A perfect recital
Today, my wife Stéphanie, a talented trumpet player, had a recital with a new friend of hers, Celia Kirk. They’re putting on a two-day tour and the first concert of the series took place in Simcoe – your typical Small Town Ontario. I’ve always loved smaller towns. There’s something about living in a community that is connected and intimate. This was on full display today. Celia has built a solid studio of piano students since moving to Simcoe some years back. Today, the community showed up to show their support and to listen to Celia play. Close to 80 people were in attendance!
Anyway, the concert was amazing. The highlight for me was seeing Steph play a call-and-response piece with our friend Andrew McCandless, principal Trumpet of the TSO, and Steph’s former teacher. The piece, written by Reynolds, is technically challenging, but they both pulled it off with such ease, you’d be hard pressed to think playing such a thing is challenging. The hour-long concert was well-received by the crowd (the double standing-O tells me so).
Tomorrow, they repeat the show for Toronto, at Trinity St. Paul’s United Church at Bloor/Spadina. If you’re in town, you’ll want to check it out! More info at my wife’s website, Urban Brass.com.