A world of color and music

BASYA LAYE

Since 2007, the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival has been engaging Vancouver audiences with music, dance, theatre and performance from around the world. The festival also showcases local artists, however, highlighting some of the best talent that this city has to offer.

This year, one of those local gems is Turning Point Ensemble. A large chamber ensemble with a commitment to Canadian music, Turning Point is “dedicated to increasing the understanding and appreciation of music composed during the past hundred years, linking the music of earlier times to the music of today through innovative programming and outstanding musicianship.” One of the ensemble’s outstanding musicians is Ariel Barnes.

A virtuoso cellist, Barnes has played an integral role in the local music scene since his arrival here as a teenager. Today, aside from an award-winning solo career, he is the principal cellist with the Vancouver Opera and CBC Radio orchestras and performs with Turning Point and Trio Accord, among countless other musical projects.

Barnes was born in Toronto to an acutely musical family, to violinist Nancy Mathis DiNovo and composer Milton Barnes, and his relationship with the cello started early. “[I] was steeped in this way of life from the very beginning,” he told the Independent in an interview. “I first discovered the cello during a string quartet rehearsal my mother was hosting at our house; apparently I couldn’t stand close enough to the cello!

“All the music in my life during my formative years was from the European Art Music tradition, and I attribute my familiarity with many musical languages to my exposure at this young age. I began private lessons as a cellist at the age of five, and never looked back. Along the way, I was influenced by different genres, U2 being the first rock band I can remember listening to (that timeless cover of War with a child in a military helmet will always be etched in my memory), and was later listening to metal, hip-hop, grunge bands and punk, alongside Shostakovich, Schubert, Beethoven, Prokofiev and Bloch.

“Spending summers at the Marrowstone Music Festival in Washington state was really key in my musical development during my teen years. It was there that I discovered the rush in performing chamber music; the Mendelssohn Octet gave me the bug! It was at this time that I really started to think about being a professional musician. The contact I had with great teachers from all over the continent, their support and encouragement, is what helped me understand how I might be able to carry music into my life as a profession. My mother was incredibly supportive and would encourage me at every turn to develop my musical talent.”

Barnes studied with several teachers during those formative years, but was particularly close with Craig Weaver, a member of the Seattle Symphony and former student of the well-known American cellist Orlando Cole.

“Craig was a teacher who really nurtured me as a cellist, musician and person. I met him at Marrowstone and instantly loved his big-hearted jovial nature – a Texan who loved the Pacific Northwest! I would travel down to Seattle every other week to have lessons with him and, as I remember, we would spend hours together at each lesson, sometimes talking, sometimes playing; he was instrumental in guiding me through some confusing teen years and simultaneously drawing out my musical inclinations. He knew how to get me to translate my life experiences into my cello playing.”

The ability to transform experience into lyrical expression has benefitted Barnes’ playing and, by extension, his audiences. Barnes was first noticed on the national stage at the age of 18, when he received the top prize in the Burnaby Clef Society Competition and made his debut as a soloist playing Ernst Bloch’s 1916 Schelomo, Rhapsodie Hebraïque for solo cello and orchestra. Barnes has remained close to the music of his heritage since. “Culturally, I’ve identified myself as Jewish for much of my life,” he explained. “In my youth I attended synagogue, benefiting from an education at Hebrew school and the community that surrounded me. But, as I moved to different cities, several times, I found that my connection with that community was lost. That being said, there is something in me that connects with Jewish music and a way of thinking that links me deeply to my roots.”

With a heavy performance schedule, it’s surprising that Barnes has time to explore new ventures and directions, but he appreciates the eclecticism and adventure. “I love working with all sorts of different people and mediums,” he stressed. “In working with a diverse group of people, I find time is the most challenging factor. But working with the great musicians I have the pleasure of collaborating with allows [me] the ability to realize creative projects in a timely fashion.

“Recently, I’ve been focusing my energy on developing commissioned music with Couloir, my cello/harp duo with Heidi Krutzen, playing with the Turning Point Ensemble, performing in productions with Vancouver Opera and developing solo projects, including all three of Benjamin Britten’s Solo Cello Suites (March 6, musiconmain.com) and Tchaikovsky’s Roccoco Variations with the Lions Gate Sinfonia on Jan. 28. I’ve also really enjoyed playing with pianist Jane Hayes, with whom I’ll be performing Claude Debussy’s cello sonata at the … PuSh Festival, and look forward to recital collaborations with new Vancouver resident, pianist Sarah Hagen.”

Barnes enjoys exploring the music of contemporary composers, as well as discovering music from other eras. “The list of music I love to play goes on and on,” he said, “from the solo works of J.S. Bach and Benjamin Britten to symphonic masterpieces of Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss.” However, “working with contemporary composers doesn’t necessarily change my relationship to the music and/or music making,” he continued. “It really depends if the composer has a very strong vision of their creation, and is willing to share it with you. I do feel really connected and invested in the idea that I am taking part in creating new art music in my time and helping the art form continue to live and breathe in the 21st century. To keep myself open, I do experiment with some improvisation and songwriting.”

The need to decompress comes with its own challenges, but Barnes has a love of the outdoors and adventure that provides a healthy counterpoint to being seated on stage and in practise for long periods of time. “I’ve had a love of skateboarding since I was 11 years old, and this is an activity that has offered me a lot of release,” he said. “Vancouver is home to some of the most famous skateboard parks in the world and I often find myself at Seylynn Bowl, challenging myself in the park or simply enjoying the cotton trees and burble of Lynn Creek.”

While taking a break can provide welcome diversions, Barnes remains excited as ever with performing on the stage. “I definitely have fun with playing – I love performing! Allowing myself to be natural on stage is vulnerable, but I feel it allows the audience to understand who it is that’s expressing music for them and allows me to get to know my audience.”

Turning Point’s Colorful World premières a large-scale commission by local composer Rodney Sharman, as well as a piece by Toru Takemitsu. Additionally, Barnes has the distinction that evening of performing the Debussy cello sonata with Hayes on piano, as well as the composer's Jeux. Jeux is considered “revolutionary in its dazzling shifts of sound and unpredictable structure,” notes the concert’s promotional material, and manifests the PuSh festival’s mandate to expose Vancouverites to performance that is “visionary, genre-bending, multi-disciplined, startling and original.”

“This incredibly creative work was one of the impressionistic master’s last pieces, making unmistakable references to the classic French Commedia dell’arte character Pierrot,” Barnes said of Jeux. “In this piece, one will hear Pierrot’s fantasy, love and freedom in a colorful dance between cello and piano.”

Colorful World is at the Fei and Milton Wong Experimental Theatre at Simon Fraser University Woodwards, Jan. 29, 8 p.m. For tickets or more information, visit pushfestival.ca or call 604-605-8284, ext. 200.

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