Longshadow Music Festival 2021
Sept 23 - 26, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
The second Longshadow Music Festival returns to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories!
A festival of concerts that collides music from the past and the present, with performers from near and far. Often with one foot in the classical world and the other in… well… other worlds!
Longshadow 2021 features four concerts, each with a different program. The feature performers are four stellar string players from Alberta, with local guest performers. Music ranges from brand-new works by Canadian composers to beautiful old Bach and a lot in between. Concerts will be indoors in theatres, bars and cafes, and outdoors by the lake!
Schedule and Programs
Thursday Sept 23 Violin+Cello Duo
8:00pm with Robert Uchida and Rafael Hoekman
TICKets here
Sundog Trading Post, $20
Special food+drink items for sale - just for this concert!
Co-presented with Prairie Debut
Program
Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7 - 1922
(Zoltán Kodály 1882-1967)
Passacaglia
(John Halvorsen (1864-1935) + George Frideric Handel (1685-1759))
Jigs and Reels
Arranged by John McPherson *Canadain
Serpentine paths
Jocelyn Morlock (1969 - ) *Canadian
Friday Sept 24 Kitchen Party - Bach’s invited too!
8:00pm, featuring World Champion fiddler Daniel Gervais
TICKets here
Also with Robert Uchida, Keith Hamm, Rafael Hoekman
Special guest Simon Farintosh on classical guitar
Elk’s Lodge, upstairs, $20
Co-presented with Prairie Debut
Program
E major Preludio
J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
Double Violin Concerto (Stéphane Grappelli jazz violin style!)
J.S. Bach (1685-1750) + Stéphane Grappelli (1908-1997)
Jigs and Reels
Arranged by John McPherson *Canadain
Serpentine paths
Jocelyn Morlock (1969 - ) *Canadian
Chaconne
Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665)
Piece With Simon Farintosh
Devil Went Down to Georgia
Charlie Daniels (1936-2020)
Drops of Brandy
Traditional
Métis fiddle + clogging
Saturday Sept 25 String Quartet Feature Concert
7:30pm
TICKets here
NACC $30 adults / $20 students
Concession is open at intermission - hooray!
Co-presented with Prairie Debut
Program
Opening - Andrea Bettger
(timeless)*Canadian
I Can Finally Feel the Sun
Carmen Braden (1985 - )*Canadian
The Raven Conspiracy
Carmen Braden (1985 - )*Canadian
a letter from the afterlife from two pop songs on antique poems
Dinuk Wijeratne (1978 - ) *Canadian
American String Quartet
Antonin Dvořák (1841-1904)
Sunday Sept 26 Free Outdoor Concert
12:00
Somba K’e Plaza
Program will be called from the lake-side!
Artists
Carmen Braden - Founder and Executive Director
Carmen Braden is an emerging force in the world of new music, hailing proudly from Yellowknife NWT. As a performer, Carmen is “growing into the role of acoustic ambassador of the Canadian Subarctic” (Musicworks). She has played intimate theatres and MainStage folk festivals. Her contemporary classical compositions are nationally recognized, with commissions and performances by world class ensembles and performers including the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, James Ehnes and the Canadian Chamber Choir. She released her second album Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars in 2019, her first album Ravens in 2017. She won the Western Canadian Music Award for Classical Composer of the Year in 2020 and 2019, and has nominations for ECMA Classical Album of the Year (2020), WCMA Classical Artist of the Year (2019), and WCMA Classical Composition of the Year (2017). Carmen has been called “a talented, bold musician” (Up Here Magazine). About her latest album:“Braden’s music is clear, and it is bright...this recording is captured psychogeography.” (Whole Note); and her songwriting: is “quirky and clever...à la Joni Mitchell” (The WholeNote). As an educator, Carmen regularly gives workshops, individual instruction, guest lectures and collaboration facilitation ranging from elementary-level to university graduate level.
Robert Uchida - Artistic Director, and Violin
Canadian violinist Robert Uchida, Concertmaster of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, enjoys a varied career as a soloist, orchestral and chamber musician, and educator. His debut recording of Andrew Violette’s Sonata for Unaccompanied Violin won international acclaim, with Strings Magazine praising his “ravishing sound, eloquence and hypnotic intensity.”
Before joining the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Robert was Concertmaster of Symphony Nova Scotia in Halifax, where he performed on a Juno-nominated recording with Sarah Slean, and recorded Requiem 21.5: Violin Concerto by Tim Brady, which won Classical Recording of the Year at the East Coast Music Awards. As a guest concertmaster, he has worked with the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
Robert has been a soloist with orchestras across Canada. He has taught and performed at festivals and venues including the Arizona MusicFest, Bargemusic (New York), Banff Centre, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Glenn Gould Studio (Toronto), Lincoln Center (New York), Music by the Sea (B.C.), National Academy Orchestra, National Arts Centre, Scotia Festival, Sewanee Music Festival (Tennessee), Queen Elizabeth Hall (Antwerp), and was Artistic Director of the Acadia Summer Strings Festival from 2010-2013.
A passionate teacher, Robert serves on the faculty at the University of Alberta and has held teaching positions at Acadia University, the National Arts Centre Young Artists Program, and the Manhattan School of Music Precollege. Robert loves volunteering and is honoured to have been inducted into the Ronald McDonald House’s Character Club in Edmonton. He performs on the “de Long Tearse” Guadagnini with Vision Solo Titanium strings by Thomastik-Infeld Vienna.
