Vancouver Symphony Orchestra to host 100 free concerts on 13 stages for Day of Music 2023
On June 10, 12 hours of shows include everything from symphonic swells to sitar, solo violin, percussion, and more in presentation with VSO SoM
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
IT’S THE BIGGEST day of the year for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the VSO School of Music: June 10 is the 2023 edition of Day of Music, an epic offering of 100 concerts across 13 stages and 12 hours, all free.
For VSO music director Otto Tausk, the day-long celebration is about equal parts awe and inclusivity.
“It’s the biggest musical event that I know of,” says the Dutch-born conductor, who travels the globe from his other home base in the Netherlands when he’s not in Vancouver. a day full of free and accessible performances for everyone, I think is really unique and it's really important because I believe everyone loves music and everyone can find some meaning with music and inspiration, but not everyone has the opportunity to experience music, especially from a young age. And I think music can be so powerful and I wish everyone has the opportunity to experience that , so that's why I think it's so important and so wonderful.
“We're able to create a day of music celebrating music in all its forms like big symphony orchestra but also smaller ensembles, musicians from our community, and really lots of different kind of repertoire, old and new—so all tastes I hope will be satisfied.”
Otto Tausk.
Now in its fourth consecutive year, including virtual editions during the pandemic, the VSO’s Day of Music runs from 10 am to 10 pm at the Vancouver Orpheum, Pyatt Hall at the VSO SoM, and the Annex, as well as pop-up venues at YVR, Bill Curtis Square in Yaletown, the Vancouver Convention Centre, and the Deloitte and TELUS Garden office buildings on West Georgia Street.
The day culminates with the full Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, under Tausk’s direction, playing a free 8 pm concert at the Orpheum. As part of the VSO’s ongoing commitment to Truth and Reconciliation, the show will include selections from Ancestral Voices, composed by the late VSO music director Emeritus Bramwell Tovey, and sung by special guest Marion Newman, a critically acclaimed mezzo-soprano of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō First Nations with English, Irish, and Scottish heritage. The program also features Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, K. 492: Overture; Beethoven’s Coriolan: Overture; Brahms’s Symphony No.1, Op. 68, C minor: II. Andante sostenuto; Dvořák’s Symphony No. 7, Op. 70, D minor: III. Scherzo; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Op. 36, F minor: IV. And to finish, the symphony orchestra will play John Williams’s Star Wars: Suite for Orchestra.
“What we've programmed is a kind of a sneak preview of next season,” Tausk says of the performance. “So we've taken different movements from bigger works that we've programmed next year and we've put them together movements from various composers like Beethoven and Brahms and Dvorak. So I'm really excited to experience how that in the end will work out. It's like going to a restaurant where you're presented a menu that has put together by various dishes from all over the world that at first sight you might think, ‘Why this combination?’ But then in the end, the different tastes might reinforce each other and turn out to be a really exciting and wonderful combination.
“Besides that we also play a work by my predecessor Bramwell Tovey, who sadly passed away, and I'm very honored to perform one of his works with the singer Marion Newman.”
Tausk is clearly beyond excited about that portion of the event, but he’s just as keen for smaller performances by the likes of Saxophilia Saxophone Quartet, VSO SoM’s Golden Pearl Ensemble, 5 DOG EARS (jazz, swing, and blues band); and Mohamed Assani Trio (sitar, bass, and percussion). There’s Dancing 40 Fingers Quartetto Vivo 2 Pianos 8 Hands, UBC Percussion Ensemble, VSO SoM’s Meet the Ukulele mini classes, Serbian Prog Jazz Lax Phobia (piano and vibraphone), The Postmodern Camerata Society (piano, voice, woodwind), and City Opera Vancouver. Other highlights include Amir Eslami playing traditional Persian flute with mridangam drum, jazz vocalist Will Clements, a special 100th anniversary celebration by the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festivals, Michael Dirk and the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ and the funk band Cookin’ with Brass. (See DayofMusic.ca for the full lineup).
Young music lovers are invited to a VSO SoM Mini Music Maker class, offered indoors at the VSO School of Music and outdoors in Yaletown at Bill Curtis Square. The VSO School of Music and the Bill Curtis Square stages will have a family-friendly focus.
More than 20 performances will be available on-demand at DayofMusic.ca, including a live broadcast of the VSO’s 8 pm concert, for those outside of Metro Vancouver or who want an immersive experience from home.
"It's like going to a restaurant where you're presented a menu that has been put together by various dishes from all over the world.”
There’s another one-of-a-kind offering that Tausk is eagerly anticipating: the VSO’s open rehearsal that morning, from 10 am to 12:30 pm at the Orpheum. “I think it's always interesting to see how things are put together—thinking about the menu and the restaurant,” Tausk says. “I'm always curious to go into the kitchen and see what the chef actually doing, and [thinking]: ‘What are his secrets for creating wonderful dishes? And I think if the audience has the opportunity to get a little taste of what happens in a symphony orchestra rehearsal, it actually really adds to the experience of the final concert. So I do hope to see lots of people there.
“And I think that's maybe what I'm really hoping to achieve on the day of music is to see, of course our dear friends, our musical friends from our community, but also to see many, many new faces. And as I said, I think that's the most important thing to achieve on a day like that. I think it's a unique event and I’m so, so proud that we are to present a day of music now for many years already.
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