With composer Stephen Brown at the helm, the Sidney Classical Orchestra is set to launch its 26th season, Nov. 23.
The four-concert series will feature the orchestra performing music from Bach to the present in a rather intimate setting at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church (10030 Third Street).
“The audience is pulled into a horseshoe around the orchestra, which makes for a more involving experience,” explains Brown. “These concerts are going to offer people something that they just can’t access at home.”
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“Bach & Handel Meet Sally,” the first in the series, will feature Bach’s Piano Concerto in D minor with soloist Susan de Burgh on piano and a suite arranged by Brown from Handel’s Water Music. The show will also feature the premiere of Brown’s composition, “The Adventures of Sally and Her Motorcycle” inspired by last year’s Carnival of the Animals for speaker and orchestra.
“[It] was such a delight I wanted to program something similar,” Brown says. “I looked around but there wasn’t a suitable piece, so I decided to write my own.
Brown’s tale of an 11-year-old girl and her 8-year-old brother who go traveling in search of happiness and prosperity to bring to their small, impoverished Canadian town is “a story for both the young and old.”
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Concert No. 2, “The Elegant Clarinet” takes place Jan. 13, 2019 and will feature Rebecca Hissen on clarinet.
Concert No. 3, “Young Soloists Perform with the SCO” is slated for March 3, 2019 and Concert No. 4, “Beethoven & Haydn, Passion & Tenderness” features Jamie Syer on piano performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major.
All concerts are at St. Elizabeth’s Catholic Church and tickets are available at Tanners Books, CityScribe in Brentwood Bay, Long and McQuade in Victoria or at the door.
For more information call 250-480-1133 or visit SidneyClassicalOrchestra.ca.