November 1 – Message from Artistic Director John Miller

The holidays are coming
and gifts are part of that.
Let Huron Waves assist you, 
Four weeks of auctions start.

OK, so I’m not a great poet, but we do have great products and experiences over four weeks (November 16 – December 12) when Huron Waves offers interesting and unique holiday items, often otherwise unavailable, as our year-end fund-raising initiative. We’re calling the entire program Celebrate The Season with Huron Waves, and after the auctions we’ll have a video program of holiday music…details of which I’ll include in my December newsletter.

Thanks to many generous donors, all of whom we’ll acknowledge online with their gifts. You can choose from among personal visits by Santa & Mrs. Claus together. Or your own spring golf tournament for 8, including dinners and the bus trips to/from White Squirrel Golf Club. Collections of holiday music CDs.   Samsonite luggage. Paintings and framed photographs. Cooking classes and fine dining in association with Huron County restaurants. A block of salt mined under the Lake.  A paint workshop for eight budding Emily Carrs. Baskets with delicious produce and gift certificates for specialty foods.  A walk in the country with a friendly llama. Inuit carvings from Canada’s North. Holiday wreaths and flower arrangements.  Jewellery and accessories. A concert in your home. Personalised ice cubes for holiday drinks.   Souvenir slippers from the National Ballet for the next Karen Kain. A Zoom visit with an important stage performer, Pickle the Piggle, the omnivore star of Wing Night at the Boot at the Blyth Festival, 2018.  25-bottle custom made pine crafted wine box.  A snug Canada Goose parka.

In total, there’ll be more than 100 donated items with a different collection up for bids each Monday, then sold by the following Saturday, over four weeks,  November 16. 23, 30, December 7.

Bookmark our auction website today, even though it won’t go live until November 16, when you’ll be ready to bid. Watch for your weekly reminder so that you can plan your bidding fun.

Congratulations to the 13^th Laureate of The Glenn Gould Prize, Alanis Obomsawin, an Abenaki First Nations musician and filmmaker who has told the stories of First Nations people in more than 50 documentaries she has made through the National Film Board of Canada.   As someone closely related to the first decade of this Prize, I was always concerned that only famous (and deserving) men were its winners, so it’s good to see that the circle has widened and women are finally being recognised as laureates of what I consider Canada’s greatest prize to the world, regardless of discipline.  Here’s a link to an article about Mme Obomsawin and the Gould Prize, written by the preeminent Canadian music critic, Wm Littler.

Another famous Canadian has been in my sights recently as I’ve been reading Alex Trebek’s new autobiography, The Answer Is….   Obviously, the title comes from Alex’ hosting Jeopardy! for 36 seasons, but what particularly pleased me was his revealing that his secret wish in life was about music;  he always longed to lead a symphony orchestra.  He tells the story of how, with hands trembling, he fulfilled that wish, much to the benefit of the musicians and one particular orchestra in Pennsylvania.  The book is a relaxing, pleasant read on a chilly Autumn evening.

What a fortunate fellow is Christopher Koncz! Generally, he plays as a Second-Violinist in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. But when he decided to perform and record Mozart’s music, he received permission to do so on the actual – and carefully preserved – Baroque violin which Amadeus himself played 250 years ago.

Carol Off, the host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens, recently spoke with Herr Koncz about how he accomplished this rare privilege.  Here are links to the radio program and then to the joy of Mozart’s 3rd Violin Concerto, written and first performed by Mozart in Salzburg, 1775 (when he was 19 years old), but played in 2020 by Christopher Koncz on the master’s own instrument. Koncz’ CD with all five concerti is a Sony Classical release, #B08GKTR6BY.  Listen to the broadcast and to a concert performance on the violin  here.

Finally, I offer you a short but beautiful performance of the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations. Angela Hewitt, whom many of us in south-western Ontario came to appreciate even more when she appeared in recent years in Stratford, recorded this video in her home in Great Britain as part of a Wigmore Hall virtual series in April this year when the lockdown was at its height.

For me, Angela’s performance is more poignant than ever when I think back on our unpleasant Spring and I watch the virus soar again in Europe and North America.
Take a moment to hear this great Canadian pianist here.

Huron Waves will brighten December with our own video program of seasonal music to be aired next month exclusively in Huron County and online.  But for now, let’s all get ready to Celebrate The Season beginning with the Auctions in just two weeks

Till we’re together again, stay safe and healthy.  And remember that Music Connects Us.