VSO program of Shostakovich, Adams, and B.C.'s Nicholas Ryan Kelly feels perfectly attuned to our times, April 26 and 27
Taiwanese violin virtuoso Paul Huang and the Elektra Women’s Choir join concert that speaks eloquently to eco anxiety, peak oil, and dictatorship

Violinist Paul Huang. Photo by Marco Borggreve
Tausk Conducts Shostakovich and Adams takes place on April 26 and 27, at 8 pm at the Orpheum
NEXT WEEKEND’S VSO program feels perfectly attuned to the global tumult and anxieties of our times. That’s likely due to the fact that it’s comprised entirely of works by 20th-century and living composers.
Take the B.C. premiere of John Adams’s groundbreaking work, Harmonielehre, written in 1985 as a reaction against atonality—and pointedly named after the 1911 music theory textbook by Arnold Schoenberg, who pioneered the “twelve-tone” method of composition which did away with conventional tonalities. Adams was actually inspired to write the piece after having a vivid dream of witnessing an oil tanker turning vertical and shooting off into the skies: a subconscious rendering of peak oil, in its most literal form.
There’s also a performance by Taiwanese violin virtuoso Paul Huang of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, in A Minor. Written at a time of growing antisemitism in Soviet Russia, Shostakovich pointedly included a klezmer-style Scherzo, as well as a satirical takedown of dictatorship embedded into the last movement; a cheeky middle finger to the “anti-formalist” and personal attacks launched at him by Stalin. (As Mark Twain famously said, “History doesn’t always repeat, but it often rhymes.”)
Finally, the Elektra Women’s Choir will join with the orchestra for the world premiere of Earth, Beloved by B.C. composer Nicholas Ryan Kelly. Depending on the severity of your eco-anxiety, the work is bound to either deliver a moment of comfort or strike a bittersweet chord.
Performances take place this week at the Orpheum Theatre, April 26 and 27, at 8 pm.
Jessica Werb is an award-winning writer, copy editor, and communications consultant based in Vancouver. When she’s not covering the arts or debating the Oxford comma, you can often find her playing the cello.
Related Articles
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor joins other works that search for spiritual heights
The veteran folk songwriter mixes musical warmth and political urgency to forge new approaches to the world’s biggest shared challenges
Lon Chaney’s scary makeup, a vintage pipe organ, and a score by Andrew Downing bring eerie atmosphere to the Orpheum show
The Montreal-born musician has already had a storied career, but his star continues to rise
BlueShore at CapU and New Old World Music Society present the global new music ensemble
Nature-inspired program includes compositions by Veljo Tormis, R. Murray Schafer, and Nico Muhly
The concert is part of the group’s Canadian tour of Tawazûn, its debut album rooted in Algerian melodies and energetic jazz
Rising star embraces the complexity of Verdi’s tragic daughter figure, and follows with another debut in Fauré’s Requiem with the VSO
The duo of Adèle Trottier-Rivard and Nicolas Basque likes to keep an element of onstage tension at its shows
Program centres on R. Murray Schafer’s Theseus for harp and string quartet
The young Russian-American virtuoso has built an international reputation on major prize wins and an innovative approach
Artist from the Tobique First Nation infuses his bold piano compositions and sublime melodies with classical, jazz, and pop influences
Program features Derek Holman’s Sir Christëmas Suite, the world premiere of Gerda Blok-Wilson’s As if New-Created, and more
Performance of monumental choral work also features the Vancouver Chamber Choir
The singer’s metaphor-rich work is rooted in the traditions of ghazals and Sufi poetry
Director Tod Browning’s 1927 film starring Lon Chaney is characterized by sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, and disfigurement
Interdisciplinary artists Parmela Attariwala and Erin Gee take very different approaches to exploring the afterlife through their work
Season subscriptions for the long-standing organization’s six-concert series are now available for purchase
Moving tribute features music from the duo’s forthcoming album L’Amour à la Folie
Offerings range from the world premiere of Hildegard Westerkamp’s cinematic tone poem Klavierklang to the multidisciplinary project Resonant Transmutations
With the help of a mediator, the musicians and the VSO Society have come to a tentative agreement
The veteran performer is an actor, a singer-songwriter, and a multi-instrumentalist—but first and foremost, he’s a storyteller
Sorrow meets solace with a program that spans classical, folk, and pop, including Ken Cormier’s arrangement of Army Dreamers
The British producer was joined by Vancouver visual artist Saghi Ehteshamzadeh for a show that went beyond the expected Massive Attack hits
The Montreal-bred saxophonist, praised for his versatility, is now a prolific performer in New York
The Fab Four’s most-celebrated album was a formative influence on the veteran American singer-songwriter who’s headed to the BlueShore at CapU
Program revolving around Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor explores the multifaceted concept of paradise
The improvisation-heavy jazz quartet melds Afrocentric rhythms with electronically warped electric guitars
Celebratory event also includes a lantern-making workshop and complimentary mooncakes
Centenary screening features live music by seven-piece orchestra and 80-person choir, with Michael Dirk on Wurlitzer organ