Symphony Rhapsody

Dirk is a professional image consultant who assists his fabulous clients with their marketing and promotional needs through digital imagery.  Dirk of HA Photography has successfully organized and executed photo shoots for large national corporations, non-profits, and local small businesses.   Dirk’s images have been published locally, nationally and internationally in magazines, annual reports, books and billboards as far away as China.

When Dirk is not photographing or assisting as a board member, he can be found being with his family. Dirk and his wife Ronei have vibrant and charming daughter Kaita who continues to be an inspiration to them both.  They enjoy long road trips, exploring the world, sleeping in and laughing.  Dirk loves playing music and jamming with friends and playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Dirk has continually given back to the community over his 25 years of shooting professionally.  He has donated his expertise and professionalism to the Child Development Centre and Run for the Cure and the BC Summer Games, just to name a few.  Realizing the importance that music and culture plays an important roll in Nanaimo, Dirk has kindly donated his time and expertise to the Vancouver Island Symphony since 2008.  Photographing for the symphony has been a real joy for Dirk and he feels as though he is part of the symphony family.  Working with the symphony has provided Dirk with some fabulous opportunities. In 2012 Dirk was commissioned by the VIS to provide images for the backdrop for Handel’s Water Music concert.  It has been a career highlight for Dirk.  Dirk looks forward to continuing his work with the symphony and the opportunities it brings.

George Gershwin (born Jacob Bruskin Gershowitz, September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned both popular and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions Rhapsody in Blue (1924) and An American in Paris (1928), the songs Swanee (1919) and Fascinating Rhythm (1924), the jazz standard I Got Rhythm (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935) which spawned the hit Summertime.

Gershwin studied piano under Charles Hambitzer and composition with Rubin Goldmark, Henry Cowell, and Joseph Brody. He began his career as a song plugger but soon started composing Broadway theater works with his brother Ira Gershwin and Buddy DeSylva. He moved to Paris intending to study with Nadia Boulanger, but she refused him; he subsequently composed An American in Paris. He then returned to New York City and wrote Porgy and Bess with Ira and DuBose Heyward. It was initially a commercial failure but came to be considered one of the most important American operas of the twentieth century and an American cultural classic.

Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores until his death in 1937 from a malignant brain tumor. His compositions have been adapted for use in films and television, and several became jazz standards recorded and covered in many variations.

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Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition by the American composer George Gershwin for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects.

The composition was commissioned by the bandleader Paul Whiteman. It was orchestrated by Ferde Grofé several times, including the original 1924 scoring, the 1926 "theater orchestra" setting, and the 1942 symphony orchestra scoring, though completed earlier. The piece received its premiere in the concert, An Experiment in Modern Music, which was held on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York City, by Whiteman and his band with Gershwin playing the piano.

The editors of the Cambridge Music Handbooks opined that "The Rhapsody in Blue (1924) established Gershwin's reputation as a serious composer and has since become one of the most popular of all American concert works."

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Antonín Leopold Dvořák (8 September 1841 – 1 May 1904) was a Czech composer, one of the first to achieve worldwide recognition. Following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana, Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák's own style has been described as "the fullest recreation of a national idiom with that of the symphonic tradition, absorbing folk influences and finding effective ways of using them".

Dvořák displayed his musical gifts at an early age, being an apt violin student from age six. The first public performances of his works were in Prague in 1872 and, with special success, in 1873, when he was aged 31. Seeking recognition beyond the Prague area, he submitted a score of his First Symphony to a prize competition in Germany, but did not win, and the unreturned manuscript was lost until rediscovered many decades later. In 1874 he made a submission to the Austrian State Prize for Composition, including scores of two further symphonies and other works. Although Dvořák was not aware of it, Johannes Brahms was the leading member of the jury and was highly impressed. The prize was awarded to Dvořák in 1874 and again in 1876 and in 1877, when Brahms and the prominent critic Eduard Hanslick, also a member of the jury, made themselves known to him. Brahms recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock, who soon afterward commissioned what became the Slavonic Dances, Op. 46. These were highly praised by the Berlin music critic Louis Ehlert in 1878, the sheet music (of the original piano 4-hands version) had excellent sales, and Dvořák's international reputation was launched at last.

