The idea of mini concerts staged in local homes is about to catch roots in Estevan.
The Music House Concerts, three of them, will be hosted by local music lovers this winter and spring, said Shirley Andrist who has signed on to be hostess for the first event on Feb. 8.
Subsequent concerts featuring classical musicians will be held March 8 and April 20.
Attendance at the concerts is by invitation only and they are usually restricted to 20 or 30 music lovers who pay a modest admission fee which goes directly to the musician(s). The number of invitations issued are, of course, dictated by the amount of room that can be offered in the home for the event.
"A live classical music concert in your own home? An impressario of your living room where you share the experience with family and friends. Does that excite you? Then we'd like to invite you to the house concert circuits," said Mel Braun, associate professor of voice and vocals at the Marcel Desautels faculty of music at the University of Manitoba who will provide the musicians for the three-event series in Estevan.
"We didn't want to conflict with any of the already booked Stars for Saskatchewan series performances," said Andrist, commenting on the dates set for the well-established and popular entertainment events that are regularly scheduled in the Energy City.
Andrist will be hosting the first concert in her home near the outskirts of Estevan on the evening of Feb. 8 when soprano Sarah Kirsch will make an appearance accompanied by Christopher Kayler.
The March 8 concert featuring harpsichordist Eric Lussier will be hosted by Arlene Lafrentz and the April 20 event will see Nathan and Evanne Wilhelm be the hosts for classical guitarist Ian Hodges.
All artists are part of the U of M musical programs and faculty.
"The concerts are about an hour and a half in total with a 10 minute break. The other obligation the host has is to provide overnight accommodation for the guest(s) performer. How the event is hosted is up to the homeowner, meaning if they care to serve any food or refreshments and how many people they believe they can include comfortably. It's an intimate event that gets you up close to the performers and provides you an opportunity to visit casually with them and it provides the performer an opportunity to play in front of an audience ... maybe they're trying out something new, or adding to their repertoire and they want to try it out before they go on the bigger stage. It's a pretty rewarding experience," said Andrist, who will be playing host for Kirsch and Kayler.
She noted that her living room space is filling rapidly as she extends the invitations that are eagerly being accepted.
Kirsch has dedicated herself to the rejuvenation of classical style in operatic singing. She is reported to be an emerging soprano force in the music community with her earlier performance with new music in recitals and in concert as a soloist.
She has appeared as a soloist with the Â鶹´«Ã½AVern Manitoba Choral Society, Canzona, MusikBarock and the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir. She was a winner of the 2009 Orville J. Derraugh Memorial scholarship and earned first place in the senior voice class in the Manitoba scholarship competition and the Eckhardt-Gramatte national new music competition this past year.
Kirsch earned a bachelor of music with high honours from the University of Colorado at the Boulder College of Music and was awarded a University of Manitoba graduate fellowship. She is currently working toward a master of music performance at the U of M.
Kayler, her accompanist, recently graduated with a master of music in collaborative piano performance from the U of M and was awarded the gold medal for highest standing in music. He is an experienced solo pianist, winning the award as the outstanding undergraduate performer and was a featured solist with the U of M wind ensemble and symphony orchestra. He is also frequently featured as a member of the Red Moon Road, a popular folk-roots group that plays throughout Winnipeg and Manitoba.
