The atmosphere was comfortable at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre on the evening of March 19.
Audience members chattered excitedly amongst themselves in anticipation of the concert. Highlighted by calming blue and purple lighting, the stage was set in front of the church’s pipe organ.
Thirteen Strings, a professional orchestra in Ottawa founded in 1976, collaborated with guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan as part of their Re/String project for the evening’s programming. According to the orchestra’s website, Cicchillitti and Cowan are a “unique duo that focuses on expanding the contemporary classical guitar repertoire through commissions and collaborations with living composers.”
Cicchillitti and Cowan’s Re/String project involved commissioning six new pieces from a diverse range of composers from all over the world, with the intention of having a guitar duo accompanying the orchestra.
Before the concert began, Pierre Gratton, president of the Mining Association of Canada and Thirteen Strings’ sponsor for their performance season, spoke a few words to the audience.
“One of the greatest forms of release and a great reminder of what is great about humanity is a concert such as this,” Gratton said. “I know that every one of us will be leaving here tonight feeling much better than we were probably feeling when we came.”
He also thanked Thirteen Strings’ funding agencies, including the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Ottawa and the Ottawa Trillium Foundation.
The audience clapped loudly with anticipation as Gratton invited Kevin Mallon, the orchestra’s music director, to the stage.
“What an amazing project it is for us to have commissioned six new pieces,” Mallon said.
He also mentioned that before each piece, he would read the audience a note about each of the compositions to provide some context about the pieces.
The first piece of the night was entitled Landscape and Memory, composed by Stephen Goss. Immediately, the guitarists’ creative ways of utilizing their instruments were made known to the audience. Instead of the joyful strumming that is usually associated with guitar-playing, the two artists’ movements were sharp and precise, adding drama and intrigue to the piece.
The second piece of the night, The Confectioner’s Handbook, was composed by Kelly-Marie Murphy. Created to be the recreation of the process of sugar boiling, Murphy intended to show through her composition “the heat, the bubbling mixture, the precise temperature, long strands, threads, and times.”
“But there are moments of beauty and indeed sweetness,” Mallon read out from Murphy’s note.
The audience waited a while after the piece ended before clapping and cheering, seemingly stunned by the majestic sounds that graced their senses.
Half-thorn Blooms, composed by Bekah Simms, was the third piece of the evening. While enchanting in its own way, its high-pitched frequencies gave the impression of being on the precipice of danger and sounded a little too much like audio feedback.
Patrick Roux composed the fourth piece of the evening: After The Exodus. Before the piece could start, Cicchillitti’s gaze swept over the audience. “This is for you, Pat,” he said, leaving the audience with a lingering curiosity of who Pat may be.
Representing the tumultuous path of migration towards a better life, Roux’s piece was absolutely chilling with its hair-raising raw emotion and heavenly beauty. Even the mood lighting illuminating the pipe organ behind the orchestra reflected this through the colours pink, red and blue.
The fifth song of the night, Cloud path, was composed by Amy Brandon. It held its fair share of drama and mystery, however they were not as pronounced or striking as in the other pieces performed.
The evening ended with a piece composed by Harry Stafylakis, titled To wake and find the world still burning. Composed a year into the pandemic, the piece lived up to its name and its pertinence to current events in the world. Audience members were pulled into an almost dreamlike trance that was mixed in with mystery and suspense.
The artists’ creativity was greatly seen here, as the orchestra stomped their feet to create a beat and the guitarists rapped their knuckles on their instruments to make rhythm.
So moved after these incredible performances, the audience gave a standing ovation that lasted around a minute and a half. The musicians bowed as the audience gathered their belongings and met up in groups to converse about the emotions evoked during the concert.
On their way out, still reeling from the music, the audience got the chance to thank Mallon, the evening’s organizers and the musicians for a wonderful evening of entertainment.
Featured image by Arno Ryser/The Charlatan.
