Saturday, January 28, 2006


CBC Studio One in Vancouver holds many ghosts for me. I have taken photographs of musicians there.The CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra used to record in Studio One and is now home of its re-incarnation, the CBC Radio Orchestra. If it weren't for this orchestra many contemporary Canadian composers would never see their music recorded or played on the radio. One ghost that haunted the studio yesterday during the Mozart Noon & Night Program (conmemorating Mozart's 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth with 12 hours of live music) was conductor Sir John Eliot Gardiner who directed the orchestra back in 1981. I feel lucky since I have photographed all three of the directors of the orchestra from its beginning, Avison, Gardiner and the present Mario Bernardi. The sound of the studio yesterday was particularly precise for the Borealis Quartet, my favourite Canadian quartet. There were moments when I thought each instrument was wired separately to my ears. Canadian composer/director Rodney Sharman (top right)made me laugh with his explantions of the problems Mozart had as a young boy with his overbearing father Leopold. The evening, which ended with two gigantic birthday cakes, was best for me when young baritone Tyler Duncan, accompanied by science fiction fanatic Rena Sharon on the piano, sang some memorable Mozart vocal music including my fave Warnung K.433. Kudos to Michael Juk, Don Harder, Derek Bird Matthew McFarlane and I hope pianist Kenneth Broadway comes back to play soon.