Those who had tickets for the cancelled Looking Glass Duo’s concert in Turner Valley three years ago may say it was worth the wait.
Juno award-winning harpist Gianette Baril and award-winning flutist Lucie Jones were set to perform alongside Russia-born cellist Kirill Kalmykov for the Beneath the Arch Concert Series in early 2013. When Baril’s son suffered a bad fall while hiking in Nepal a week before the show they had to cancel.
The trio have rescheduled and will perform a combination of solos, duets and trios at the Flare ‘n’ Derrick Community Hall Jan. 17 at 3 p.m.
The musical line-up will be the same, but Baril said those in attendance will experience a different show than they might have in 2013.
“So much changed for me in the past three years,” she said. “My intention now is to share fully and to be authentic - to be authentic includes being imperfect. There’s the potential that I might play the wrong note or hit the wrong pedal, but there’s not that worry that it’s not perfect that’s so inhibiting. The mistakes and challenges is what we learn from.”
She said her son’s near-death helped her come to the realization that a flawless performance is not that important.
“The fall that my son had was the most positive experience of his life and my life,” she said. “It sounds strange to say, but both he and I realized our lives are so clearly a gift that neither of us is willing to waste a moment. It’s the primary reason I chose to go away on sabbatical.”
For 10 months, Baril travelled 80,000 km toting a 15-pound backpack with a mission to lend a hand in various places around the world.
She returned to Nepal to give back to a community that supported her during the most difficult time of her life, volunteering at a children’s home that takes in youth whose parents are in prison and spent five months in Brazil, fundraising, donating harps and teaching music to children.
“I decided to open the door for those kids,” she said, adding she will return annually. “It was incredible to realize that we can give just our presence, we don’t need to have any kind of title or any sort of official education.”
These experiences have impacted Baril as a performer, driving her to connect better with her audiences, she said.
“Connecting to communities has become much more prevalent in my life and that is very much represented through my performing,” she said. “Music is a fantastic medium to open doors to communication and connect on a level we don’t typically use. It’s really important for an audience to be given the opportunity to make a personal connection so they can connect with the music, as well as understand what we do and what draws people to music.”
Half of Baril’s music career was spent in Europe where she represented Canada at the World Harp Congresses in Vienna and Paris and performed solos for the Queen, Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana.
In Canada, Baril has performed with the Red Deer Symphony, the Banff International Summer Festival and the Symphony of the Kootenays as well as a wide variety of solo and chamber music recitals.
Jones, the winner of the University of Calgary Concerto Competition in 2005/06 and the 2008 National Flute Association Performers’ Competition, has been a featured performer with Calgary’s Kensington Sinfonia, a soloist with the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra and the Canadian University College Orchestra and an extra player with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
Baril and Jones met while studying at the University of Toronto in the 1970s, began performing together in 2004 and formed Looking Glass Duo in 2009.
Baril and Jones are instructors at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University Conservatory, as well as clinicians for bands and orchestras in southern Alberta. Kalmykov is also an instructor at the Mount Royal University Conservatory.
Tickets to see Looking Glass Duo perform cost $25 for adults, $10 for children and youngsters six years and under are free.
They can be purchased at Coyote Moon Cantina & Espresso Bar in Turner Valley, Bluerock Gallery in Black Diamond, the Millarville General Store and Okotoks Country Florist or call 403-933-7040.
For information about concerts go to beneaththarch.ca
