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Articles About Divertimento |
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"Ottawa's best-kept musical secret" |
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March 24, 2008
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January 25th 2008
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November 18, 2006
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 ©Photo by Lois Siegel Gordon Slater Walter Babiak October 21, 2005 Divertimento to Premiere New Walter Babiak Piece By Lois Siegel Special to The Weekly Journal  |
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July 14, 2005
Parliament
Hill virtuoso's tools are 53 bells,
bizarre machine, flailing limbs By Stephen Thorne OTTAWA (CP)  ©Photo by Lois Siegel He's a virtuoso who's played for millions, but his audiences have never seen him perform nor has he ever seen them. Gordon Slater has given thousands of performances since he was appointed Canada's fourth dominion Carillonneur on April Fool's Day 1977. But the greatest compliment this quirky, mildly eccentric musician says he ever received came, unwittingly, from a Parliament Hill maintenance worker. Slater had just finished performing his daily recital from his little nest buried deep in the bowels of the Peace Tower, where his only companions are 53 bells and the bizarre-looking instrument he uses to play them. "I was leaving the tower, walking through the corridors of power, and there was a guy pushing a broom, sweeping the floor, whistling a tune I had just played," Slater recalls with a kind of subdued, measured glee. "I got him! I knew I had reached him. And that was very gratifying. "He didn't know who I was, to see me. He didn't realize what had happened. But he had heard a tune that resonated with him and he whistled it while he swept." In
fact, many people have seen the bearded, bespectacled Slater,
and many more have heard him. But most would be hard pressed to
put the two together.
 Photo by Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa Citizen Reprinted with permission Gordon Slater He works alone. He has no secretary, assistant or understudy. His sprawling office is in an isolated corner of the East Block, decorated with tiny dinner bells, Buddhist chimes and concert posters from the world over. Shelves are packed with files, scores and music books. There's a keyboard and in the back is a practice carillon, its 53 "keys" - levers, actually - laid out exactly as those inside the tower where he plays five days a week. Each day, he takes a set of back stairs to work because he likes the paneled skylight above them, the ornate, cast-iron balustrades and the converted gas lamps that illuminate his way. From there he enters a tunnel, crossing over into the Centre Block, then takes an elevator up, up, up - 50 metres above the picnickers and politicians, pundits and protesters, tourists and bureaucrats scattered across the lawns of Parliament who will be his audience. He
has no pretences, this son of a
Carillonneur who first took up piano at age 4, then sat
for years next to his father in Toronto's Metropolitan United
Church, learning the not-so-delicate art and technique of
playing the bells.
For those working on the Hill and living in the neighbourhood, the bells are "part of the wallpaper." They ring every 15 minutes, with the requisite bongs every hour, on the hour. For 10 months a year, Slater plays for 15 minutes most weekdays after the noon bells. In July and August, he's up there for an hour after the weekday 2 p.m. bells. "I am keenly aware of this background nature of the sound," he says. "However, it is that very thing - the retiring nature of the sound - that empowers me to try and lift the spirit, if you will, of you and your kind on the ground as you go about your daily work."
Slater and his bells are "the same as the architecture, the same
as the portraits and sculptures on the walls." He loves the carillon - he calls it the ultimate acoustic instrument. He likens it to a piano but much louder, more resonant (there's no deadening pedal) and far simpler, partly because it never has to be tuned. The tension on the steel cables that connect the keys to the clappers - which weigh up to 229 kilograms - vary with temperature and humidity, however, and do have to be adjusted. The keen-eared can hear him doing so before virtually every performance - soft dings and dongs that precede the inspiring version of O Canada he plays at the beginning of every summertime recital. Then, Slater turns off the quarter-hour bells - a few performances have been muddled because he's forgotten - and dons a pair of gardening gloves with all but the baby fingers half-removed. The instrument's 53 brown wooden levers are laid out like a piano's 88 keys - the sharps, or black keys on a piano, elevated above the so-called "naturals," equivalent to the piano's white keys. The gloves allow his fists to slide easily across the levers.
Half the bells -the heavier, deeper-toned ones - can also be played with the feet. The instrument covers 4 1/2 octaves; a piano covers 7 1/3. A rarely seen performance by the gangly six-footer is a sight to behold. Slater takes his seat on a long, elevated wooden bench and begins slowly, his sinewy arms and legs moving back and forth as he plays the national anthem, first softly, then building into a chorus and ultimately a crescendo of resonant chimes, his limbs flailing wildly like a dancing puppet. Outside, it sounds harmonious. But inside the three-by-five-metre room, it's a cacophony of clattering cables and thunking keys, underscored by the dings and dongs from 47 bells above him and six below. There are 935 pieces in his day-to-day repertoire, and hundreds more at his fingertips. He plays all forms of music, from baroque to folk, and many nationalities. He's played the Beatles (Yesterday) and Gordon Lightfoot (Did She Mention My Name), Burt Bacharach (Say a Little Prayer) and a piece written by former prime minister John Diefenbaker's father D.T. Diefenbaker (Rush to the Klondike). He plays Japanese folk tunes (Sabura Sabura) for the Japanese tourists who flock by the busload to Parliament Hill. Then of course, there's Mozart and Chopin and Pachelbel and Handel, and a host of lesser-knowns and unknowns, high-brow and low.
Slater recently played a set of three English folk songs: 10
Green Bottles (a "precursor to 99 Bottle of Beer on the Wall,"
he jokes), a British Navy battle song called Spanish Ladies
(about the dilemma of fighting the men of the Spanish armada
while wanting to love the Spanish women), and The Lincolnshire
Poacher, for which he knows no "clean set of words."
