{"id":311,"date":"2011-12-13T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T01:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=311"},"modified":"2011-12-13T20:11:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T01:11:00","slug":"three-music-critics-and-a-high-school-student-behind-a-substantial-amici-concert-this-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2011\/12\/13\/three-music-critics-and-a-high-school-student-behind-a-substantial-amici-concert-this-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Three music critics and a high school student behind a substantial Amici concert this Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I was tickled when the Amici Chamber Ensemble asked me, as well as Globe and Mail freelancer Colin Eatock and Classical96 FM’s John van Driel last year to pick a favourite piece of chamber music that they might consider programming.<\/p>\n

I was even more tickled when I found out that they have invited Ezra John “EJ” Pablo, pictured above, to write a new piece of music for a premiere alongside the critics’ picks at the Glenn Gould Studio on Friday night (Dec. 16).<\/p>\n

EJ is a beautiful example of how teenagers’ perspectives can be broadened, when given the opportunity.<\/p>\n

I had a brief chat with the Grade 12 product of the Claude Watson School for the Arts<\/a>, who told me he had grown bored of playing the piano when the opportunity to try his hand at composition came along when he was in Grade 10.<\/p>\n

“I had a friend graduate that year, and he was the school’s first composition major,” EJ says of his inspiration.<\/p>\n

He went to talk to teacher Alan Park in the music department. “He aksed to see my work, and I had to tell him I had never written anything,” EJ recalls. “So we made a deal, and he told me to study composition over the summer, with a former student.”<\/p>\n

EJ, who had all the basics of music theory and history as part of his piano education, says his first exercise was to write a chorale in the style of J.S. Bach.<\/p>\n

“It was pretty challenging,” he admits. “It was totally different from harmony (lessons).”<\/p>\n

Student and young teacher worked their way through periods and styles, from baroque to classical, romantic and modern. EJ’s favourite? “Contemporary, neo-Romantic,” he says.<\/p>\n

Despite his piano background, EJ says he prefers writing for strings. “I love the tones, sonorities and timbre that come from a violin,” he asserts.<\/p>\n

He says most of his friends play the violin, so he gets plenty of helpful pointers when it comes to writing music for that instrument.<\/p>\n

Remarkably for a teen, this is EJ’s second professional premiere this season.<\/p>\n

The Gryphon Trio, which has mentored composition students at the Claude Watson School for more than a decade, premiered a piano trio of EJ’s in November, as part of a Music Toronto recital.<\/p>\n

“All I could say was ‘Wow,'” he says of the experience.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, the premiere of “You and I,” a short, four-movement dialogue for violin and piano, will be just as exciting on Friday.<\/p>\n

EJ admits that he still hasn’t decided whether to pursue a music or a science degree when he enters university next fall. “I love both a lot, and I still can’t decide,” he says, aware of looming school application deadlines.<\/p>\n

What he does know, though, is that he’d like to stay in Toronto. “This is home, and I get a lot of support here,” he says.<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

Following EJ’s premiere, we three critics will introduce our preferred pieces.<\/p>\n

Van Driel will speak on Beethoven’s Op. 11 Trio for piano, violin and clarinet, Eatock will speak on Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, I will introduce Elgar’s Piano Quintet.<\/p>\n

For all the concert details, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a teaser, here is a particularly intense reading of the first movement of the Elgar Quintet, led by Joshua Bell:<\/p>\n