It will be a bittersweet symphony as the Okanagan’s only professional orchestra celebrates its season finale with a performance of Carmina Burana this weekend.
Bittersweet not only because of the tone poem composed by Carl Orff, but because it will be the last performance by Denis Letourneau as the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra’s concertmaster.
One of the constant sights and sounds of the OSO, Letourneau, also a first seat violinist, has been with the orchestra since the Summer Olympics were hosted in Montreal.
Based in Armstrong, Letourneau joined the OSO 40 years ago, and played as principal violinist for two years before he was offered the position of concertmaster.
“I think it is fitting as the singing of the solo lines from my violin will stop after this performance,” said Letourneau, who is turning 65 this week, and has had many solos in his years with the symphony.
“It felt like the time was right to step down. It sort of crept up on me and bit me. I found the little details and pressures of the solos were getting to be a little too much and it increases as you get older. It was getting harder, physically and mentally. I also think the orchestra needs fresh input from a really highly qualified candidate.”
That old mantra that a musician never truly retires rings true as Letourneau will be taking a back seat in that he will join the orchestra as a second seat violinist, playing occasionally. However, he will no longer be sitting beside his longtime partner in music and life, wife Susan Schaffer, on the stage.
She will continue her position as assistant concertmaster for the OSO.
“I sat beside her for 24 years. Certainly there’s some sadness involved,” said Letourneau.
The couple will now have more time to hit the dance floor. Both are involved in ballroom dancing and love to do the Argentine tango and they also perform in the duo Romanza del Arco.
Letourneau says he also has received immense support from OSO music director Rosemary Thomson.
“She was surprised that I would want to stay on to perform, but she was supportive when I said I want to stay and play in the back, whether it’s behind the curtain or in the parking lot,” he laughed.
Also a member of the jazz trio Wood Wire and Fire with OSO bass player Darko Cuk and guitarist Gil Kafka, who play a gig at Lorenzo’s Café in Ashton Creek June 4, Letourneau has immersed himself in the arts since he was a boy growing up in Edmonton.
He had significant influence from his parents, both of whom were professional musicians.
“My dad was a lyric tenor who performed with the Metropolitan Opera and my mom was a pianist. They made the decision to move out west and they started the Edmonton Opera Company. I remember famous people coming into our livingroom to perform. I would sit there quietly and get coaching from the best in the world. It was a great experience of listening and watching,” he said.
Letourneau would eventually follow in his parents’ footsteps, and went on to complete a bachelor of music in violin performance at the University of Alberta as well as post-graduate studies at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts.
“An interesting thing to note when I was graduating from high school, I did an extra year where I wanted to do different things. I entered university a year later than normal, and when I was finishing Grade 12, I became a member of the Alberta Ballet as a dancer and joined the men’s chorus with the Edmonton Opera. I was also playing violin and doing my chemistry homework. I was always going places and was never home,” he said.
Letourneau would go on to share his talents with others, not only as a performer but as an instructor.
A founding teacher at the Kelowna Community Music School, he also taught at the Vernon Community Music School (VCMS) for 35 years, and continues to teach classical and jazz violin at his home studio in Armstrong as well as at Fountainview Academy, near Lillooet, where he has taught for the past 17 years.
“I tell my students now that you’ve got to be out there, pushing hard. You have to get up running and not sit around and play on your cell phone all day,” he said.
In 2008, Letourneau was recognized for his extensive and outstanding contributions to the Okanagan arts community with an Okanagan Arts Award in music.
For his grand finale as concertmaster, Thomson has organized a special guest to perform with Letourneau. Let’s just say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to musical talent in the family.
“It has always been a dream for Denis to perform with his son, Nathan, who is a tenor, so I have invited Nathan to be one of the soloists for Carmina Burana,” said Thomson.
The occasion will also be marked with a special performance of Rachmaninoff’s O, Cease Thy Singing, Maiden Fair, with Nathan singing and his dad on violin.
A former student at the VCMS, Nathan Letourneau has a bachelor’s of music in vocal performance from the University of Toronto and a master’s in classical voice and opera from New York University.
Hailed by Broadway World as having a “gorgeous tenor voice,” he has sung in Washington D.C. and New York City and has been working for a new opera company in Boston.
“He also has a business degree and has been working with the Carnegie Foundation and the Avery Fisher Foundation, as they wanted someone who is multi-lingual,” said proud papa Denis.
Also joining the OSO for Carmina Burana will be soloists, baritone James Westman and soprano Cait Wood, along with the 100-member OSO Chorus and 80-member OSYO (youth) chorus.
Renowned pianists Marcel Bergmann and James Parker will also be on hand to perform one of Bergmann’s own piano duo compositions.
The OSO’s performance of Carmina Burana takes place at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Sunday, May 8 at 7 p.m. A pre-concert chat with Thomson starts at 6 p.m. Tickets are $52.50 for adults, $45.50 for seniors and $24.50 for youth and are available at the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, www.ticketseller.ca.