Stephen J. Thorne |
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They are doctors, lawyers, physicists, teachers, physiotherapists, high tech workers, accountants, filmmakers and mathematicians, and Gordon Slater, conductor, is the Dominion Carillonneur on Parliament Hill. What do all these people have in common? They play music together as part of Divertimento Orchestra, a 70-member Ottawa community group. This is the orchestra's 20th Anniversary, and they will be playing in Orléans this Saturday at 8 p.m. at at the Orleans United Church, 1111 Orleans Blvd. The program includes Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4 in G, with Carla Sved, soprano solo; Franz Schubert's Overture to "Rosamunde;" and Georges Bizet, Suite No. 1 from "Carmen." Divertimento Orchestra was founded by Patrick and Brigid Fitzgerald in 1984. It started in a basement and then expanded to a larger hall. The rest is history. The first conductor was Gabor Finta. His daughter, Eszter, now plays violin with Divertimento. She joined the orchestra in the fall 2002 and met Gordon Slater, Martin Bueno and Patrick Fitzgerald, who played with Divertimento when her father conducted. Anne Cure, viola, lives in Blackburn Hamlet where she has a music shop: "Anne Cure Violins," above the Blackburn Arms. She's a luthier and has been teaching for over 30 years. The overall reaction of Divertimento's players is that they love playing with this orchestra. And there is never a dull moment. What was one of Cure's favorite 'happenings'? "When the viola section of the orchestra dressed up as cats for Halloween," she insists.
Carole Dence, violin, is one of the original members of the orchestra. She explains that discipline within the orchestra and cooperation among members makes it work. "In the beginning it was a struggle to build the sense of community and commitment that makes such a group survive in good and bad times. Our level of attendance at rehearsals is nothing short of phenomenal for an amateur orchestra of this size."
But it isn't always easy. This type of orchestra has no permanent home for concerts with good acoustics and seating, they have to rely on other organizations to help sell tickets, and they are their own caterers and moving crew. "But there is less pressure than in a professional orchestra. We can please ourselves about what we play, and we don't have to answer to professional critics," Dence says. David Sale, oboe/English horn, is impressed by the willingness of the members of the orchestra to play difficult pieces. "Where else can you play Mahler?" he says. Violinist Felicity Mulgan joined Divertimento last January. "I had allowed my violin playing to stagnate for a long time for various reasons (3 kids and a full-time job). I resolved that when I moved to Ottawa from Toronto, I would start playing regularly again." Carl Widstrand was a professor of African Studies for 25 years. "Now, in my dotage, he claims, I humbly fiddle the double bass." He started to play the instrument at age 60. And former Orleans resident, Quinn Redekop, says about Divertimento Orchestra, "Everyone is treated fairly, and everyone gets involved."
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August 7, 2003
Orchestra Celebrates 20 Years By Tom Collins The News  |
December 2003
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December 2003
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September 12, 2003 Music Men in the Glebe By Lois Siegel The Glebe Report
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October 17, 2003
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November 14, 2003 Pakenham Resident a Perfect Fit with the Divertimento Orchestra By Lois Siegel The Weekender
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Catalfamo Shares Musical Talent As Part of Prestigious Orchestra By Phillip Ambroziak Carleton Place  |
 ©Photo by Charles Frost November 14, 2003 Music Man Comes Down the Hill By Lois Siegel Special to Nepean This Week  |
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 ©Photo by Charles Frost November 14, 2003 Divertimento Orchestra comes to Orleans By Lois Siegel The Weekly Journal For two decades Divertimento Orchestra, a community orchestra, has been playing in the Ottawa area with a group of dedicated musicians.  |
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September
10,
2003 Blackburn violinist lives and breathes music By Lois Siegel Special to The Weekly Journal 
©Photo by Lois Siegel Tucked away in Blackburn Hamlet is a little music shop. Anne Cure, who moved to the hamlet three years ago, devotes most of her time to music. She plays viola in Divertimento Orchestra, a community music group of 60 members and is also a luthier and teacher. Cure was born in East Orange, New Jersey. She received a Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. In 1993, she opened her own violin shop in Falmouth, Maine, and in 2000 she moved to Canada, married and created "Anne Cure Violins," which sells, repairs and restores violins, violas and cellos. "(Canada) was where my husband lived, and after two years of visiting back and forth between here and Maine, we wanted to live in the same place," she explains. Cure loves living in Canada. "It's calmer, saner, and Canadians have more of a sense of humour about issues, which seems to make them easier to handle," she says. In the U.S., Cure studied violin restoration with German Master Violin Maker Horst Kloss, who cares for such collections as that of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She studied bow repair and restoration with Lynn Armour Hannings, a respected bow maker in the French tradition, and cello with international soloist Hélène Gagné of Montreal. She also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony and the National Orchestra, Washington, D.C. Cure also taught piano and voice at the Florida School for the Blind. It's something she loves to do, even after 30 years. "Teaching never gets old. There's always something interesting: new students, different learning styles," she says. "Children see things freshly. It's great to see music from their perspective, while figuring out how they learn best. Adults often know more about how they learn, about what works best for them." In addition to individual lessons, she directs a group of cellists: "The Cello Experience," as well as a string ensemble: violin, viola, and cello. She will also be directing a one-day workshop for string players, for CAMMAC (Canadian Amateur Musicians Musiciens Amateurs Du Canada) in October.
Cure also enjoys playing with Divertimento Orchestra. "There's a sense of community, a different attitude when music making is not one's job," she says. |
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The university professor,
emeritus, was born
in Stockholm, Sweden.
He grew up with
the swing and big
bands of WWII. Widstrand
was educated at
the University of
Stockholm, (Classics,
Archaeology, Anthropology),
and Freie Universitat,
Berlin, and he has
a PhD in Anthropology
and Archaeology
from Uppsala University.
He spent a lot of
time on archaeological
sites in the Nile
valley, Sweden,
Africa and the Aegean.
