PREVIEW
Penny Sanborn Trio
Special guest Haley Spector
St. Albert Chamber Music Society
Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Albert United Church
20 Green Grove Dr.
Tickets: $30 to $35. Call 780-460-4310 or 780-459-1528
St. Albert is showing itself to be a city eager to appreciate the beauty of music from mainstream pop to the more traditional classical.
In the middle of all this musical activity is the St. Albert Chamber Music Society. For the past nine seasons, music lovers have been privileged to hear some of the finest classical musicians in North America.
For its second concert of the season, on Saturday, Nov. 17, at St. Albert United Church, society founder Nancy Watt switches it up with the Penny Sanborn Trio.
The trio features Penny Sanborn on classical accordion and two MacEwan University music instructors: Rubim de Toledo on bass and Jamie Philp on guitar.
These three world-class musicians play a cocktail of Astor Piazzola’s Nuevo tango, French musettes, Italian folk tunes and light classical.
Half a dozen samples of the trio’s work is available through YouTube videos. At the click of a keystroke, listeners can hear a peppy, rippling cascade of sensual notes that beg the listener to get up and dance.
The program includes various selections such as Piazzola’s famous tango Oblivion, the traditional Gypsy swing tune Ochi Cherny (Dark Eyes), and the Italian folk song O Sole Mio. Each one promises to weave a spell through the interplay of moments.
“We’re even going to play several excerpts from the opera Filumena composed by John Estacio,” said Sanborn.
The trio also just completed tracking a new album, Mirror Suite, with a planned official release date in December.
“I’d been writing different melodies – some folk-based, some classical. And I wanted to pull together my style of playing with the musicians I play with,” Sanborn said.
More than half a dozen years ago, the Calgary resident met de Toledo through Cow Town’s inner music circle. He was one of the city’s go-to bassists and in 2018 won the Western Canadian Music Award for Jazz Artist of the Year.
“We played together for years until he took the position at MacEwan University as section head of bass, but we continue to work together,” she said.
“He really pushes you. He doesn’t wait for something to happen. He’s one of the best I’ve heard. I often write a pizzicato where you use a bow. It’s not easy if you’re not classically trained, but he can do both.”
When Sanborn’s longtime guitarist, Keith Smith passed away two years ago, de Toledo recommended Philp, guitar section head.
“Jamie is one of the nicest people you can talk to. And as a musician, I like that he’s so accurate. He can read music and improvises, and that’s not something all musicians can do.”
As for Sanborn, she’s very modest about her talent. Yet she’s played for some international heavyweights at Calgary Philharmonic such as the now deceased Luciano Pavarotti and opera singer Renée Fleming, who sang Danny Boy at U.S. Sen. John McCain’s memorial service.
Saxophonist Haley Spector, 17, starts the concert. The multi-instrumentalist also balances seven other instruments in her repertoire: piano, classical guitar, trumpet, cello, violin, flute and voice training.
