Classic. Just Classic.

PLEASE NOTE: the branch will be closed for regular dinner service this Friday, December 9; as we are fully booked for a Private Function...we are sorry for any inconvenience...

Saturday, December 10: Works by Franz Liszt, 8pm, $25...this Saturday, the branch is extremely proud to host a concert featuring works by the composer Franz Liszt; the concert, performed by mezzo soprano Lindsey Sikora and pianist Ryan Phelps, will feature both solo and vocal works by Liszt including the Massive Piano Sonata in B- often considered Liszt's greatest work.

Franz Liszt was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher who became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age. In the 1840s he was considered by some to be perhaps the greatest pianist of all time. He was also a well-known composer, piano teacher, and conductor. He was a benefactor to other composers, including Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg and Alexander Borodin.

As a composer, Liszt was one of the most prominent representatives of the "Neudeutsche Schule" ("New German School"). He left behind an extensive and diverse body of work in which he influenced his forward-looking contemporaries and anticipated some 20th-century ideas and trends. Some of his most notable contributions were the invention of the symphonic poem, developing the concept of thematic transformation as part of his experiments in musical form and making radical departures in harmony.

Lindsey Sikora is in the first year of her MMUs at the University of Ottawa with Professor Ingemar Korjus. She has a Performer’s Certificate from The King’s University College, where she studied with Elizabeth Raycroft, and is a graduate of the University of Alberta of Alberta. She has been the recipient of scholarships from the Johann Strauss and Anne Burrows Foundations, enabling her to travel to Austria and to participate in Opera NUOVA, and was the winner of the Northern Alberta Concerto Competition for voice (2006). She toured with Opera NUOVA with their production of Dean Burry's children's opera Isis and the Seven Scorpions. Other roles include Mrs. McLean from Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Miss Todd from Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and Edith from Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Ryan Phelps was born in Calgary, Alberta in 1980. He began his piano studies at the age of 11 with Sue Norloos in Dutton, Ontario and immediately fell in love with the study and challenge of music. He completed his Honours Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Western Ontario studying under Tina Yanchus and then under James Hibbard in 2004. He also holds an Associate in Piano Performance from Trinity College London, U.K. He continued studies for the last 6 years with Ron Turini, a student of the late Vladimir Horowitz. Ryan has also studied with Richard Raymond and Jean Paul Seville and participated in Master Classes with Cecile Ouset and Stephane Lemelin. He has won many prizes and scholarships from the Kiwanis Music Festival and other competitions in Ontario including the Silver Tray from the Rotary Music Competition. He has represented London twice at the Provincial Piano Finals. Ryan is currently working on his Masters Degree in Piano Performance at the University of Ottawa studying under Andrew Tunis.

Ryan will also be also hosting a Classical version of the Sunday Open Stage from 3-6pm on Sunday, December 11: the Rubber Boots Buffet will be served from 2 until 8pm.