The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (HPO) will return to the stage in 2025 with a combination of beloved works, new music, and the return of former Music Director James Sommerville as guest conductor.
The January 18 concert will showcase Sommerville’s unique talents with a program that sees him both conducting and performing as a soloist.
“I am brimming with excitement at the chance to collaborate again with the incredible musicians of the HPO,” says James Sommerville in a statement. “A great concert hall, a supportive and engaged audience and a brilliant orchestra — it’s great to be back!”
“This program has a bit of everything,” Sommerville continues, “but the music that I’m most excited about comes from our own country. The title of Pierre Mercure’s 1948 classic, Kaleidoscope tells you what’s in store: a brilliant, ever-shifting polychromatic fantasy of harmony and melody. And Alice Ping Yee Ho’s The Phantom Bird of Han is another marvel, a brief tone poem that tells an epic mythological tale in sparkling and evocative sound.”
The program for the concert is varied, and includes:
Pierre Mercure (1927 – 1976) composed Kaleidoscope in 1948. The native of Montréal was still a student at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal at the time. He’d go on to graduate with honours, including winning first prize in Harmony, Counterpoint, and second prize at the bassoon in 1949. He’s known for his ballet scores as well as orchestral and chamber works, and film scores. Pierre was a proponent of new and electronic music, and sadly his career ended with a fatal car accident in France at the age of 38.
Composer Alice Ho talks about her tone poem The Phantom Bird of Han. “I hope this composition will spark the audiences’ imagination of a beautiful metamorphosis in an ancient magical world, voyaging through time, adventuring peace and chaos, sadness and triumphs.”
Sommerville will perform as both conductor and soloist in Mozart’s Third Horn Concerto. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 447, was completed some time between 1784 and 1787 during the composer’s time in Vienna. He wrote it for a long-time family friend, hornist Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb, who he mentions in the original score.
Horns at the time did not include valves like the modern instruments do today, and the instrument’s range was limited as a result. Leutgeb was a master at a technique that had been recently introduced, however, which gave him melodic flexibility. The technique involved using the right hand in the horn’s bell to add notes to the horn’s natural harmonics.
Mozart varied his usual orchestration of oboes and horns to substitute clarinets and bassoons, creating a complementary soundscape for the horn soloist.
Also on the program is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Beethoven’s 7th Symphony was said to be one of his personal favourites, and it was an audience hit on its premiere in Vienna in December 1813 with the composer himself conducting. He described it to his audience as simply a patriotic work, although his feelings about the Napoleonic wars that were raging at the time would later become clear.
The symphony was praised by many, including fellow composer Hector Berlioz. It’s often lauded for its rhythmic intensity, combined with a simpler melodic character than many of his works.
James Sommerville occupies a unique niche in the classical music world as both a performing French horn player and conductor.
The Toronto native began his music education at the piano at age seven, but was persuaded to switch to French horn by his high school music teacher. He’d go on to study at the University of Toronto, and at the University of Western Ontario.
In 1985, he won the CBC Radio Competition for Young Performers, and followed up in 1991 with the Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation Award. His performing career has included positions with Symphony Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra. He served as associate principal horn player with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1986 till 1991, and as third horn with the Toronto Symphony in 1997. From 1996 to 1998, he was acting principal horn in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
He’s perhaps best known internationally for his role as principal horn chair of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), a role he won after a gruelling audition in 1998, and held until he retired in December 2022.
As a recording artist, his work appears on many award-winning CBC recordings, including the JUNO winning disc Mozart Horn Concertos with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra under Mario Bernardi, which won in the Classical Album Large Ensemble category in 1998. He added a second JUNO nomination for Classical Album Vocal/Choral Performance in 1999 for his work on A Britten Serenade with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
Alongside his performing career, Sommerville studied conducting with Finnish maestro Jorma Panula, who has also mentored the likes of Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Klaus Mäkelä and Tarmo Peltokoski, among others.
In 2008, he was named music director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, a role he held until 2012 simultaneously with his performing career at the BSO.
During his time with the HPO, he was known for varied programming which saw the orchestra performing traditional classics from the repertoire, along with new music, chamber works, and a pop music series.
James is also a dedicated educator. A long-time member of the New England Conservatory faculty, he has taught at The Longy School, University of Toronto, Oberlin College, McGill University, the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, and Dalhousie University.
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