Austria's Ensemble Castor joins Juno-winning soprano Hélène Brunet in The Other Seasons, September 30

Early Music Vancouver offers an alternative to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with some of the legendary composer’s other brilliant works

By Gail johnson

Ensemble Castor. Photo by Enrico Onofri

Early Music Vancouver presents The Other Seasons on September 30 at 7:30 pm at Christ Church Cathedral

WITH THE LEAVES changing colours and the calendar having officially flipped to fall, Early Music Vancouver is celebrating with The Other Seasons, a concert that offers a fun alternative to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The program features some of the master’s other brilliant works, pairing concertos for Ensemble Castor’s six musicians with arias and motets performed by Juno-winning soprano Hélène Brunet.

Vivaldi pulls themes from Four Seasons into several of his vocal arias—many with characterizations of nature such as birdsongs, tempests, and hunts—while “Gelido in ogni vena” from Farnace RV 711 echoes the theme of the first movement of his famed “Winter” concerto. Other works on the program include Concerto for strings in G Major, RV 151, “Alla rustica” and Violin Concerto in E flat major Op.8 No. 5, RV 253, “La tempesta di mare”.

Directed by Austrian violinist Petra Samhaber-Eckhardt, Ensemble Castor is devoted to string chamber music from 1600 to 1750. The ensemble’s main focus is on the Italian Seicento and Settecento as well as on the pre-classical music in Austria and Germany.

Brunet, who won a 2022 Juno award for classical album of the year (large ensemble) for her first solo album, Solfeggio, recorded  with renowned ensemble L‘Harmonie des saisons. The Montreal-based vocalist is recognized for her interpretations of the works of Bach, Handel, and Mozart, while her repertoire extends from Baroque to the music of the 20th and 21st centuries.

More information is at Early Music Vancouver.

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