Violist Rivka Golani will be returning to Canada to perform in the York Region Classical Music Festival. The Festival is presented by Visual and Performing Arts Newmarket (VPAN).
Golani has curated, and will be performing for two of the concerts in the Festival on September 6 and 7. A third concert on September 14 rounds out the Festival program.
Rivka Golani, viola
Viola player Rivka Golani was born in Israel. Her father came from Warsaw, and arrived in Israel after having lost his family in the Holocaust. Rivka began violin lessons at the age of seven, and proved to be a mathematics prodigy. She’d make the switch to viola, which became her preferred instrument, at the age of 21.
Golani went on to build an international career as a soloist, performing with the Boston Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw, BBC Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan, Montreal Symphony and the Toronto Symphony. Golani married Hungarian luthier Otto Erdesz, and the couple made the move to Canada in 1974.
Her son was born in Canada, and Rivka became a Canadian citizen in 1983. While Otto Erdesz continued to manufacture her instruments throughout her career, their marriage ended in divorce. Golani married German conductor Thomas Sanderling, and lived in London, UK for a few years, returning to Canada briefly before returning to the UK. She is now based in London.
Along with her performing career, Golani has recorded a number of releases, including Chaconne by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Michael Colgrass with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Elgar Cello Concerto arranged for viola with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in the UK.
Golani has been an advocate for new music throughout her career, and more than 350 works have been composed for her, including more than 80 concertos.
For seven years, Golani was the artistic director of the Fort MacLeod Music Festival, and through it, developed a collaborative relationship with the Canadian First Nation Blackfoot, which has resulted in several performances and other events. She was Ambassador of Canadian Music for the Canadian Music Centre in 2009.
She is currently a professor at the Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in Greenwich, UK.
Golani is also a painter whose works have been exhibited in North America, the UK, and Israel.
Rivka Golani, The Interview
Despite living in the UK since the 1990s, Golani has kept in touch with the Toronto and area classical music scene.
“I have […] connections with musicians and composers, and there is ongoing work all the time,” she says. She was invited to curate her upcoming concerts. “It was my idea for the festival.”
She points out that she’s also bringing more than her suitcases for the occasion. “It is very unusual, because I bring the violinist from here,” Rivka says. “He’s Japanese, he came to study in the UK.”
That’s Tadasuke Iijima. Iijima was born in Japan, where he first studied the violin with a variety of teachers. He moved to the UK to continue his studies, and is a former student of Golani’s at the Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance. He’s a multiple prize-winner including First Prize in the Soloist Competition with the Hamamatu Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and First Prize at the Uralsk International Violin Competition. He’s performed as a soloist with the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo New City Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, the Kanagawa Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, and West Kazakhstan Orchestra.
Tadasuke will be performing with her in both concerts. Local cellist Roman Borys makes it a trio on September 6, and Angela Park performs with them on September 7.
Golani enjoys following the careers of her students. “For me, it’s very important to think about the future,” she says. She relates attending a music festival in Spain a few days prior. “Eight of my students were involved,” she says.
It’s gratifying to see them in busy performing careers. “It is absolutely. It makes me very happy. It makes me feel like I leave something behind.”
Her own education largely took place in Israel. As she points out, it was a place where many elite musicians had come from Eastern Europe, including her professor was Oedoen Partos, who was principal violist of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from 1938 to 1956. “In my book, he was one of the greatest musicians I have ever met. We were so lucky at the time.”
The Concerts
Cellist Roman Borys joins the viola and violin duo for the first concert on September 6.
“We start with Divertimento by Mozart.”
The program for the first concert opens with Divertimento in E♭ major, K. 563, written by the composer in 1788. It’s followed by Ernst von Dohnányi’s String Quartet No. 1 in A major, Op. 7, written in 1899, and the Schubert String Trio, D 581, written in 1817.
The next concert takes place the following day, on September 7.
“We have a wonderful pianist,” Golani says.
That’s Angela Park, The busy local pianist is a member of Ensemble Made in Canada, and an Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Piano at Western University. She’s a sought after chamber musician who performs regularly across the province, and recently garnered a JUNO nomination with the St. John-Mercer-Park trio for their recording of music by Kevin Lau.
“We start with Mozart,” she says. The Kegelstatt Trio in E-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 498, was originally scored for clarinet, viola and piano.
The program continues with Max Bruch’s Piano Trio, Op. 5.
“Which is very much Schumann-esque writing. Wonderful music,” Golani adds. “And then, of course, Schumann.”
She’s happy to be coming back in Canada in late August to begin rehearsals. “Back home in my other home in Canada,” she says. She’s also eager to begin rehearsals with the Canadian musicians. “I am so happy to play with them.”
Final Thoughts
Golani is under the impression that appreciation for Western classical music is growing.
“I think it is spreading.”
The York Region Classical Music Festival is part of that trend.
What keeps her going at this stage of her career?
“Not fame,” she laughs. “My fascination is how much we can learn. It’s an endless process,” she adds.
“For me, I’m also fascinated with of course playing, and I have a long history of commissioning. I’m very much involved in contemporary music as well.”
She’s also recorded music of the Romantic period, though, as she points out. There is something to be learned from all of it.
“It is fascinating,” she says.
Golani says she enjoys the way Western art music has become part of the general stream of contemporary music. “It is very much enriched with all the styles,” she says. “Now they mix. It’s very interesting.” She calls it part of a constant evolution.
“Lots of curiosity.”
York Region Classical Music Festival: The Concerts
There are three concerts.
- Golani-Borys-Iijima String Trio: Saturday, September 6 at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts
- Golani-Park-Iijima Piano Trio: Sunday, September 7 at the Sharon Temple National Historic Site (East Gwillimbury)
- Baritone Peter McGillivray in Recital with Pianist Steven Philcox: Sunday, September 14 at Newmarket Old Town Hall
Find more details and tickets for the York Region Classical Music Festival [HERE].
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