{"id":116196,"date":"2025-07-24T08:41:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T12:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=116196"},"modified":"2025-07-24T08:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T12:45:14","slug":"scrutiny-grand-finale-collingwood-music-festivals-gershwin-gala-got-rhythm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/07\/24\/scrutiny-grand-finale-collingwood-music-festivals-gershwin-gala-got-rhythm\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | Grand Finale: Collingwood Music Festival\u2019s Gershwin Gala Got The Rhythm"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L-R:
L-R: Artistic Director Daniel Vnukowski and St\u00e9phane Mayer at the piano; soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, baritone Justin Welch; soprano Jonelle Sills (Photo: @tjallingphotography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Collingwood Music Festival: Gershwin Gala. Artistic Director & pianist Daniel Vnukowski; soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, soprano Jonelle Sills; bass-baritone Justin Welch; pianist Steven Philcox. July 18, 2025, First Presbyterian Church, Collingwood.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAre you a musician?\u201d the woman next to me asked.<\/p>\n

We were sitting in the first row of the balcony of the First Presbyterian Church waiting for the Gershwin Gala \u2014 the grand finale of this year\u2019s Collingwood Music Festival \u2014 to begin.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I told her. \u201cI\u2019m a journalist. Do you play music?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI play with music,\u201d she said, lightly chuckling. \u201cI listen mostly. I fell in love with a piece of music and, at 90, I went out and bought a keyboard. I wonder how many candles there are.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was referring to the chancel below, which, in addition to a grand black piano and an ornate flower arrangement on a white column, was covered in faux candles glowing orange.<\/p>\n

Later, during intermission, I tried to count the candles \u2014 approximately 190 \u2014 but before the show began proper I wanted to catch her name. \u201cJean Morton,\u201d she said, sharing that she was born in Winnipeg, and lived all over Canada before deciding to retire in the South Georgian Bay.<\/p>\n

I noticed, like me, Jean was wearing a lanyard, but hers read \u201cMaestro Pass,\u201d which grants all-access to every festival event that, this year, included masterclasses with the likes of pianist Angela Park, violinist Sharon Lee, composer Ian Cusson, and performances by Canadian Brass, the Elmer Iseler Singers, the Montr\u00e9al Guitare Trio and the Payadora Tango Ensemble.<\/p>\n

The Collingwood Music Festival was founded by its artistic director Daniel Vnukowski<\/strong> in 2019, but, in his opening remarks, he shared that it began as a dream in 2017 as a benefit concert during a snowstorm, which was attended by the late Marilyn Knowles, a local resident, music lover and fierce supporter whose donation made the evening\u2019s performance possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does not end here,\u201d Vnukowski said of the bitter-sweetness of the festival\u2019s end, teasing there were events and programs in the works.<\/p>\n

But, first a taste of the Great American Songbook and the music of \u201cthe one who bridged it all together\u201d: composer George Gershwin.<\/p>\n

\"Baritone
Baritone Justin Welch; soprano Jonelle Sills (Photo: @tjallingphotography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n

Dressed in a crisp white shirt, black bowtie and black velour blazer, Vnukowski began with Three Preludes, which were first performed by Gershwin in 1926.<\/p>\n

The first, Allegro ben ritmato e deciso, was playful, fast-paced and deceptively discordant, whereas the second, Andante con moto, was mournful and bluesy, allowing more subdued tones to come through and giving us a sense of Gershwin\u2019s range. The third, Agitato, was a return to his punchy sensibility, where a conversation between the major and minor notes took place, evoking images of train sequences in silent films.<\/p>\n

Vnukowski, an impassioned performer, seemed to dash off each prelude with ease, always concluding with such dramatic flair, setting the tone for the night.<\/p>\n

Following him onto the chancel was the dapper pianist St\u00e9phane Mayer<\/strong> and the soprano Adrianne Pieczonka<\/strong>, who wore a bejewelled black top that glittered in the spotlight as she moved, performing the well-known I Got The Rhythm, Love Walked In, and Someone to Watch Over Me.<\/p>\n

As each song progressed, it became clear that what Pieczonka, and by extension Gershwin, were interested in was using the music, and the voice, to articulate the vestiges of love: of love that has the power to change everything in one\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cForgot the gloom of the past\/one look and I\/had found my future at last,\u201d she gracefully sang, as if from experience.<\/p>\n

After her, the soprano Jonelle Sills<\/strong>, in an elegant, black, floor-length dress adorned with a black flower on top, arrived on the chancel to sing Embraceable You and The Man I Love.<\/p>\n

As Mayer, who often bobbed his head or tapped his foot to the beat, played the opening chords, it was fascinating watching Sills prepare to perform as she smiled widely and looked out at the audience, as though settling into a character and absorbing our anticipation so she could unleash the force of her voice, which she proceeded to do, balancing the operatic and Broadway styles in such a way that she was able to make the songs her own.<\/p>\n

