Week is a provincial celebration of youth held annually during the first week of May.

She describes it as a week of fun, interaction, and celebration intended to build a strong connection between young people and their communities and to profile the accomplishments and diversity of youth across the province.

“The timing [of Music Monday and the LCMS concert], coinciding with BC Youth Week, was perfect, and the program is very appealing,” she added. “But also making this very special, Jaron is the grandson of one of our school’s most dedicated volunteers, Ronnie Cook Freeman. We are very pleased that with the support that we receive from the province of B.C., we can bring this special concert to Langley, asking only for admission by donation.”

“LCMS has a wonderful connection with the Orpheus Choir through its music director Liana Savard, who is also a member of the school’s voice faculty,” Magnusson explained. “We are thrilled to be joining with them to be a part of the nation-wide Music Monday celebrations.  It will be a very special experience for our children’s choir, as well as for the audience!”

While admission for Sunday is by donation, tickets for Monday’s event with the Vancouver Orpheus Male Choir is $15/adults, $10/students, $2/children 11 and younger.

Tickets for this Concerts Café Classico event are $15/adults, $13/seniors, and $10/students.

All three musical events happen at the school’s Rose Gellert Hall, 4899 207th St.

Music comes alive

Langley Community Music School hosts multiple musical concerts from October to May, including the Rose Gellert Hall Series, a Saturday evening concert featuring renowned Canadian and international musicians, as well as the Concerts Cafe Classico Series, a Sunday afternoon concert series featuring stellar local and touring musicians playing classical, jazz or contemporary works.

For more information or to reserve tickets, people can call the school at 604-534-2848.