Mattina Musica featuring Benjamin Butterfield

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Monday, February 3rd, 2014
10:30 AM

Mattina Musica returns to the Comox Valley for an exciting fourth season.

Italian for �Morning Music,� Mattina Musica is a 5 concert series of classical music, each taking place on a Monday morning. Patrons are warmly invited to meet in the Sid lobby at 9:45 am for tea, coffee, and conversation before the 10:30 am concert.

The series is hosted by pianist Sarah Hagen, who is thrilled to have cellist Ariel Barnes, violinist Joan Blackman, tenor Benjamin Butterfield, and horn player Oto Carrillo bring their world-class artistry to the Comox Valley. The musicians, all known for their perceptive, eloquent and entertaining commentary, will take time to offer personal insights into the music.

Can you think of a better way to spend a Monday morning?


"It was simply ravishing. Butterfield�s absolutely gorgeous voice and total musicality suddenly had the capacity audience awed into silence." - Hugh Fraser, Hamilton Spectator

Heralded internationally for both his live performances and recordings, Benjamin Butterfield�s recital at the Sid Williams Theatre will be a treat not-to-be-missed. He and Sarah will highlight their programme with Schumann�s exquisite and profoundly moving song-cycle �Dichterliebe� or, �The Poet�s Love.�


ABOUT BENJAMIN

Regarded by the Washington Post as a tenor who sings ��with taste, authority and agility�� and having �� a creamily sweet timbre�� (Opera News) Benjamin Butterfield is equally at home in the opera and concert repertoire having performed with companies from New York to San Francisco, Toronto to Vancouver; London, Paris and Rome to Israel and Taiwan.

Mr. Butterfield�s engagements for the 2012 � 13 season include B minor Mass with Vancouver Voices, Beethoven Nine and the debut of Jeffrey Ryan�s Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation with the Calgary Philharmonic, Britten�s St. Nicholas with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Die Schopfung with the Orchestra of St. Lukes at Carnegie Hall, the Mozart Requiem with Alberta Ballet as well as the Victoria Symphony and Mozart and Rossini arias with the American Classical Orchestra at Lincoln Center.

The summer of 2012 saw Mr. Butterfield debut at Chicago�s Grant Park Festival with Carlos Kalmar in Haydn�s The Season�s where he ��brought a vibrant, plangent timbre to his solos� (Chicago Classical Review) and ��blended beautifully in [the] Autumn duet� with soprano Layla Claire (Chicago Tribune). He was also invited to join the faculty of Yellow Barn chamber music festival in Vermont to perform amongst other works Britten�s Canticle III with Stephen Stirling and make a live CD recording of the Mahler/ Schoenberg Das Lied von der Erde. Earlier in the 2011 � 12 season he also debuted with � [a] rich tenor� (Seattle Times) at the Seattle Symphony under Gerrard Schwartz and with the Eugene Symphony under Danail Rachev in Mozart�s Requiem. Other debuts included Christopher Butterfield�s Contes pour enfants pas sage with Continuum in Toronto ��wonderfully tuneful and especially authoritative�� (Barczablog.com) and with the Grand Philharmonic Choir of Kitchener-Waterloo in the St. Matthew Passion (Evangelist). Mr. Butterfield returned to the Bach Choir of Bethlehem where �[he] was the featured soloist in Johann Fux�s Plaudite, sonat Tuba, the golden sheen of his voice pairing perfectly with Lawrence Wright�s resounding trumpet fanfares� (The Morning Call) and launched his fourth CD with that company for the Analekta label (St. John Passion - Arias). He also returned to sing with the Taiwan National Choir in Puccini�s Messa di Gloria under Agnes Grossman, toured Canada and the US with Montreal�s Theater of Early Music in works of Purcell and Handel, where � [it] was hard not to be immediately struck by the ease and passion of his delivery and the dazzling tone purity� (Winnipeg Free Press), as well as presenting Gavin Bryar�s Eight Madrigals with the composer for Aventa and the Victoria Symphony.

Recent opera performances have included singing the role of Fr�re Mass�e in Messiaen�s St. Fran�ois d�Assise with Kent Nagano and the Montreal Symphony as well as Tamino in the Magic Flute with the Toronto Symphony under Bernard Labadie. He also debuted the roles of Grimoaldo in Handel�s Rodelinda and Jupiter in Semele for Timothy Vernon and Pacific Opera Victoria, played Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Calgary Opera and participated in the Vancouver Opera Companies 50th Anniversary Gala under Jonathan Darlington singing works by Mozart, J Strauss and Bizet.

