With bows in hand, a pair of musicians is doing what they can to bring classical music home to the hearts of concertgoers across the country.
Cellist Sébastien Lépine and violinist Antoine Bareil make up the Quebec musical act Soaring Strings. They are performing in Bragg Creek Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. in a show geared to attracting new ears to the type of music the pair loves to play.
“It’s for all ages,” Lépine said of the duo’s repertoire in a rich French accent. “I am a music teacher and it’s important for me to reach a younger audience. So we give our concerts that kind of spirit.”
As a father of three the accomplished instructor and Stradivarius cello player has a strong first-hand grasp of the things which capture a young listener’s attention musically.
For more than half a decade Lépine and his playing partner Bareil have been taking the stuffiness out of classical music by bringing great energy to their live shows, which also feature the instrumentalists’ great technical skills.
Lépine explained he shares a great rapport and sense of camaraderie with his violin-playing accompanist.
“We make contact with the audience,” he said. “We have a lot of fun on stage together and we try to put the fun in the all the tunes we play. We also try to take advantage of the venue were playing in.”
If stage space permits the cellist said a Soaring Strings show would often incorporate extra lights and other performance enhancing elements not generally seen in a traditional classical music concert.
The unconventional performers break their show up into two acts. The first half features mainly classical selections, but not generally things played time and again by orchestras. The latter portion of the show veers off from what some music fans may be expecting. The second half of the show features melodies perhaps not necessarily considered folk music but closer to it in style than classical.
“The way we do things we always get very good comments after the show,” Lépine said of response from concertgoers. “They are very happy with our kind of repertoire which is very different than just playing Mozart and Beethoven.”
The Soaring Strings concert at the Bragg Creek Performing Arts Centre is on Saturday and is part of its dinner concert series. The meal will be served at 6:30 p.m. with the performance to follow at 8 p.m. Tickets can be ordered on-line at www.braggcreekperformingarts.com
