Conductor pays tribute to friend

Michael Massey is a conductor who has a knack for pushing his Edmonton Youth Orchestra (EYO) musicians to stellar heights with gentle persuasion and a knowing smile.

But their upcoming concert this Sunday at the Winspear Centre is more than just a challenge to perform beautiful music. It is a dedication to Massey’s dear friend Tom Rolston, a towering figure in developing musicians across Canada.

Rolston, who passed away on May 29 in Vancouver, spent the last 40 years in a myriad of teaching and administrative positions at the Banff Centre. His leadership brought the centre’s music programs to international prominence and helped establish the careers of such luminaries as The Gryphon Trio, Jon Kimura Parker, Jens Lindemann, Krzysztof Penderecki and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. “He influenced so many people’s lives,” says Massey, a St. Albert resident.

Back in 1965 Rolston invited Yoko Oiki, a protĂ©gĂ© of Shin’ichi Suzuki, the creator of the Suzuki method. She taught a summer pilot project of three-year-olds at the Banff Centre. When Massey created EYO in 1977, many from this same class joined the orchestra. “Just the fact that the Youth Orchestra recognize Tom is an important part of this concert.”

One of those musicians is Alissa Cheung, a violinist with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Enterprise String Quartet. Cheung first came to the attention of classical music lovers during her tenure as the EYO concertmaster.

She performs Bela Bartok’s Violin Rhapsody No. 1, a work with a Hungarian gypsy-style motif that is pronounced with slashing strokes. “She’s very clean, very meticulous and very quick.”

The Intermediate and Senior orchestras perform a range of music from Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 and Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture to Schuman’s Young Florestan and Haydn’s Symphony No. 13.

Massey describes Brahms’ symphony as the most performed, the most balanced and the hardest. “It’s in an awkward key and it’s rhythmically very subtle.”

One of the afternoon’s most exciting works is a 24-minute transcription of Schumann’s work that Massey created about 20 years ago, performed and set aside.

“It’s different ranges of piano music set for orchestra and put into one continuous flow with recurring themes. I tried to make it like ballet set pieces linked together with interludes.”

For more information visit www.eyso.com.