The Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra will perform three times in August following last month’s successful outdoor concert at Jack Poole Plaza. On Tuesday (August 13), the VMO will be at Christ Church Cathedral (690 Burrard Street) for the closing gala of the inaugural Vancouver Piano Sessions Concerto Competition. It begins at 7 p.m.
The following evening (August 14) at 6 p.m., the VMO’s resident conductor, Stuart Martin, will lead the musicians. It will take place at Maple Tree Square Stage for the Meet Me in Gastown celebration.
Then at 6 p.m. on August 20, the VMO will perform songs from the record-breaking Netflix animated movie K-Pop Demon Hunters. This will mark the finale of the South Granville BIA Summer Social Club concert series. Music lovers can enjoy this concert at South Granville Plaza West (Granville and West 13th Avenue).
The VMO has also revealed three soloists at its 23rd season-opening concert, entitled A German Touch. In keeping with the title, pianist David Fung, violinist Christel Lee, and cellist Jonathan Roozeman will all perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. VMO music director Ken Hsieh will also be on-stage as conductor at the Orpheum Theatre on September 6.
Fung is no stranger to the VMO audience. He played Edvard Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 at the 21st-anniversary opening concert in 2023. Fung has been a soloist for many orchestras around the world. He is also an associate director and associate professor of piano and chamber music at the UBC School of Music.
VMO will unveil a world premiere
Meanwhile, Lee is a professor of violin at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe, as well as winner of the 11th International Sibelius Violin Competition. Roozeman, a Finnish-Dutch sensation, earned a five-star review in BBC Music Magazine for his recording of Kalevi Aho’s Cello Concerto No. 2 with the Kymi Sinfonietta.
Before Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, the VMO will perform the world premiere of a new work by composer-in-residence Aidan Mulldoon Wong. Hsieh will conduct the final piece of the evening, Johannes Brahms’s Symphony No. 4. This work, celebrated for its structural mastery and romantic beauty, will also be performed by members of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra to celebrate ties between China and Canada.
The Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra will perform its 23rd annual season opening concert, A German Touch, at the Orpheum Theatre on September 6. Purchase tickets through Showpass. For more information on the VMO, visit its website.
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