It began with a search for some hard to find arrangements of English and Irish folk songs, and resulted in one of Britain's best known accompanists performing in the Battlefords.
During the annual Summer School of the Solo Voice, when the Battlefords becomes host to singers and musicians from across Canada, students and staff of the school treat the community to recitals as part of the school program.
This year's recitals included performances by British pianist Geoffrey Pratley, plus performances of his arrangements for piano, including one featuring two pianos and four pianists.
A performance by Pratley and SSSV founder Lisa Hornung, mezzo soprano, was a highlight of the recital series. The two artists performed together in a world-class concert free to the public at Third Avenue United Church July 12.
"That was the high of all highs in my career," says Hornung, one of the University of Saskatchewan's College of Arts and Science 100 Alumni of Influence and a teacher, adjudicator, clinician and choral coach who has toured the United States and Europe as a soloist.
Hornung was excited to have Pratley join the staff of SSSV this year, and even after a hectic week of running a school for nearly 100 participants, it "was the easiest and most exciting singing I have ever done."
Pratley has enjoyed a long and illustrious career as one of Britain's best known accompanists and ensemble pianists. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music he went on to accompany many world famous singers and instrumentalists in concert worldwide, especially the most famous mezzo soprano of her time, Dame Janet Baker. He also teaches master classes, is an examiner and adjudicator and an arranger.
"He is such a beautiful musician," says Hornung. "He plays in a way that calls the music out of you. There is no choice but to respond with open, free, easy sound."
Pratley and Hornung performed music by George Frederic Handel and Franz Schubert in German and seven songs by Manuel de Falla in Spanish. They also performed six English, Irish and Scottish folk songs, all arranged by Pratley.
It was these folk songs that originally brought Pratley and Hornung together in an email friendship that's now an in-person friendship.
Hornung first became aware of Pratley's folk song arrangements about 10 years ago while working with a colleague's student. The student was working on a song called Searching for Lambs from a book of English folk songs Hornung's colleague had found in a box of music from a former teacher.
"I thought they were brilliant," says Hornung.
So began a search for more copies of the book, only to discover it was out of print.
"I wrote to the publisher several times questioning them about their decision not to continue printing such great arrangements, letting them know I and many of my friends and colleagues would be thrilled to buy this book."
Pratley says her quest to find copies of the book eventually led her to him.
"In the end she tried any institution that had my name on it," says Pratley, "and she got Trinity College of Music [in London], because I taught there for some time."
She sent a message to Trinity College, they handed him the email, and it went from there.
"I wrote back," he says with a laugh, confirming, "yes, I am still alive."
Unfortunately, he couldn't provide much help at the time.
"I was able to send two that I had left over."
It was all he could do. Because the music was out of print, even he, as the arranger, didn't have access to any more than that.
Through their correspondence, Pratley also told Hornung that he had also arranged some Irish folk songs.
Hornung says, "I wrote to the publisher again saying how fantastic the music was and how much interest there would be in the books if they would start publishing them again."
It was about a year ago, says Pratley, that his publisher let him know they were planning to reprint the music in question.
"I thought, whoopee! and sent off a whole load here," he says, "and I brought about another 10 copies with me."
Pratley believes the prompting that came from Hornung could have been what inspired the publisher's decision to reprint. The 10 copies he brought with him were snapped up almost immediately by SSSV participants, and another batch is on the way from England by post.
During their email exchange, Hornung and Pratley became friends and talked about her visiting him in England one day to go over all his arrangements. Then, he said, after telling him about SSSV, she invited him to North Battleford instead so he could bring his music here and "meet everybody else."
Pratley has toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe, as well as Asia, but this was his first visit to Canada. He was impressed with SSSV, and with the venue of Third Avenue United Church, where the school takes place each year.
"It's amazing," he says. "You must surely think you're in a big city like Calgary or Winnipeg. In a small place, to have all this lot? It's marvellous, isn't it?"
Pratley also performed at the SSSV staff recital earlier that week. That recital also included a performance of one of Pratley's arrangements of the central song of the ballet Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian, a well-known work prominent within the repertoires of the Bolshoi Theatre and other ballet companies in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
It was an arrangement for four people on two pianos, performed by Dr. Laura Loewen, Naomi Suchan, Bernadette Fanner and Chris Kelly, all on the faculty of SSSV.
"It was amazing," he said, praising the skill of the musicians. "We only had about two go throughs they are professional musicians they know what they are doing."
Pratley says he has been allowed to do four arrangements of that particular piece, which he calls "one of the great tunes of the twentieth century." In addition to the one played that evening, he has done arrangements for one person on one piano, for two pianos with one person at each and for two pianists on one keyboard.
Following the conclusion of SSSV, Pratley returned to England, but the friendship remains intact and Hornung is looking forward to seeing the result of some projects he currently has on the go, including the possible publishing of some Scottish folk songs.
"Singing with Geoffrey was one of the easiest and most fulfilling things I have ever done, sending him home was not," says Hornung. "It was a teary good-bye at the airport."
Lisa Hornung, with the help of a circle of devoted colleagues and supporters, has been running a summer music school in North Battleford for 16 years. The Summer School for the Solo Voice is a week-long intensive study for soloists, choristers, teachers and accompanists. Throughout the school year, she is a teacher, adjudicator, clinician, choral coach and the director of the non-audition Community Youth Choir, which has grown to more than 60 voices. Except for a few weeks in summer, her life is hectic with work and family. She and her husband, high school teacher John Chipak, will see their twins, Larissa and James, enter Grade 12 this fall.
In another version of history, however, Hornung's impact on the community might not be the same as it is today. But for a choice she made, she may have been hectically busy elsewhere.
"Not once have I regretted my decision to turn down offers and leave a big career to be in North Battleford with my family," says Hornung.
She is fulfilled in her choice, but that doesn't mean there aren't times when she misses what her international career offered. It is out of that longing, she says, her dedication to teaching, the Community Youth Choir and SSSV were born.
"Seeing people discover and nurture the musician in them, whether it be the adult that never had the courage to sing, the child who now holds their head high, or former students who have very successful singing careers, validates my choices for me and makes me content with being where I am."
Still, she can't help but feel the chance to collaborate with eminent British pianist Geoffrey Pratley during this year's SSSV was a rare treat.
"Spending a week and a half working with one of the finest set of paws in the world, hearing his stories, listening to him play, creating music together, ah! that feeds a deep part of me that was hungrier than I realized," says Hornung.
She's now enjoying her summer break, feeling "alive ... more whole ... and very, very grateful."
