Life's a Beach launches Vetta Chamber Music's 2023-24 season, October 13 to 15
Performance spotlights quintet by composer-pianist Amy Beach, a female trailblazer in American music
Amy Beach. Photo by Rayhuff-Richter
Vetta Chamber Music presents Life’s a Beach on October 13 at the West Point Grey United Church at 2 pm; October 14 at the West Vancouver United Church at 7:30 pm; and October 15 at Pyatt Hall at 2 pm
LIFE’S A BEACH, Vetta Chamber Music’s first concert in its 2023-24 season, puts American composer Amy Beach in the limelight.
But life was no tropical vacation for Beach, a hard-worker who was born in 1867 in Henniker, New Hampshire. At 29 years old, she became the first American woman to compose and publish a symphony with her work Symphony in E Minor, Op. 32, “Gaelic”.
The piece, which pulls its style from Irish melodies, was inspired by Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák’s suggestion for composers in the U.S. to explore their roots musically. Beach resided near Boston, Massachusetts at the time, which was home to a great quantity of immigrants from Ireland.
The “Gaelic” symphony starts out energetic in its first movement, before shifting into graceful-yet-lively variances in its second movement. The third movement toys with the melancholic counterpoint of two Irish tunes, while the fourth wraps the work up with a dramatic return to abundant energy.
The show’s lineup includes Beach’s dark and mysterious Piano Quintet in F sharp minor, Op. 67, which moves through moments of brooding adagio and melodic allegro, paired with soft romance and frenzied intensity. Beach’s only quintet shines in the company of two other works: Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise”, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49.
Life’s a Beach will be performed by the Vetta String Quartet, which features Vetta Chamber Music’s artistic director Joan Blackman on violin, fellow violinist David Gillham, violist Jacob van der Sloot, and cellist Zoltan Rozsnyai. Pianist Jane Coop is playing alongside them.
An additional performance of the concert held on Salt Spring Island at ArtSpring takes place on October 16 at 2:30 pm.
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