On the concert stage Mr. Butterfield performed recently with the LA Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in Carmina Burana with Bramwell Tovey and sang in Beethoven�s Ninth Symphony with the Vancouver Symphony under Andrew Grams where he was ��the star amongst the soloists�� (Globe and Mail). In Europe he sang the arias in Bach�s St. John Passion for Jan Willem de Vriend with the Residentie Orkest of the Netherlands and the St. John Passion Evangelist for Choeur Ardito in Switzerland under Nicolas Reymond. Other engagements included Chicago�s Music of the Baroque with Jane Glover and the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony under James Conlon. Mr. Butterfield returned for Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony, the Calgary Philharmonic with Jean-Marie Zeitouni as well as Beethoven�s Ninth with the Colorado Symphony under Jeffrey Kahane. He also presented the neglected American art song of Randy Newman for Toronto Masque Theater.

In a diverse career with over 30 recordings to his credit, particular highlights have included performances at the San Carlo in Naples and at Epidaurus, Greece in Stravinsky�s Persephone with actress Isabella Rossellini, performances at the BBC Proms and at Carnegie Hall, debuting at New York City Opera as Tamino in The Magic Flute as well as touring with that company to Spain. Other tours included performances throughout Europe with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre and Trevor Pinnock with the English Concert. He also toured throughout the UK in the Barber of Seville with Welsh National Opera under Carlo Rizzi, sang the role of Wilhelm Meister in Mignon and Almaviva in the Barber of Seville at Le Capitole in Toulouse and performed Britten�s War Requiem with the State Orchestra of Thessalonika and the London Symphony Chorus. Other highlights have included performances at Houston Grand Opera and at the Palace of Versailles with Canada�s Opera Atelier, several summers at the Carmel Bach Festival in California with Bruno Weil, Messiah with the Detroit Symphony under Paul McCreesh and with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston with Grant Llewellan, as well as invitations from Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony in Washington to perform the music of Mozart and Ravel.

Other performances of note include L'enfance du Christ with L�Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under Frederic Chaslin, Handel�s Jephtha in Paris and Berlin with the RIAS Kammerchor and Haydn�s The Seasons with Yannick Nezet Seguin and L� Orchestre Metropolitain in Montreal. He also sang with the Toronto Symphony under Sir Andrew Davis in Berlioz's Romeo and Juliet and Gurrelieder with Jukka Pekka Saraste. With Pinkas Zuckerman and the National Arts Center in Ottawa he sang in the Black and White Opera Gala and with the New York Collegium under Andrew Parrott he presented one-to�a-part readings of Handel�s Dixit and Nisi Dominus. Under Nicholas McGegan he has performed in the St. Matthew and St. John Passions with the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, performed in Schmidt�s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln at the Toronto International Choral Festival, performed in Penderecki�s Polish Requiem with the Vancouver Bach Choir and portrayed the Mad Woman in Britten�s Curlew River at Festival Vancouver under Bruce Pullan and director Kico Gonzales Risso. Of particular note was participating in the St. Matthew Passion in Tokyo and Matsumoto with the Saito Kinen Festival Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa.

Engagements in opera have encompassed roles in Eugene Onegin, Die Fledermaus, The Rake's Progress, Cunning Little Vixen, Don Giovanni, Die entf�hrung aus dem Serail, Die Zauberflote and Tamerlano with the Canadian Opera Company, L' Opera Nationale de Montpellier, Arizona Opera, L' Opera de Montreal, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Glimmerglass Opera Festival and Canterbury Opera in New Zealand.

In recital he has performed at Chamber Music San Juans for a special 9/11 memorial concert with pianist Grisha Krivchenia, presented recitals in Ottawa at the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and the Music and Beyond Festival with his wife, Dutch Soprano Anne Grimm, has collaborated with Graham Johnson under the auspices of the Vancouver International Song Institute (VISI) and has performed with Michael McMahon for CBC Radio Montreal and Kinza Tyrrell for Art Spring, Lulu Concerts and Mount Royal College in Calgary. He has also been a regular contributor with the Aldeburgh Connection in Toronto, most recently participating in their 30th Anniversary Concert in 2012.

