They’ve had rave reviews in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and now, as predicted by Dekker Centre manager Moe McGuinty, they’ve won rave reviews in the Regional Optimist.
Quartetto Gelato, a quirky but over-the-top-talented ensemble, was on stage at North Battleford’s performing arts centre Saturday evening. The ensemble of what can only be described as some of Canada’s most important musicians, had the audience won over by the end of the first piece of Bavarian exhuberance.
As McGuinty says, what they do is hard to describe, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t highly entertaining.
A quartet featuring violin, oboe, accordion and cello. Not your usual choice of instruments for a classical music ensemble, but it brings to mind the sound tracks from old black and white movies filmed on the banks of the Seine or the bridges of Venice. Add to that a world-wide repertoire, the founder’s amazing operatic skill, a touch of comedy and even some acrobatics, and you have Quartetto Gelato.
The group was founded by violinist and singer Peter de Sotto and his late wife a quarter century ago, and he’s never missed a show since. His musical background is extensive, he’s won every audition he’s ever taken and has won numerous awards, say fellow bandmates. He has appeared in leading roles in numerous opera and theatre productions and was a member of The Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 11 years, and was voted Musician Of The Year in 1999 by the Toronto Musicians Association.
The acrobat of the group is also the oboe player, although he can play 14 other instruments as well. Colin Meier, originally from Calgary, says he is honoured to have been following in Cynthia de Sotto’s footsteps since 2009.
In addition to being a musician, Meier has also worked for over 20 years as a dancer, actor, stuntman, singer, choreographer, acrobat and martial-artist, and he and de Sotto added some acrobatic flavour to the penultimate piece of the night. (de Sotto didn’t really do much more than let Meier jump over him.)
Bringing some bling to the stage was accordion player Alexander Sevastian who joined Quartetto Gelato in 2002. He was proudly introduced by Meier as a Canadian citizen since 2005. The shiny shoes of the Belarus-born, four-time world-champion accordion player matched his sparkling 227-button banyan. Nothing, however, could match what he was able to coax from the instrument that requires his chin as well as his hands to be played, all while being unable to see any of the buttons.
Whether providing of the drone of a bagpipe or the fire of a gypsy dance song, Sevastian made it look easy – which everyone knew it wasn’t.
The cellist of the group was Greg Gallagher, who was recruited to fill in for Liza McLellan, who is currently on maternity leave. The evening prior, Gallagher found himself playing with Quartetto Gelato in Lloydminster, where 17 years earlier he had won the Kiwanis national music composition. He is a busy educator and award-winning freelance winning cellist.
True to a mandate of bringing exceptional Canadian talent to North Battleford, the Dekker Centre excelled with its presentation of Quartetto Gelato. If you weren’t there, you should have been.
