(Posted 11:30
p.m., Feb. 8)
Youngsters
shine during Gloucester Music Club recital
By
Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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 Sixeen-year-old
pianist Pamela Ng brings the Gloucester Music Club recital to a close on Saturday
night. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The Gloucester
Music Club held its second series of recitals of the season on the weekend, which
featured some of the best young classical musicians in the east end as well as
some fresh faces who performed in front of an audience for the first time.
According
to Gloucester Music Club director Anne Cure, Friday night's concert at the Orleans
United Church was one of the strongest in terms of the level musicianship, and
the depth of talent in quite some time.
Saturday's
lineup of young musicians had a tough act to follow, but by the thrid performaance
it was clear that they were more than up to the challenge.
Micaela
Taing got things started with a brief, well-played performance of "Crafty
Card Tricks" by Christine Donkin. Meghan Lau was next up with a wonderful
rendition of Crosby's "Dreamcatcher" which belied her age.
Aja
Penny followed with another Crosby composition, "To Fly Like An Eagle".
Jillian Kimbell then played "Mist' by Clifford Poole and Marcus Gran-Ruaz
performef "La Toupie" by Bonis.
A
string of performances followed leading up to Angela Mackenzie's beautiful interpretation
of Alan Menken's "God Help the Outcast".
The
pleasant surprise of the eveing was delivered by nine-year-old Danielle Xie. While
most of the young people who perform in the Gloucester Music Club concert series
are involved in completing their Royal Conservatory of Music exams, Danielle simply
plays for the love of it.
She
first started taking lessons three years ago under the tutelage of Colleen Mack,
who has taught her well. Her performance of "Liebestraum" by Johann
Lizt was a sheer delight made even more impressive by the fact that it was her
first time playing in front of an audience.
The
remainder of the program included several solid performances by Sebastien Mitra,
who played "The Eagle's Nest Above the Canyon" by Vancouver composer
Jean Coulthard, and Monica Taing's superb rendition of "Nocturne" by
Paul Sheftel.
But
the biggest highlights of the evening was delivered by two young women who are
accustomed to playing in front of a live audience.
Madalen
O'Regan has been playing the violin since she was four-years-old. It was an instrument
she can by naturally due to the fact that her mother is a violin teacher and her
older sister plays the instrument as well. While Saturday's recital was her first
with the Gloucester Music Club, she's played dozens of weddings and other gigs
as a trio with her mother and sister.
By
comparison, Pamela Ng, who brought Saturday's concert to a close with an exquisite
performance of "Nocturne in E-Minor" by Chopin, usually plays in two
or three Gloucester Music Club concerts a year. She's also a regular at the Kiwanis
Music Festival which is held in Ottawa every spring..
The
Grade 11 IB student at Colonel By Secondary School, is currently preparing for
her RCM Grade 10 exam.
The
next two Gloucester Music Club recitals will be held on March 26 and 27 at the
Orleans United Church.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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