Her voice reached the high ceilings and sent a shiver up my spine.<\/p>\n

The bass-baritone Justin Welsh<\/strong>, then, had the duty to bring us back down to the earth, to reminding us of the importance of memories in his rendition of They Can\u2019t Take That Away From Me, which was made popular by Fred Astaire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way you wear your hat\/the way you sip your tea,\u201d he lusciously sang, \u201cThe way you sing off key\/the way you haunt my dreams.\u201d In this list of images drawn up by the attentive lover, we see how the gestures we consciously and unconsciously produce in daily life can impact those around us, to become something to be catalogued and privately cherished.<\/p>\n

Prefacing the controversial, yet highly successful, reputation of Swanee, Welsh had us hanging onto every word, reveling in the pleasures of his timbre.<\/p>\n

Before intermission, Vnukowski returned to the stage and said he forgot to ask us if we wanted to hear Rhapsody in Blue now or later.<\/p>\n

My seat-mate, Jean, was, along with most of the audience, in favour of now.<\/p>\n

It is important to note here that one of the challenges placed on bringing Gershwin\u2019s music to life was the decision to perform, in Vnukowski\u2019s words, \u201ca purely acoustic\u201d version, meaning that the grand, jazzy sensations from the Rhapsody would only be communicated through the piano.<\/p>\n

This is not the Leonard Bernstein version.<\/p>\n

But, with the church\u2019s ceiling bathed in blue light, with his athletic musicianship on full display, with full submission to the music, Vnukowski managed to evoke the original spirit of this masterpiece.<\/p>\n

He possessed enough passion to conjure up an orchestra out of a piano.<\/p>\n

Jean was the first one up for the standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\"St\u00e9phane
St\u00e9phane Mayer at the piano; soprano Adrianne Pieczonka (Photo: @tjallingphotography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n

During intermission I remained in my pew and observed the audience members \u2014 which included the soprano Ambur Braid \u2014 who all seemed to know each other and were chatting away.<\/p>\n

It reminded me of a line I read from the Collingwood Music Festival\u2019s statement of intent:<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch has shown the social, physical and cognitive benefits of hosting a music festival in its community, enhancing people\u2019s moods and nurturing a sense of belonging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming from Toronto, where we are spoiled with the riches of culture from all sectors, I could see the way that bringing music into these regions, and fostering the potential of future generations, was vital, and could see how it enlivened the community.<\/p>\n

The second act closely followed the format of the first.<\/p>\n

There was Vnukowski playing Walking The Dog and Rialto Ripples, transporting us to a lounge in New York in the 1930s, and Pieczonka returning to sing \u2014 cleanly, crisply \u2014 of love in Isn\u2019t it a Pity and Love is Here To Stay, where she broke away from the song sheet to offer wisdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe older I get, the faster the world turns,\u201d she said. \u201cWe need to hold onto love \u2014 the only concrete thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she sang By Strauss, settling into the Germanic role, she finally seemed unrestrained.<\/p>\n

There was Welsh and Sills, who took turns appearing on the chancel to sing excerpts from Porgy and Bess, one of two opera\u2019s Gershwin composed before his early death in 1937.<\/p>\n

Welsh charmed the audience with I\u2019ve Got Plenty of Nothin and It Ain\u2019t Necessarily So, encouraging the participate in a call and response that took us out of our complacent spectatorship. But, once again, it was Sills, who gave her spin on Summertime and the devastating My Man\u2019s Gone Now \u2014 with its piecing cry \u2014 that made the evening unforgettable.<\/p>\n

Every critic keeps an inventory of gestures from the performances they see and when Sills allowed the over-wealth of emotions of the end of the song to overcome her and choose to fall back into the curve of the piano with the final note, I\u2019d found another one to add to it.<\/p>\n

She conveyed the drama of the opera and the character onto the chancel \u2014 an excerpt turned event.<\/p>\n

After Welsh and Sills came together for a touching duet of Bess, You Is My Woman Now, and Vnukowski returned for a brief improvisation on Gershwin (\u00e0 la Earl Wild), all of the performers appeared on the chancel to reprise I Got The Rhythm as the final number.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho could ask for anything more?\u201d they all sang.<\/p>\n

It was the perfect note to close the season \u2014 feeling full of love, music and inspiration.<\/p>\n

As I made my way down the stairs, noticing that a few members of the audience were holding seat cushions, a woman snapped her fingers and asked us all if we \u201cgot the rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t answer her then, but I will now: I do indeed.<\/p>\n

By Nirris Nagendrarajah<\/a> for Ludwig-Van.com<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Along with artistic director Daniel Vnukowski, a trio of opera stars came together for an unforgettable evening honouring the timeless work of George Gershwin to close the Collingwood Music Festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41660,76,18,19,41496,32,3693,43,52,59,63],"tags":[177,41342,36103,5596,36626,40856,42125],"yst_prominent_words":[24255,16413,7410,24260,24256,36624,36623],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/07\/Copy-of-REVIEW-2025-07-21T142408.965.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-ue8","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116196"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116196"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116204,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116196\/revisions\/116204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116196"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=116196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}