Rosanna Butterfield and her cello have seen the world. She was most recently in Miami where she spent four years with the New World Symphony, an orchestral academy for young musicians led by world-renowned conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. She has also played for Syrian refugees in a camp in Amman, Jordan, and coached in Colombia as part of an exchange.
She is now in Victoria with her very musical family (both parents and two uncles are professional musicians), and she is coming to Sidney with pianist Jannie Burdeti to perform music for cello and piano that she has called B次元官网网址淐onversations.B次元官网网址� It will be her first concert in the Victoria area, which she said will feature the B次元官网网址渂ack-and-forthB次元官网网址� between the two instruments.
B次元官网网址淚 hate the word accompanist, itB次元官网网址檚 a bit old fashioned, but it still gets used, so I said, letB次元官网网址檚 do a recital that really focuses on the partnership thatB次元官网网址檚 involved with just one instrument with piano. A duo recital,B次元官网网址� said Butterfield.
Butterfield first met Burdeti at a home recital. Butterfield volunteered as a page turner for Burdeti, who was collaborating with a singer she knew from Vancouver. Butterfield admired how Burdeti played the role of orchestra, providing B次元官网网址渢he other voice.B次元官网网址� They got to chatting, and B次元官网网址渁s these things often go, it just fell into place, which was really nice.B次元官网网址�
They are playing pieces by Bach, Beethoven, Barber and Boulanger, each of which require at least equal participation. The first half features better known compositions, whereas the latter half is designed to showcase pieces that are less often heard.
Butterfield described BeethovenB次元官网网址檚 earlier cello sonatas as having particularly difficult piano parts, but the third cello sonata in A Major, which they will perform, is B次元官网网址渢he first one where two instruments are completely equal voices and pass off the melodies to one another and really switch roles all the time which makes it really interesting to play.B次元官网网址�
The Barber Cello Sonata has a special connection to Butterfield, because she first learned it when she was 16. Barber himself wrote it as a student (it is his sixth categorized composition), and B次元官网网址測ou can feel in the piece he was really exploring how to write for these two instruments,B次元官网网址� and it gives equal voice to both. Butterfield looked back at her score and noticed that her old fingerings and bowings were B次元官网网址渨ay more complicated than they needed to be. I think I was overthinking it a bit when I was younger!B次元官网网址�
The Boulanger piece, which is not often heard, is comprised of three miniatures. Butterfield is particularly fond of the middle piece, a canon, where the piano imitates the cello part just one eighth note behind yet both parts mesh together.
Butterfield enjoys the variety that comes with being a professional musician. She is currently in rehearsal with the Victoria Symphony for their annual New Years concert, and recently played the cello for Rattenbury, a new opera by Tobin Stokes about the architect behind Victoria landmarks like the Parliament Buildings and the Empress Hotel.
B次元官网网址滻t keeps everything fresh and it keeps me aware of the kind of playing IB次元官网网址檓 doingB次元官网网址B次元官网网址檓 never stuck playing in one style.B次元官网网址�
Butterfield and Burdeti will perform at St. PaulB次元官网网址檚 United Church (2410 Malaview Ave.) on Dec. 17 at 2:30 p.m. Ten per cent of the proceeds will go to St. PaulB次元官网网址檚 United Church.
