(Posted 7:30 a.m., May 27)
Gloucester
Music Club wraps up season with gala concert
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online
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Brothers
Jeremy, Jeffrey and Jado Xia perform a trio
at the Gloucester Music Club season-ending
gala concert Saturday night. Fred Sherwin/Photo
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The
Gloucester Music Club wrapped up its 2011-2012 concert
season Saturday night with a gala performance featuring
33 young musicians from across the east end.
Each
of the 33 musicians played in at least two of the three
GMC concerts this season and are in the midst of their
final preparations for their Royal Conservatory of Music
exams.
Judging
by their performances Saturday night, they shouldn't have
any trouble passing with flying colours.
There
were so many highlights in the hour-long concert it's
hard to list them all.
Catherine
Gallagher's performance of Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique
Mvt. 2 was spot on as was Alison Wu's recital of Victor
Kossenko's Waltz.
One
of the most beautiful performances of the evening was
delivered by GMC veteran Stephanie Gran-Ruaz whose interpretation
of Nino Rota's Romeo and Juliet was the perfect example
of a young musician raising her game from that of a mere
recital to an actual performance. It was spell-binding.
Max
Fu's performance of Chopin's Nocturne in C- was one of
my top three favourites. He was so caught up in the piece,
he took the audience along with him and the audience was
more than happy to go.
Felix
Lu's recital of Schubert's Impromptu in Eb+ was one of
the most technically precise performances of the evening,
but my favourite by far was Irene Grose's performance
of Bumble Boogie, which is an adaptation of Flight of
the Bumble Bee.
In
a word it was ridiculous. I've been going to the GMC concert
series for nearly seven years now and Grose's engrossing
performance of the etremely intense and uptempo Boogie
is one of the top two or three performances I've had the
honour and extreme pleasure of witnessing.
Other
highlights from Satruday's concert included Alexander
Hou's performance of Frank Lynes' Sonatina in C+ Op 39
No. 1; Sophia Li's recital of Clementi's Sonata Op 36
No. 3 Mvt 1; and Alica Yang's performance of Chopin's
Waltz in A-.
The
evening was brought to a close by Melanie Turabian whose
performance of Grovlez's Petites litanies de Jesus supplied
the perfect ending to an unforgettable night.
Each
year the talent level among the east end's young musicians
get higher and higher and the talent pool keeps getting
deeper and deeper. And while musical talent is by and
large God-given, it takes a dedicated music teacher to
help the student realize their potential. Luckily the
east end is blessed with group of musical teachers that
are second to none.
The
Glouceter Music Teachers Association boasts 34 members
led by GMTA president Jennifer Messer. Fellow teacher
Lori Lynn Penny directed this year's GMC series with help
from Anne Cure, Priscilla Gruver and Beverley Heard.
(This
story was made possible thanks to the generous support of
our local business partners.)
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