Toronto’s Flute Street offers a unique perspective on the modern flute, including nine different varieties from the piccolo to the double contrabass flute. Their next concert is titled Beyond the Night Sky, and takes place on October 27.
Darkness is a musical theme, and the program includes a Canadian première of a work by Peter Senchuk, along with an arrangement of Mussorgsky’s Bald Mountain and more.
It wasn’t until the latter half of the 20th century that technology made manufacturing the longer (and longer) flutes possible. Even today, they are not often seen on a concert stage. There are only a handful of contrabass flutes in Canada, including the two in Flute Street’s roster. The contr’alto and double contrabass flutes are rare across the globe.
Flute Street
Flute Street explores the possibilities of the modern concert flute, performing (from highest to lowest), the piccolo, G treble flute, Eb soprano flute, the standard C flute, alto flute in G, bass flute in C, contr’alto flute in G, contrabass flute in C, and double contrabass flute in C. The latter’s range is a full octave lower than that of the contrabass flute, the next lowest in line. The ensemble has a combined range of seven octaves, making full orchestrations possible.
The ensemble may consist of anywhere from 10 to 14 performers at any time. Their conductor is Isaac Page. A Toronto-born composer and conductor, Isaac’s experience includes appearances as guest conductor with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Richmond Hill Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Open Ears Festival, among others.
Over the last decade since Flute Street was founded, the ensemble has commissioned several world premières, as well as drawing a list of prominent international and local guest artists.
The Program
The program revolves around the idea of darkness, but also offers the warmth of gold…
- Peter Senchuk: Beyond the Night Sky (Canadian première)
- Nicolas Avinée: Le Château Hanté
- Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda: Paths of Deeper Gold
- Rubén Flores: The Weeping Witch (La Bruja Lllorona)
- Mussorgsky: Night on Bare Mountain
Composer Peter Senchuk
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Peter began studying music with violin lessons at age five, switching to trombone at 11. His background includes training in jazz (at the National Jazz Camp of Canada) and classical music (Windsor’s High School for the Arts). By 16, he was touring Europe as the principal trombonist with the US Collegiate Wind Ensemble. He earned a Bachelor’s of Music Degree from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, followed by an Artist’s Diploma from USC’s Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television Program in Los Angeles.
His pieces for orchestral instruments have been performed by both students and professional ensembles, including a body of work for flute and flute choirs.
Low flute specialist Peter Sheridan and piccolo virtuoso Sarah Jackson have commissioned his works, and his award-winning compositions have been performed and recorded by the Los Angeles Flute Orchestra, NFA Collegiate Flute Choir, Metropolitan Flute Orchestra, Orchestra Santa Monica Woodwind Quintet, Palisades Symphony, Bones of Contention Trombone Ensemble, Emerald Sinfonietta and Birmingham-Bloomfield Symphony, among others.
About Beyond the Night Sky, the composer writes,
“The idea for Beyond the Night Sky came from conversations with my then four-year-old son about our solar system and beyond. Whenever he asked a question about the expanse beyond our solar system he would use the term “past the night sky” because he didn’t know how to describe it otherwise. I began to think of how he saw the universe and what ancient people possibly thought when they looked up at the night sky.”
- Find out more about the concert at the Church of St. Peter and St. Simon-the-Apostle, and get tickets, [HERE].
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