FOREIGN INVASION: REMASTERING LONDON'S STYLE

with Marc Destrubé, violin and guest leader

On this Valentine weekend, join the PBO and guest leader Marc Destrubé as they take you back to the heart of 18th Century London. With the arrival of Handel in London in 1712, English concert life was largely taken over by foreign musicians, many of whom were inspired by the active London scene to write some of their best music. Along with two of Handel's masterful Concerti Grossi, the program will include music by Purcell, Hellendaal, and one of the wonderful arrangements of Scarlatti’s keyboard sonatas by Charles Avison.

Saturday, February 14, 2009, 8.00 p.m.
St. Augustine's Church, Vancouver (map)

Sunday, February 15, 2009, 2.30 p.m.
West Vancouver United Church (map)

Other dates this program is performed:
PBO with the Pacific Baroque Festival in Victoria, BC: Feb 6, 7, 8, 2009 (see the Pacific Baroque Festival Web site for more information)

PBO BC Tour, part 1:  February 20, 21, 22, 2009

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PROGRAMME

George Frederic Handel: Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6, No. 5

Pieter Hellendaal: Grand Concerto No. 1 in g minor, from Six Grand Concertos

Charles Avison: Concerto Grosso No 12 in D major, after Scarlatti

Intermission

Henry Purcell: 3 Fantasias

Handel: Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 1 in G Major

ARTIST BIO

Canadian violinist Marc Destrubé is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, concertmaster or director/conductor of orchestras and divides his time between performances of the standard repertoire, particularly music of the 20th century, on modern instruments, and performing baroque and classical music on period instruments.

He has appeared as soloist and guest director with symphony orchestras in Victoria, Windsor and Halifax as well as with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra and Lyra Baroque Orchestra, and he led the Belgian ensemble Anima Eterna in acclaimed recordings of the complete Mozart Piano Concertos with Jos van Immerseel. A founding member of the Tafelmusik Orchestra, he has appeared with many of the leading period-instrument orchestras in North America and Europe including as guest concertmaster of the Academy of Ancient Music and of the Hanover Band.

He is first violinist with the Axelrod String Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., where the quartet plays on the museum’s exceptional collection of Stradivari and Amati instruments. He has also performed and recorded with L’Archibudelli (Vera Beths, Jurgen Küssmaul, Anner Bijlsma) and is a member of the Turning Point Ensemble in Vancouver, specializing in 20th century music and new music. He also appears regularly in chamber music performances on the Early Music Vancouver series and summer festival as well as at Festival Vancouver.

As a concertmaster he has played under Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Helmuth Rilling, Christopher Hogwood, Philippe Herreweghe, Gustav Leonhardt and Frans Brüggen. He is co-concertmaster of Brüggen’s Orchestra of the 18th Century with whom he has toured the major concert halls and festivals of Europe, North America, Japan and Australia, and most recently directing the orchestra in two performances at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts. He was concertmaster of the CBC Radio Orchestra from 1996 to 2002, and concertmaster of the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra.

He was director of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra from its founding in 1991 until 2007, and was responsible for commissioning works for the orchestra from a number of Vancouver-based composers, as well as instigating other innovative projects such as a program of French baroque and First Nations dance and music. He has also directed several Modern Baroque Opera productions, including the premiere of Peter Hannan’s 120 Songs for the Marquis de Sade.

A highly-respected teacher, he has given annual classes at international academies in Mateus (Portugal), Oberlin and Vancouver. He has also been an invited teacher at the Paris, Moscow and Utrecht Conservatoires, at the MacPhail School (Minneapolis) and at the University of Victoria, and has presented children’s concerts at the Cité de la Musique (Paris).

His recording of Haydn Violin Concertos on the ATMA label has been praised by the Strad Magazine (London) for the “stylish solo playing..., individual yet unselfconcious” and by Whole Note Magazine (Toronto) for its “bold and daring solo playing”. He has also recorded for Sony, EMI, Teldec, Channel Classics, Hänssler, Globe and CBC Records as well as being broadcast regularly on the CBC.