After a one-year hiatus, the Wednesday Noon Hour Concert series is back due to popular demand. Put on hiatus for the 2024-25 academic year due to administrative changes, the long-running concert series features hour-long performances by visiting and local musicians every Wednesday at noon at the Roy Barnett Recital Hall.
Brought back by acclaimed pianist, UBC professor and Chan Centre Piano Spirio Series curator David Fung, the concert series is making its return after many requests from the UBC community. For Fung, putting together these 24 concerts for the season was a "real investment of time into something that [he] really believe[s] in, which is the cultural life and diversity here on the UBC campus.”
Sept. 24’s Noon Hour concert featured a selection of works performed by Vancouver Acting Principal Cello Nathan Chan. As the audience was ushered into the Roy Barnett Recital Hall, the intimacy of the setting was striking. The proximity to the stage is intense — an ideal conduit for the day’s chamber music.
To start, Fung re-introduced the public to the concept of Wednesday Noon Hours and welcomed us to the Roy Barnett Hall, building anticipation and describing the venue as “one of the most acoustically perfect places” and the “best-kept secret in town.”
Chan, the featured musician of the week, was enthusiastically greeted by the audience, and the energy he would bring to the performance was already palpable in his introduction to the pieces. As he introduced his first piece, Bach’s celebrated prelude to Cello Suite No.3, he primed the audience for his performance by associating the music with evocative imagery of angles, contours and architecture. As he started playing, his introduction rang even more true. With each movement, the audience was transported on a journey — one full of turns and nuances, emphasized by the shifting emotions of each section of the prelude.
The Bach piece was followed by the more contemporary “Alone” by Giovanni Sollima, who Chan introduced as an “innovator” moving the field of cello music forward. “Alone” was performed in a stark manner that truly felt soul-baring. It was easy to see why it has been described as “haunting” in the event program. The tension in the room climbed, with contrasting dynamics in the music heightened by Chan’s physicality.
To close the show, Fung joined Chan on stage for the final “Cello Sonata” by Claude Debussy, accompanying him on the piano. Continuing his engaging audience interaction, Chan commented on how the piece, written early in Debussy’s career during World War I, was intended for a smaller and more intimate chamber ensemble. For Chan, this was a thoughtful parallel to a period of works being written for smaller ensembles during the pandemic.
The sonata was a fantastic showcase of the interplay between two master artists and the magic that emerges as a result. As each played their instrument, the energy between them never broke, demonstrating an impressive mutual listening that was as fascinating as the music itself. The relationship played out by the instruments was at times playful and light, and at others competing and contentious. As the piece escalated, the intensity climbed to its pinnacle. The final segment was almost confrontational, and the piece ended with the musicians raising their fists towards one another. The audience let out thrilled cries.
What was even more surprising to hear upon speaking with Fung after the show was that, between their respective commitments, the two musicians had less than 24 hours to rehearse the day prior.
The remainder of the series’s program — which continues throughout the year — is carefully curated to showcase a variety of musical disciplines. Upcoming performers highlighted by Fung include Squamish Elder Bob Baker and Dr. Wayne Weng, who will present a program mixing Indigenous music and solo piano works from the Western canon.
“Each composer brings with them their own identities and, through the music that they write, we’re able to share that perspective, that worldview, with the audience … As musicians, that is the vehicle in which we can share those truths and those stories that are integral to the fabric of our societies,” said Fung.
Through these performances, Fung hopes to celebrate international guest artists and “build bridges and source talent from our province, our city and, most importantly, our university.” Wednesday Noon Hours are a unique opportunity for students to connect and engage with this music, “to cultivate a conversation with our students, our faculty and the members of various communities” as well as to “shine a light on the extraordinary talent of the students and faculty at the School of Music,” said Fung.
Currently, after the hard work that has gone into reviving the series and planning the concerts for the year, the next step is to get audiences to show up. Fung concluded that his “great hope is that we attract everyone in society, anyone who wants to experience this beautiful respite from their day, this beautiful mid-day slot on this incredible campus. All are welcome.”
Life at UBC is filled with people, stress, deadlines and more people. There is something profoundly peaceful in being able to escape the outside noise and listen to beautiful, evocative music for an hour. The program is varied, riveting and runs every week, all-year-long: the perfect opportunity to discover Vancouver’s musical talents, just a step away from your classes.
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