August 12, 2009

Theme Thursday - Festival

© 2009 Festival of the Sound

The summer I was 17 the “festival” came to town. I was working at a shop at the Parry Sound Mall when a man with a dignified demeanor and a pleasantly undefinable accent came in to buy an assortment of the strange things we had on offer. Obligatory plastic pails and beach towels were purchased but also cutlery and china. I felt he was more than just a summer cottager.

As it turned out, he was. During the summer of 1979, the renowned pianist Anton Kuerti purchased a summer home just north of Parry Sound and set about organizing three concerts by exceptional Canadian musicians. Anton Kuerti has an international reputation as an outstanding musician and is one of the world’s most recorded pianists. His recordings include all of Beethoven's concertos and sonatas. At that time Kuerti and his wife, cellist Christine Bogyo, had one child, Julian. I ended up baby-sitting Julian once – I’ll never forget that he asked for change for a $10.

The response to the concerts that Kuerti had planned was enthusiastic and inspired him to launch an annual concert series. The event was christened the Festival of the Sound and with Mr. Kuerti as Artistic director, this marked the beginning of Ontario's first annual international summer classical music festival.

In 1985, James Campbell began his tenure as the Festival's second Artistic Director, a position he still holds today.

Hundreds of Canadian and international musicians have performed at the Festival of the Sound, among them: Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Denis Brott, Victor Borge, Dave Brubeck Dizzy Gillespie, George Shearing, Peter Appleyard, Moshe Hammer, Norbert Kraft and Angela Hewitt. Plus Baritone Russell Braun, the Gryphon and Beaux Arts Trios and the Elmer Iseler Singers to name a few.

As part of the annual repertoire, cruises aboard the 500 passenger Island Queen feature on-deck music from classical to Dixieland.

CBC Radio broadcasts Festival concerts yearly. TV Ontario (TVO) has filmed concerts and a joint CBC/BBC documentary was for filmed for Canadian and European audiences.

Much has changed in the 30 years since Anton Kuerti organized the first classical music concerts in the small gym at Parry Sound High School. Summer after summer, organizers had to grapple with making the gym into a concert hall, not to mention overcoming the nightly noise of the trains. Concerts were also held in people’s homes and there was a stint at St. Peter’s Parish Hall.

In 2003 the long-time dream held by the Festival of the Sound of having a concert hall of their own was realized with the opening of the new Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts on the Parry Sound waterfront. Immediately, numbers of Festival attendants doubled.

“It’s one of the best halls in the world for un-amplified music,” said Margaret Boyd, FOTS Executive Director.


© 2009 Festival of the Sound

19 comments:

Brian Miller said...

too cool to see it evolve over time touching more lives ub uts wake.

New Yorker wannabes said...

That was a great story and seems like a great event for music. The last pictures is wonderful!

Happy TT :)

California Girl said...

The new center appears to be a fun piece of architecture. Lucky you!

Ima Wizer said...

This is a wonderful story and lucky you!!!

nonamedufus said...

Nice and interesting story. And I like the double entendre of the name of the festival.

Alan Burnett said...

Fascinating to read about another Festival. Congratulations on your new concert hall - our festival would love one like that.

tut-tut said...

What a great music festival you have. change for a tenner, hey?

Michael said...

I'm quite sure I'd love it. not heard of that one before but sounds grand.

Nicely designed blog here. Love the colours. Nice to meet you!

Roy said...

Great! It must be interesting to watch a festival like this grow from the beginning. We have the Newport Music Festival, where the performances are held in Newport's famed 19th century "Summer Cottages", but producer Mark Malkovich tends to feature up-and-coming artists, especially Russian ones, than established acts. Heh, heh! Although we do seem to get more than a few former winners of the Van Cliburn competition.

The Clever Pup said...

Mmm, you are my 100th follower! Thanks.

Betsy Brock said...

Wow...so much fun! You are so lucky! I did ride one of those little cruise boats with live music once on the Ohio River down by Cincinnati. Really fun!

Kat Mortensen said...

I remember the first time I heard Yo-yo Ma was on a cassette tape that my dad purchased for our brand new Toshiba walkman-style recorder. It was Beethoven's Triple Concerto and we kept passing the earphones around to have a listen.
That must be some Festival! I didn't even know it existed.

Kat

Anonymous said...

To see something like this in its beginings, truly remarkable. And amazing the amount of talent that has performed here( impressive list ). Cheers!

Mike said...

I am pretty sure that I would love this, especially the cruise!

Baino said...

Yep, book me on the cruise with Otin please but no Dixiland! Looks fantastic.

Baino said...

Oops. Blogger ate my comment. Yep, I'm up for a cruise, no worries. Although can we have classical rather than Dixie? Looks like fun. Although I'm cold watching that bloke with bare feet and a French horn (no pun intended)

Megan said...

So many festivals to learn about today. I like the story of the new hall being built. Restores my faith a bit, you know?

Jaime said...

looks like a great time, especially the musical cruise

tony said...

he asked for change for a $10.! I guess piano-ists know the importance of small notes........