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The Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178, popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 while he was the director of the National Conservatory of Music of America from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular of all symphonies. In older literature and recordings, this symphony was – as for its first publication – numbered as Symphony No. 5. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took a tape recording of the New World Symphony along during the Apollo 11 mission, the first Moon landing, in 1969. The symphony was completed in the building that now houses the Bily Clocks Museum.

The symphony was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and premiered on 16 December 1893, at Carnegie Hall conducted by Anton Seidl. A day earlier, in an article published in the New York Herald on 15 December 1893, Dvořák further explained how Native American music influenced his symphony:

"I have not actually used any of the [Native American] melodies. I have simply written original themes embodying the peculiarities of the Indian music, and, using these themes as subjects, have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythms, counterpoint, and orchestral colour."

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The Bergmann Piano Duo’s dynamic and energetic performances of uniquely eclectic programmes have inspired audiences internationally. Their recitals and concerts with orchestra have taken them to many parts of the world, including the United States, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Macedonia, Greece, China and Canada. The duo has appeared at international festivals including: Festival of the Sound, Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, The San Francisco International Music Festival, MusicFest Vancouver, the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival, the Banff Arts Festival, the Royal Bank Calgary International Organ Festival and Competition, Festival Miami, the Tage für Neue Musik, Darmstadt, the Braunschweiger Kammermusik Podium, and EXPO 2000, Hannover.

They have made recordings for the CBC, for several stations of the ARD in Germany and for National Public Radio and has recorded several CDs, which appear on the CordAria, Arktos, Koch International Classics, Naxos, ARS and Brilliant Classics labels.  Their most recent recording, American Stories on the ARS label,  features exclusively Marcel’s arrangements.

They are both Artistic Directors of White Rock Concerts and Elizabeth is Artistic Director of Concerts at the Langley Community Music School. Marcel held a position as Professor of Music at Mohawk College in Hamilton and both Elizabeth and Marcel have been on faculty at Mount Royal University and University of Calgary as well as being involved in various musical projects at The Banff Centre for the Arts.

The duo studied with Arie Vardi at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hannover and with Jean-Eudes Vaillancourt at the Université de Montréal. They received first prize at the International Chamber Music Competition in Caltanissetta, Italy, and were laureates of The 4th Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition. They performed extensively in Germany as members of the young artists’ roster of Yehudi Menuhin-Live Music Now.

Their extensive repertoire ranges from the baroque to the contemporary and includes numerous own arrangements and compositions.

Dirk is a professional image consultant who assists his fabulous clients with their marketing and promotional needs through digital imagery.  Dirk of HA Photography has successfully organized and executed photo shoots for large national corporations, non-profits, and local small businesses.   Dirk’s images have been published locally, nationally and internationally in magazines, annual reports, books and billboards as far away as China.

When Dirk is not photographing or assisting as a board member, he can be found being with his family. Dirk and his wife Ronei have vibrant and charming daughter Kaita who continues to be an inspiration to them both.  They enjoy long road trips, exploring the world, sleeping in and laughing.  Dirk loves playing music and jamming with friends and playing Ultimate Frisbee.

Dirk has continually given back to the community over his 25 years of shooting professionally.  He has donated his expertise and professionalism to the Child Development Centre and Run for the Cure and the BC Summer Games, just to name a few.  Realizing the importance that music and culture plays an important roll in Nanaimo, Dirk has kindly donated his time and expertise to the Vancouver Island Symphony since 2008.  Photographing for the symphony has been a real joy for Dirk and he feels as though he is part of the symphony family.  Working with the symphony has provided Dirk with some fabulous opportunities. In 2012 Dirk was commissioned by the VIS to provide images for the backdrop for Handel’s Water Music concert.  It has been a career highlight for Dirk.  Dirk looks forward to continuing his work with the symphony and the opportunities it brings.