A rainy Sunday afternoon provided an unlikely backdrop for Antonio Vivaldi’s “Spring,” as Music Niagara opened its 28th summer festival at Ironwood Cider House with a concert featuring emerging Canadian musicians and the festival debut of mezzo-soprano Liepa Spakauskas.
The Vivaldi & Virtuosos concert opened the 20-concert summer festival that runs from June to August, and launched its Young Virtuoso series, featuring young performers at the start of their career.
The 4 p.m. concert ran indoors at Ironwood Cider House rather than the planned outdoor tent due to the weather.
Music Niagara’s artistic director, Atis Bankas, built the program around young performers and Vivaldi, and used the breaks between pieces during the concert to walk the audience through the music.
“There are not that many concertos for three violins in all of instrumental history,” Bankas said. “That’s why I love it.”
Spakauskas made her Music Niagara festival debut last Sunday, previously singing at Roy Thomson Hall, Meridian Hall and Carnegie Hall, and now prepares to begin a bachelor of music in voice performance at the University of Toronto.
Four violinists from the Taylor Academy and the Glenn Gould School at the Royal Conservatory of Music joined her: Sophia Chen, Dongyu Yao, Elisha Ruo and Iris Zhang.
The CamerAtis Ensemble, a string quintet featuring Bankas, performed alongside the young musicians. Bankas has led Music Niagara for nearly three decades.
Bankas compared Vivaldi’s sound to the way a painter works with light and colour.
“It’s like musical light,” he said. “For a painter, everything comes from the paint, the brush and the colours. Vivaldi works the same way with music.”
Bankas knew a whole concert of one composer risked sounding the same. He told the crowd the pieces share Vivaldi’s style but each stands on its own, and pointed out that one work echoed the famous “Spring” concerto (from the Italian composor’s famous “The Four Seasons” group of concerti), while still going its own way.
The concert opened Music Niagara’s Young Virtuoso series, which continues July 12 with Lithuania’s boys’ choir Dagilėlis and Aug. 3 with the Toronto All-Star Big Band’s 30th-anniversary performance.
Supporting young artists remains a priority for the festival, Bankas said.
“These concerts are offered at just $19 as accessibility remains very important to us.”
Bankas said this year’s festival was shaped in part by audience feedback and a desire to offer music that brings people together.
“In a world that has felt heavy with uncertainty, this season offers something uplifting, music that brings lightness, joy and connection.”
Music Niagara’s season continues June 21 at St. Mark’s Church with pianist and visual artist Victor Paukstelis.
