Event: Don Juan

Company: Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra www.cpo-live.com

Where: Calgary, Alberta, Canada 

4 Stars 

Reviewed by: Breanne Cursley 

Don Juan is said to be one of the most technically demanding pieces for an orchestra to play.  And being quite a lengthy song this was rather evident – but the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) pulled it off beautifully.  Through the ups and downs of the many movements and songs, the orchestra did wonderfully; not allowing any mistakes, and playing above and beyond just ‘good music’. 

One thing that really impressed me in this event was in the second piece – Violin Concerto No. 4 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – when Violin master Corey Cerovsek came onto the stage to accompany CPO.  He came with no music, but when he started playing it was obvious why he didn’t need any – he felt the notes rather than just played them.  He started playing the violin at age five, and went on to get his masters, bachelors, and doctoral in music and mathematics by the young age of eighteen.  He has won many awards; to name a few: Gramophone Recommends, Supersonic Pizzicato and was also nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award.  His playing was phenomenal, absolutely amazing, and I would love to hear him play again. 

But it was just Cerovsek who made the event what it was; the entire orchestra is such an amazing talented bunch of individuals and the sound they produce is breathtaking.  Even after playing their first two songs (Strauss’s Don Juan and Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4) they managed to finish off wonderfully with Antonin Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8.  This couldn’t have been an easy to song to play (even though this piece was one of Dvorak’s least academic Symphonies), because it was around thirty-five minutes long, and there were many runs and solos for each instrument to play. 

Overall I would say the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra’s Don Juan was a very enjoyable event.  The works chosen were majestically and intricately played, and it was so nice just to sit back and relax and listen to the beautiful sounds of these three classic pieces.