Film and TV credits include Dido and Aeneas with the Mark Morris Dance Company and Tafelmusik, Burnt Toast with the Esprit Orchestra, L'enfant et les sortileges with the Montreal Symphony and Charles Dutoit, Handel�s Messiah for ZDF in Halle with the English Concert under Trevor Pinnock and Bach's B minor Mass with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem for PBS. He is also heard regularly on CBC Radio.

A prolific recording artist, Mr. Butterfield�s recordings of the Britten Serenade (CBC/ Streatfeild), Canticles (Marquis/ Aldeburgh Connection), Everlasting Light (CBC/ Adams) and Messiah Choruses (CBC/ Taurins) have been nominated by the Canadian Juno Awards while his recording of Psalm 80 by Roussel (Timpani/ Tovey) won a Diapason and Classica award in France. He has also recorded Brahms and Schumann Liebeslieder (CBC/ Aldeburgh Connection), the music of Bach, Beethoven, Sch�tz and Haydn (Koch International/ American Bach Soloists, Jeffrey Thomas), Opera Encores (CBC/ Bradshaw), Weinachts-Oratorium (Dorion/ Funfgeld) and the Bach Magnificat, Songs of Hope and St. John Passion (Analekta/ Funfgeld). Benjamin also maintains an ongoing association with the Ukrainian Art Song Project recording each summer the works of the Ukraine�s foremost composers of art song. Three collections of six composers are available to date (Musicaleopolis.com)

Prof. Butterfield teaches voice for the School of Music at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and he also teaches and performs at summer vocal training programs, including Opera Nuova (Edmonton), Opera on the Avalon (St. John�s), the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy) and VISI (Vancouver).


ABOUT SARAH

Canadian pianist Sarah Hagen has been heard in concert halls and on the airwaves to critical acclaim throughout North America and Europe. Her interpretations have been described as "outstandingly inventive," performed with "infinite skill." A visionary and an idealist, Sarah's performances are conceptually innovative, involving photography, dance and theatre. She is the Artistic Director for Pro'ject Sound, a performance project involving live piano with large-scale projected images. She curates, hosts, and performs on numerous concert series in BC, sharing the stage with artists from around the world. An avid collaborator, Sarah has performed with cellist Ariel Barnes, violinist Nancy DiNovo, tenor Ken Lavigne, Trio Accord, Ballet Victoria, the Emily Carr String Quartet, among many others, and has appeared as soloist with the Victoria Symphony under the baton of Mei-Ann Chen and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony conducted by Mark Skazinetsky.

As First Prize Winner in the 2013 Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition, Sarah was awarded the opportunity to perform solo at New York City�s Carnegie Hall in May 2013. Highlights of Miss Hagen�s 2012/2013 season include two performances at Carnegie Hall, first with Polish flautist Krzysztof Kaczka and later as a soloist, recitals with LA Philharmonic Concertmaster Martin Chalifour, and a concert tour in Manitoba and Saskatchewan with cellist Rebecca Wenham. Sarah and Martin recently recorded their entire recital programme for the CBC online music site, with their session overseen by Grammy award winning producer Denise Ball. Miss Hagen has been heard on Swedish Radio 2, CBC Radio 1 and 2, WDAV (North Carolina) WOSU (Ohio), KFUO (Missouri), CKUA (Edmonton), WKAR (Michigan), WITF (Pennsylvania), 98.1 KING FM (Seattle) and has appeared on Bravo Television. Her solo album, Glass House Dancing, was nominated for Classical Recording of the Year at the 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards. Sarah�s primary teachers and mentors have been Jamie Parker, Glen Montgomery, Gregory Chaverdian and Christine Purvis. Since her move in 2011 to an artist loft in one of Vancouver�s most vibrant neighbourhoods, she has become deeply involved with intricate projects inspired by urban vitality.

Sarah's motivation is the belief that music has the power to be a window into our souls regardless of age or knowledge.

For more about Sarah, please visit her website

�Exquisite phrasing and a refreshingly imaginative approach make her one to watch.� - Marcia Adair, TheOmniscientMussel.com

�Her Bach and Haydn were outstandingly inventive � this is a young woman ready to take interpretive risks.� - University of Waterloo Gazette

"Hagen performed this complex arrangement [Chopin's Opus 28 Preludes] with in?nite skill. Her concentration and focus was extraordinary; her movements strong, yet graceful." - Comox Valley Record

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Buy all 5 performances in the Mattina Musica series and save!
Members $90 | Regular $115

https://tickets.sidwilliamstheatre.com/