Concert series presenting two events this month

November 13, 2013 · 0 Comments

This historic tracker organ at St. James’ Anglican Church in Caledon East will be part of the performance in the Nov. 17 concert at the Church.
Photo submitted

Cecilia String Quartet consists of (standing) Sarah Namatallah, Min-Jeong Koh, (seated) Caitlin Boyle and Rachel Desoer.
Photo submitted

The Caledon Chamber Concert Series will be presenting two shows in November.
There will be a fundraising concert this coming Sunday (Nov. 17) that will feature the historic tracker organ at St. James’ Anglican Church in Caledon East.
Nov. 23 will see a performance by the award-winning Cecilia String Quartet.
The Nov. 17 offering will see organist Quirino Di Giulio joined by violinist Arkady Yanivker. Giulio is organist at All Saints’ Anglican Church, King City and Yanivker is a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
Built by the Lye Organ Company of Toronto around 1880, St. James’ tracker organ is one of only two still in service in Ontario and remains a valuable possession. A “tracker” is mechanically operated and pressing a key causes a system of wooden levers, leather straps, and steel rods to activate a device which injects air into one of the 425 pipes. The sound produced is unique to this instrument. Pitch, tone and timbre are determined by the length, shape and material (wood and various metal alloys) of the pipes. Before being installed in St. James’ at the end of the Second World War, the organ was in use at St. Cyprian’s Church in Toronto.
Although the organ is used every Sunday for church services, this is the first time in many years that it has been used in a concert setting.
Proceeds from the concert will be shared equally by Caledon Chamber Concerts and St. James’ Church.
The concert is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for students 16 years and under, and will be collected at the door.
The Cecilia String Quartet consists of four talented young women who will perform music by Haydn, Webern, Dvořák and Mendelssohn.
In 2010, the quartet took the First Prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition. They now perform for leading presenters in Canada, the United States and Europe, and are also Ensemble-in-Residence at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. Their concert recordings have been broadcast on more than a dozen international public radio networks, including Australia, Canada (CBC/SRC) and Germany. In addition to performing, they have a four-CD contract with ANALEKTA. The first recording of music by Dvořák was released in March 2012. The second recording of music by Janáček, Berg, and Webern, was released in March 2013.
The quartet comprises Sarah Namatallah (violin), Min-Jeong Koh (violin), Caitlin Boyle (viola) and Rachel Desoer (cello). Koh plays on a cs. 1767 Joannes Baptista Guadagnini violin and Nematallah plays on an 1851 Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin, both on loan from an anonymous donor. Desoer performs on the 1929 Carlo Giuseppe Oddone on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts.
The concert will be at St. James’ Anglican Church, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults and $15 for students 16 years and younger and may be purchased in advance at Forster’s Book Garden, Howard the Butcher and BookLore. A limited number of tickets may also be available at the door on the night of the concert.
For more information on either concert, call 905-880-2445.