[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Kinder_Keith.jpg” caption=”Keith Kinder, associate professor in the School of the Arts, will conduct the McMaster Chamber Orchestra’s concert on Sunday, Oct. 28. Photo courtesy of SOTA.”]The McMaster Chamber Orchestra will perform its first concert of the season on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. in Convocation Hall. The concert will feature an eclectic program under the direction of Keith Kinder, associate professor in the School of the Arts, including a special performance of the restored version of the overture to Colas et Colinette, the first opera performed in Canada.

This unusual piece was one of two musical comedies composed by French emigre Louis-Joseph-Marie Quesnel. Composer Godfrey Ridout restored the piece by using the surviving vocal and second-violin parts to reconstruct Colas et Colinette as close as possible to the original version first performed in 1790 in Montreal. As the first opera performed in the colonies, Colas et Colinette has a special place in Canadian history.

The second piece is Elgar's Chansons, Op. 15. The Chansons are actually composed of two pieces, Chanson de Nuit and Chanson de Matin. They were created as collaboration between Elgar and composer AJ Jaeger. Chanson de Nuit has been widely eclipsed by the popular melody of Chanson de Matin.

The third piece, a Concerto in G Minor for Two Cellos, Op. 58, No. 3 by Vivaldi will feature two fantastic young cellists, Rebecca Morton and Eli Graybiel. Morton graduated from the Royal Conservatory with an ARCT and was awarded a gold medal for achieving the highest string mark in Canada. She is currently teaching private lessons at McMaster University.

Lastly, the McMaster Chamber Orchestra will perform a suite from The Wasps by Vaughan Williams. The entire suite was composed in 1909 when Williams was asked to write incidental music for a performance of Aristophanes' great satire The Wasps at Cambridge.

Tickets are $10 per concert or $15 for the series of two concerts. For more information, please call 905-525-9140, ext. 24246.