Voces Intimae Quartet – Nordic Voices
Welcome to Music At Wentworth Villa. Our regular concert attendees will remember violinist David Stewart who gave a memorable recital of masterworks for violin and piano with pianist Jane Coop in May 2019, back when we could hold live concerts, and even gather for tea, cookies, and conversation during the intermission! For this online performance, David returns to Wentworth Villa as the first violin of the newly formed Voces Intimae Quartet. The quartet will perform the Quartet in D Minor, “Voces Intimae” by Jean Sibelius, from which they take their name, and four movements from Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suites, Op. 23. Following the music, the players discuss the program, the background to forming the group, and their special connection to this evocative Scandinavian repertoire.
Program
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Quartet in D minor Op. 56 “Voces Intimae”
Andante – Allegro molto Moderato
Vivace
Adagio di molto
Allegretto
Allegro
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Four movements from the incidental music to Peer Gynt
Solveig’s Song
Anitra’s Dance
The Death of Åse
Dance of the Mountain King’s Daughter
Special thanks for the ongoing support of Burkett and Company and Tom Lee Music.
Donations
Please consider making a donation so that we can continue to support our musicians and make sure music is made at Wentworth Villa, even if we cannot attend in person to hear it. Online donations are facilitated by Kindful. You may donate here or through the Victoria Foundation and Canada Helps. Wentworth Villa is run by Pacific North-West Heritage Home Foundation and is a charity for Income Tax purposes. CRA number: 816296438. Donations $20 and over will be provided with a tax receipt.
About Voces Intimae Quartet
DAVID STEWART – VIOLIN
Violinist David Stewart has enjoyed a wide range of experience in the music profession as frequent soloist with orchestra, recitalist, chamber musician, studio musician, baroque violinist, concertmaster, conductor and university professor. (University of Ottawa and the University of Manitoba)
Recently he served as first concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, having re-won his position after a 20-year absence. With BFO, he has recorded numerous CDs and has had occasion to play in all the major concert halls of Europe.
David is co-founder of the Lumiere String Quartet, (on classical period instruments) the Agassiz Chamber Music Festival, (Winnipeg) the Norwegian contemporary music ensemble BIT-20 and the Voces Intimae String Quartet.
PAULE PRÉFONTAINE – VIOLIN
Paule Préfontaine has had a career spanning 35 years that has allowed her to take on many different roles as a musician. She was assistant concertmaster of the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway, guest principal 2nd violin in Porto, Portugal. She has performed recitals and chamber music in Ireland, Finland, Norway, China and Germany.
While living in Ottawa, she played regularly in the National Arts Centre Orchestra, from 2002 to 2014 and participated in many tours with NACO. She was also a member of 13 Strings (principal second). In addition, she was concertmaster of the Hull Chamber Orchestra.
She has been an active chamber musician performing in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Music and Beyond, first violin of the Prisme Ensemble (Gatineau/ Ottawa), Sysman Suvisoitto (Finland), Bergen Kammermusikk (Norway) and the Georgian House series in Limerick, (Ireland). Paule is also a founding member of the Quatuor Lumière.
YARIV ALONI – VIOLA
Violist Yariv Aloni is the music director of the Victoria Chamber Orchestra, the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra, and the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra. He won numerous awards from the American-Israel Cultural foundation as well as the Israel Broadcasting Authority award for chamber music performance. When he was 22 he performed for the first time in New York alongside Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman at Carnegie Hall.
Former violist of both the Penderecki string quartets and the Aviv piano quartet, he has performed in concert halls around the world, including Lincoln Centre in New York, the Louvre in Paris, Tonhalle in Zurich and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt to name a few. He has recorded for the United, Marquise, Tritonus and CBC labels as well as independent CD labels and performs in numerous chamber music concerts, festivals and recital series.
Yariv Aloni studied viola with David Chen at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, his other teachers were Daniel Benyamini in Israel and Michael Tree in the United States.
PAMELA HIGHBAUGH-ALONI – CELLO
Praised for her “meltingly beautiful solos” (The Detroit News) and performances of “depth and insight” (Times Colonist), Pamela Highbaugh-Aloni is a co-founding member of the Lafayette String Quartet.
Since 1991, Pamela along with her quartet colleagues has been on the faculty at UVic, where as Associate Professor she teaches cello and chamber music. Originally from California, Pamela earned her BMus and MMus degrees from California State University, Northridge and Indiana University. Her principal teachers include Peter Rejto, Janos Starker and Paul Katz.
An enthusiast teacher, Ms. Highbaugh-Aloni served for ten years on the faculty at the Courtenay Youth Music School and Festival and has been the coach for the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra cello section for over a decade. Pamela plays on a George Craske cello made in England, 1850.