By Tanya Batson, Staff ReporterON SUNDAY, the Lisa Holness Violin Studio presented "Strings at Christmas" which featured violins only, at the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts. The performances were mainly by students and as such, a few proud papas had their camcorders at the ready, to capture their little ones in action.
The first segment of the night featured solos by nine students. The first to display her talent was also one of the youngest members of the school, Micah Holness, who has been studying the violin for three months.
Four year-old Micah looked like a beautiful little glass of milk in her frothy pink dress. The segment gradually moved to more complex and longer pieces as the players became older and more experienced. Thus Joelle Lee, Russel Lee and Peter Ho gave rather good performances. However Racheal Lodge's (Concerto No. 5, Movement III), Phillip Ho's (La Folia) and Stefan Kerr's (Polish Dance) performances stood out. Phillip and Steven's performances further stood out as they reflected a greater maturity of style as they seemed to concentrate more on the music than simply the technique, putting their entire bodies into the performance.
The night then progressed to group selections and featured works from Bach and Schumann, among others. The inclusion of older players into this segment allowed for much more maturity to be displayed. This segment allowed the students to demonstrate their ability to move the violin from the rest to the play position. The selections Allegro, O Come Little Children (how appropriate) and Twinkle Variations displayed the largest contingent of the very young. As the curtain pulled back to reveal the players for Twinkle Variations, ooohs and aaahs escaped the audience when it was realised that some of the players looked hardly older than zygotes.
The final segment of the night, the orchestral selections, allowed the more experienced players to show their stuff and also included a few adult players.
Several of the young players got to try their hand at being the concert master (the conductor's second in command) and took their job rather seriously. This segment included some very popular selections, such as Tchaichovsky's Trepak (from The Nutcracker), Handel's Hallelujah Chorus, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (although this version sounded like Rudolph in a tux), Silent Night and, of course, Ukranian Bell Carol (also known as Carol of the Bells). Of them all, however, The Little Drummer Boy clearly stood out. During this piece Micheal Hewitt joined the violinists on the congo drums. It was later revealed that he was his own coach and he did a commendable job, for which the audience showed their appreciation.
While the performances were good, it must be noted that the children in the audience, and there were many, also provided some of the night's entertainment.
Little voices could be heard throughout the performances, although they were not particularly disturbing. Additionally, some children in their enthusiasm started applauding far too early and others could be seen mock-conducting. The show stealer of the night however, was a rather cute little boy who broke away from his charges and ran onto the stage. While he had no instrument, the audience found his performance rather charming.
On a more sour note, once again the cellular phone proved that it was omnipresent. Additionally, the Master of Ceremonies proved to be a little less than the highlight of the evening through his inexperience with the English Language (no, he is not foreign). Let it suffice to say that he mispronounced bow and had trouble reading hallelujah. Furthermore, he seemed to have formed a rather unhealthy attachment to the phrase "let's hear it for..." which preceded almost every piece.
There were also a couple of 'benz butus' who threatened to ruin the night for everyone by sitting in reserved seats and refusing to move when asked to do so, nicely of course. It would have served this couple to actually move and negotiate seats closer to the stage, as the woman they were with was blind.
