{"id":110722,"date":"2024-12-31T14:09:33","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T19:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=110722"},"modified":"2025-01-02T07:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-02T12:00:03","slug":"scoop-former-music-director-james-sommerville-returns-guest-conduct-hamilton-philharmonic-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2024\/12\/31\/scoop-former-music-director-james-sommerville-returns-guest-conduct-hamilton-philharmonic-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP| Former Music Director James Sommerville Returns To Guest Conduct The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_110724\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-110724\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-110724\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99.jpg\" alt=\"L: Musician and conductor James Sommerville (Photo courtesy of the artist); R: The Hamilton Philharmonic (Photo courtesy of the HPO)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-110724\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">L: Musician and conductor James Sommerville (Photo courtesy of the artist); R: The Hamilton Philharmonic (Photo courtesy of the HPO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) will return to the stage in 2025 with a combination of beloved works, new music, and the return of former Music Director James Sommerville as guest conductor.<\/p>\n<p>The January 18 concert will showcase Sommerville\u2019s unique talents with a program that sees him both conducting and performing as a soloist.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am brimming with excitement at the chance to collaborate again with the incredible musicians of the HPO,\u201d says <strong>James Sommerville<\/strong> in a statement. \u201cA great concert hall, a supportive and engaged audience and a brilliant orchestra \u2014 it&#8217;s great to be back!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Music<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cThis program has a bit of everything,\u201d Sommerville continues, \u201cbut the music that I&#8217;m most excited about comes from our own country. The title of Pierre Mercure&#8217;s 1948 classic, Kaleidoscope tells you what&#8217;s in store: a brilliant, ever-shifting polychromatic fantasy of harmony and melody. And Alice Ping Yee Ho&#8217;s The Phantom Bird of Han is another marvel, a brief tone poem that tells an epic mythological tale in sparkling and evocative sound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The program for the concert is varied, and includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Pierre Mercure, Kaleidoscope<\/li>\n<li>Alice Ho, The Phantom Bird of Han<\/li>\n<li>Mozart, Horn Concerto No. 3<\/li>\n<li>Beethoven, Symphony No. 7<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Pierre Mercure<\/strong> (1927 \u2013 1976) composed <strong>Kaleidoscope<\/strong> in 1948. The native of Montr\u00e9al was still a student at the Conservatoire de musique du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al at the time. He\u2019d go on to graduate with honours, including winning first prize in Harmony, Counterpoint, and second prize at the bassoon in 1949. He\u2019s known for his ballet scores as well as orchestral and chamber works, and film scores. Pierre was a proponent of new and electronic music, and sadly his career ended with a fatal car accident in France at the age of 38.<\/p>\n<p>Composer <strong>Alice Ho<\/strong> talks about her tone poem <strong>The Phantom Bird of Han<\/strong>. \u201cI hope this composition will spark the audiences&#8217; imagination of a beautiful metamorphosis in an ancient magical world, voyaging through time, adventuring peace and chaos, sadness and triumphs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sommerville will perform as both conductor and soloist in Mozart\u2019s Third Horn Concerto. Wolfgang Amadeus <strong>Mozart&#8217;s Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major<\/strong>, K. 447, was completed some time between 1784 and 1787 during the composer\u2019s time in Vienna. He wrote it for a long-time family friend, hornist \u00a0Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb, who he mentions in the original score.<\/p>\n<p>Horns at the time did not include valves like the modern instruments do today, and the instrument\u2019s range was limited as a result. Leutgeb was a master at a technique that had been recently introduced, however, which gave him melodic flexibility. The technique involved using the right hand in the horn\u2019s bell to add notes to the horn\u2019s natural harmonics.<\/p>\n<p>Mozart varied his usual orchestration of oboes and horns to substitute clarinets and bassoons, creating a complementary soundscape for the horn soloist.<\/p>\n<p>Also on the program is<strong> Beethoven\u2019s Symphony No. 7<\/strong>. Beethoven\u2019s 7th Symphony was said to be one of his personal favourites, and it was an audience hit on its premiere in Vienna in December 1813 with the composer himself conducting. He described it to his audience as simply a patriotic work, although his feelings about the Napoleonic wars that were raging at the time would later become clear.<\/p>\n<p>The symphony was praised by many, including fellow composer Hector Berlioz. It\u2019s often lauded for its rhythmic intensity, combined with a simpler melodic character than many of his works.<\/p>\n<h2>Guest Conductor &amp; Soloist James Sommerville<\/h2>\n<p>James Sommerville occupies a unique niche in the classical music world as both a performing French horn player and conductor.<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto native began his music education at the piano at age seven, but was persuaded to switch to French horn by his high school music teacher. He\u2019d go on to study at the University of Toronto, and at the University of Western Ontario.<\/p>\n<p>In 1985, he won the CBC Radio Competition for Young Performers, and followed up in 1991 with the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award. His performing career has included positions with Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. He served as associate principal horn player with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1986 till 1991, and as third horn with the Toronto Symphony in 1997. From 1996 to 1998, he was acting principal horn in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s perhaps best known internationally for his role as principal horn chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), a role he won after a gruelling audition in 1998, and held until he retired in December 2022.<\/p>\n<p>As a recording artist, his work appears on many award-winning CBC recordings, including the JUNO winning disc Mozart Horn Concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under Mario Bernardi, which won in the Classical Album Large Ensemble category in 1998. He added a second JUNO nomination for Classical Album Vocal\/Choral Performance in 1999 for his work on A Britten Serenade with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.<\/p>\n<h3>Conductor<\/h3>\n<p>Alongside his performing career, Sommerville studied conducting with Finnish maestro Jorma Panula, who has also mentored the likes of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Klaus M\u00e4kel\u00e4 and Tarmo Peltokoski, among others.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, he was named music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, a role he held until 2012 simultaneously with his performing career at the BSO.<\/p>\n<p>During his time with the HPO, he was known for varied programming which saw the orchestra performing traditional classics from the repertoire, along with new music, chamber works, and a pop music series.<\/p>\n<p>James is also a dedicated educator. A long-time member of the New England Conservatory faculty, he has taught at The Longy School, University of Toronto, Oberlin College, McGill University, the Conservatoire de Musique du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Montr\u00e9al, and Dalhousie University.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find concert details and tickets [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hpo.org\/event\/beethovens-seventh-james-sommerville\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/masthead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>news tip<\/u><\/a>? Need to know the best\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>events<\/u><\/a>\u00a0happening this weekend? Send us a\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><a href=\"mailto:anya@ludwig-van.com?subject=Let's%20chat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em><u>note<\/u>.<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em><b>#LUDWIGVAN<\/b><\/em><\/h3>\n<p class=\"western\"><em>Get the daily arts news straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><em>Sign up for the Ludwig Van Toronto e-Blast! \u2014 local classical music and opera news straight to your inbox <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid=S3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/583e6ce0-dfd0-48be-8a33-61256b3c58e3.mlbtlr.com\/p2\/Fbd8jWoWQQ6CdBcLIvut3Q\/02E3cYaETqaj4Xm087cpSg?contactid%3DS3HHYfHY5rZv5f94S15MnA&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1695737525351000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0QTqKRwRJQFGK3KoJYigxX\">HERE<\/a>.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Music Director James Sommerville returns to conduct the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra in their first concert of 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":110724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,76,18,875,6992,9567,38,39,4557],"tags":[233,23566,6348,37299],"yst_prominent_words":[38865,6980,6978],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/12\/Copy-of-Copy-of-INTERVIEW-99.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-sNQ","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110722"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110749,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110722\/revisions\/110749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110722"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=110722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}