Rafael Hoekman - cello
Rafael Hoekman has been called “a rock star of the cello,” “a powerful and passionate soloist,” and has been praised for his “spirited and fiery performances.” His varied career as a soloist, teacher, chamber and orchestral cellist has taken him on a journey across Canada. Originally from Newfoundland, Rafael is Principal Cellist of the Edmonton Symphony and on faculty at the University of Alberta. He has been a featured soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic, I Musici de Montreal and Edmonton, Quebec, Newfoundland, Red Deer and Sudbury Symphonies. As a member of the Tokai Quartet, Rafael was a prize winner at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. His principal teachers were Yuli Turovsky and Shauna Rolston.
Daniel Gervais - violin / fiddle
Daniel has been playing the violin since the age of five. He completed a Master of Music degree in classical performance at the University of Alberta with Dr. Guillaume Tardif in 2014. In 2011 and 2016, Daniel won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship, the first Albertan to win this title. He has had the opportunity to perform at many prestigious events including a fiddle solo performance with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra for Canada’s 150th, the 2012 London Olympics and the 100th Anniversary Grey Cup in Toronto, as well as tours in Canada, the United States, and Europe. He has nine albums to his name. His gypsy jazz group, Hot Club Edmonton, won Instrumental Album of the Year at the 2010 Western Canadian Music Awards. He lives in Edmonton with his wife and four young children. Visit www.danielgervais.ca for more information.
Keith Hamm - viola / guitar
Keith Hamm is a native of Rosebud, Alberta. He received his training at the Glenn Gould School of Music under the instruction of Steven Dann, and at the Mount Royal Conservatory with Nicholas Pulos. Other influences include Pinchas Zukerman, Mark Fewer, Richard Lester, the London Haydn Quartet, and especially formative summers at the Chamber Music Program at Le Domaine Forget. While still a student, Keith was named Principal Violist of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and performed there for eight seasons. In the fall of 2019, Keith took up that same position with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.
Keith is an alumnus of the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove; the Sarasota Music Festival and programs at the Banff Centre. Keith has been featured on CBC Radio, Toronto’s Classical 96.3, Minnesota Public Radio and has been named one of Canada’s Hottest 30 Classical Musicians Under 30 by CBC. A dedicated chamber musician, Keith has shared the stage with Anssi Kartunnen, Ernst Kovacic, Richard Lester, David Geringas and members of the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Keith has been invited to perform at the Ravinia Festival as guest violist with the Royal Conservatory’s Grammy-nominated ARC Ensemble, Toronto Summer Music Festival, Ottawa Chamberfest, Stratford Summer Music, Sweetwater Music Festival, and Music By The Sea in Bamfield, BC. Keith has been a guest with the Juno-winning Amici Ensemble and frequently performs with Continuum Contemporary Music, Skylight Series in Toronto’s Distillery District, Echo Chamber Toronto, and Stereo Live as performer and producer.
Keith is Founder and Artistic Director of the Rosebud Chamber Music Festival in Rosebud, Alberta and co-founder and violist of the Rosebud String Quartet. Keith plays on a viola made by Joseph Curtin in 2001.
Simon Farintosh (guest) - classical guitar
Simon Farintosh is an award-winning guitarist, arranger, composer, and educator from the west coast of Canada. He is known for his adventurous programming choices, and almost exclusively performs repertoire from outside of the standard guitar canon, including many of his own arrangements and original compositions. Simon's debut EP 'Aphex Twin for Guitar' (2021) reached a wide audience, and contains his own transcriptions of pieces by British electronic artist Richard D. James.
Simon's performances have garnered him top awards in competitions such as the Northwest Guitar Festival, the National Music Festival of Canada, and the Quebec Music Competition. He is a five-time recipient of the British Columbia Arts Council Award, and has been a featured artist for organizations such as the VCM Summer Guitar Academy (BC), The Classical Guitar Society of Tri-Cities (WA) and Madison Classical Guitar Society (WI).
Simon earned his Bachelor of Music Degree at The University of Victoria where he studied with Dr. Alexander Dunn, and completed a Master's Degree at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he was a student of Rene Izquierdo. Currently, he is enrolled in the Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree at the University of Toronto while teaching privately in Yellowknife, NT.
Simon plays a 6-string guitar by Glenn Canin and an 8-string guitar by Jeff Sigurdson.
Andrea Bettger (guest) fiddle
Andrea Bettger has experience playing classical, jazz and bluegrass styles, and experiments in the electric world of sounds on her instrument. She has become heavily involved in the Northern-fiddling scene. The fusion of these approaches results in an exciting blend of toe-tapping material, complemented with meditative and heart-warming melodies.
She has performed and recorded with countless artists including The Rheostatics and the Jerry Cans, and has opened the stage for Jimmy Rankin and Buffy St. Marie.
Her musical efforts won her the honour of “Citizen of the Year” in 2007, and she represented the North as a fiddler at “NorthernScene” at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in 2013. Andrea was an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts in 2016 and 2019 and toured as the fiddler for the Jerry Cans in the summer of 2017. She performed at Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks in the summer of 2018, and the release of her first all-original album got her a nomination for Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year by the Canadian Folk Music Awards in November of 2018. Her band performed at the CFMA Awards Ceremony. She has recently released her second album.
Thanks to our sponsors, supporters, volunteers, and audience members!
Special thanks to Prairie Debut, the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, Music NWT, the Canada Council for the Arts, and Black Ice Sound.