The program entitled Pocket Symphonies, which will be performed on Thursday, October 2, at 7:30 p.m. in the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium, is the brainchild of Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann.
For this creative venture, they sourced the scores by Carl Burchard and Friedrich Hermann. With their extensive contacts in the national and local music scene, they reached out to violinist Jasper Wood and cellist Sungyong Lim as collaborators. This foursome joins forces to present familiar symphonic works in an unfamiliar format.
The Bergmann Duo are known far and wide for their outstanding musicianship, whether they are playing on two pianos or sharing a single piano, as they will do in this performance. They have performed twice as a duo for the Valley Concert Society, in 2011 and 2019.
They are much more than performers. They teach at the Langley Community Music School where Elizabeth is the Artistic Director. They both share Artistic Director Duties for White Rock Concerts, a series like ours that was founded by George Zukerman. Marcel is also a composer who arranges a great deal of music for the duo but has also been commissioned by organizations around North America to write pieces for performance and for competitions.
While most of next Thursday’s performance will involve all four musicians, the second piece on the program will highlight the duo alone. Debussy’s Symphony in B minor has a misleading title. Debussy made plans as a teenager to write a symphony. What emerged was a single movement for piano duet. He never worked on it any further and later disavowed any interest in symphonies.
Marcel and Elizabeth were recently featured in an episode of Doug Gardham’s podcast Better Than Not. They spoke about their musical journey and their artistic collaborations. The discussion also highlighted their upcoming performance in Abbotsford, providing listeners with a glimpse into what they should expect from this highly anticipated concert.
Tickets for this concert are available online at www.valleyconcertsociety.com at $32 for adults and $20 for students. For more information, call 604-289-3377.
John Wiebe - President
The Valley Concert Society