“Well, you can’t really hear Rachel at all,” MCO Rachel Kristenson violinist recalls people saying after her rehearsal of Vivian Fung’s Double Violin Concerto at Festival de Lanaudière in 2019. (She and Karl Stobbe were performing the concerto’s solos, alongside the rest of the MCO then on tour of Québec and Ontario.) “Karl looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, well I have a really loud violin.’ So, it’s like, I’m really gonna have to bring it then! I used every ounce of my strength and soul.” To make matters more challenging, Rachel was also pregnant at the time and performing at what everyone involved seems to agree was the hottest concert they’ve ever experienced.
These and other funny stories about that eventful concert last summer are remembered in this video, which bring together MCO Music Director Anne Manson, Vivian, Rachel, and Karl. Vivian also gives us some engaging background on her concerto, which contains traces of Bach, Schnittke, and Loony Tunes. Click here to watch that discussion. And you can watch the performance in question, captured in vivid detail by Festival de Lanaudière, by clicking here.
See the MCO perform for free this Sunday!
MCO’s Fiddlers on the Loose outreach group performs two 45-minute sets at the outdoor Cargo Bar near the duck pond at Assiniboine Park onSunday, July 26at 1.30pm and 2.30pm. Fiddlers on the Loose members Mary Lawton, Boyd MacKenzie, Michaela Kleer, Carolyn Nagelberg, Paul Nagelberg, and Rodrigo Munoz perform a range of musical genres, from Latin American dance music to fiddle tunes. Hope to see you!
A fresh take on the MCO’s 2020-21 season
We’re trying something fresh for our 2020-21 season: an extended festival running from April to June 2021, with an early autumn chamber night appetizer.We intend to showcase most of the same incredible soloists – from Andriana Chuchman and Tracy Dahl to Stephen Hough performing the world’s greatest music with the MCO – in a manner that reflects the most up-to-date social distancing guidelines. But no matter how circumstances may evolve and how we adapt to them, expect a one-of-a-kind season with, non-stop content, where the brilliant musicians of MCO, “Canada’s tiny, perfect chamber orchestra”, are front and centre.
Subscriptions are now on sale for our updated season, and casual tickets will soon be on sale as well. Click here to subscribe or explore the season in more detail, and click here to read our full statement about the 2020-21 season. You can also call the office at 204.783.7377 to subscribe or ask questions. Someone will return you call shortly thereafter. We’d love to talk!
The MCO gratefully acknowledges support from the following:
