June Newsletter

Hello Festival Family!

Welcome to the June edition of our monthly newsletter! In this issue, you will find a message from the one and only James Campbell, a convenient (and printable!) guide to the Festival’s free events this summer, a preview of this year’s merchandise, and an interview with a new addition to the Festival’s line-up of musicians!

Home Again

We all know that wonderful feeling when we return home after a busy day or a long journey: we take off our shoes, settle into a comfortable chair, tune in to our favourite music. This year, that music will once again ring out from the Charles W. Stockey Centre.

I am so looking forward to this summer. I can’t wait to return to the Stockey Centre after two silent years, to see colleagues and friends, to stroll on the deck at sunset and enjoy the music we love in the welcoming space of the fabulous concert hall.

We are thrilled to feature the piano this summer, and I invite you to gather around to experience the artistry of world-renowned Canadian pianists Janina Fialkowska, Bruce Liu, Charles-Richard Hamelin, David Jalbert, and Stewart Goodyear. Beyond that, we are delighted to have choirs, jazz, the Canadian Brass, and plenty of chamber musicians joining us as well.

All the artists I have spoken with tell me how much they look forward to sharing their music with you, seeing your faces, enjoying your applause, and experiencing this magnificent community once again. This summer, we welcome all of you home again.

I can’t wait.

Jim

A Guide to Free Festival Events

• Summer Market: Tuesdays in July − 9 am to 2 pm | Market Square Park 
• Art in the Park: July 15-17 − 10 am to 4 pm | Market Square Park
• Bands on the Bay: July 19 & 26 − 7 pm | Stockey Centre Deck
• Chamber Kids Mini Concerts & Instrument Petting Zoo: July 19 & 26 − 1 pm to 3 pm | Parry Sound Public Library
• Janina Fialkowska Masterclass: July 20 − 10:30 am | Stockey Centre 
• Xenia Concerts Presents the Rolston String Quartet: July 22 − 11 am to 12 pm | One Kids Place at the Sound Community Hub

Festival volunteers and staff are pleased to be participating in two of Parry Sound’s important summer happenings this year. Throughout the month of July, you can look to see us at the Tuesday Summer Market in Market Square Park adjacent to the Library from 9am and 2pm. Then, on our own opening weekend July 15 – 17, we will be participating in the ever-popular Art in the Park. Please stop by and say, “Hey!” as you check out some fabulous handcrafted and locally-made eats and treasures. 

Our Festival programming is also reaching out to make music more accessible! Partnering with the Parry Sound Public Library, the Parry Sound Friendship Centre, and Long & McQuade North Bay, we will be presenting mini concerts and an instrument petting zoo at the library on July 19 & 26 from 1-3 pm. We are also partnering with Xenia Concerts to bring the Festival’s first-ever sensory-friendly concert to Parry Sound on July 22 from 11 am to 12 pm. And don’t miss out on a rare treat: witness a masterclass in piano with the incomparable Janina Fialkowska and winner of the International Chopin Competition’s Bruce Liu on July 20 at 10:30 am!

Merchandise Preview

You may have seen Sara Tyson’s gorgeous artwork for the 2022 Festival season floating around, with a feature on her creative process in our last issue. Well, you can now become a collector and order your own limited edition 2022 Festival Poster featuring Sara’s magnificent cover art!

An Interview with Quatuor Despax

For this month’s musician interview, our Education & Outreach Coordinator Chloe Weston had the opportunity to connect with one of our newest additions to the Festival, Quatuor Despax! Below is a condensed excerpt of the interview. If you would like to read their conversation in its entirety, please click here or on the image below. 

Your quartet is so unique and special – four siblings making music together! How did your quartet form? Were your parents a strong musical support at the beginning?

Our parents are both musicians! Our mother is a pianist and my father was a guitarist, composer, and conductor. They are also music school teachers so they were adamant to teach us music. Cendrine and Valérie are the oldest so they both started on violin at 3 years old until Valerie switched to cello. Jean and Maxime also started on violin, around 4 years old, but Maxime did not want to play music when he was young. When he turned around 6 or 7 years old, he got interested in music and that is when our father introduced him to the viola. And in 2003, we formed the Quatuor Despax!

One of your performances with us this summer will be an event at the Parry Sound Public Library where you will perform for children and their families and share about your own instruments. What music do you enjoy playing the most for young people?

Video game music is our go-to. Jean has a YouTube channel where he plays many covers of well known themes of video game soundtracks such as Mario Bros., Zelda, and more! We also enjoy playing music that kids will recognize. For example, most songs from Disney movies will be a hit. Our bestseller is “Let It Go” from Frozen. At the same time, we want to incorporate classical music. This allows us to give them a taste of what professional classical musicians play. Hopefully, they get inspired to go listen to more on their own time!

What are you most looking forward to about performing at the Festival of the Sound this summer, and what music are you excited to share with us?

To be honest, we are excited for everything! Whether it is the concert at the library, or with Graham and James, or the Chopin concerto with Bruce and Joel, we are grateful to be able to perform with all of these wonderful musicians. Also, since the pandemic happened, we have learned that every opportunity to play music is a blessing and we cannot wait to share our music and love for the profession.