Composer
Brent Straughan socan
- The Umbria Ensemble -
Brent Straughan: composer"AT"isomedia.com
     My wife Frances and I spent last winter in Umbria, the green heart of Italy. I wanted to work on my opera in the land where opera, music notation, and violins were  all born!

We stayed at "La Torretta" a Borgo in Villa Montignaro in Umbria, the green heart of Italy,  Montignaro has been in the family of Lorenzo da Pucci DellaGenga since 100 BC.   It's amazing what you can do with a property when you've had it in the family for 2,000! Some farm families worked there in succeeding generations for 600 years! There were two popes in the family - one of whom was the first pope after Napoleon stopped imprisoning popes!

     The buildings were all gorgeous stone, with walls at least a metre thick, heavily beamed whitewashed interiors with traditional tiled roofs. I rented a keyboard, bought a student violin and went to work on my opera.

     We made a side pilgrimage to Puccini's home in Torre del Lago to the North. Simonetta Puccini, Puccini's granddaughter, arranged a private tour of his home for us. It was very moving for me to be in the house of the master, and to note the small bouquets of wildflowers left by children at the gate - imagine having a legacy such that small children leave wildflowers at your gate!

Our host Lorenzo at Montignaro had a friend who played in a string quartet, and suggested we attend a concert. The group was "The Umbria Ensemble". We attended concert which featured background video from WWI, and readings from the letters of Italian soldiers from Spoleto in that war.  We were soon in correspondence with Maria - Cecilia Berioli, cellist of the group and Lorenzo's friend.

The quartet loved my music and added "You must be quite famous in Canada?"
"Not so much, I explained.  We don't really do "famous" in Canada!"
They decided they would like to tour Italy with my work, then come to Canada, and play it for Canadians!

"Don't worry about our fees, we'll get a grant from the Italian government."
"Wouldn' it be nice to build cultural and musical bridges between our two countries?"

Cecilia is very persuasive!  I thought, what a cheeky proposal!

Then I realized, no group in Canada is volunteering to do such a crazy thing, why not let the Italians do it?  How could I help make it happen?




Giovanna Greco, cultural affairs director at the Da Vinci Centre in Victoria volunteered to host a dinner on behalf of the Italians after a Canada Day concert, and to billet the musicians in private homes.

Slowly the obstacles melted away.

The Umbria Ensemble recently held a "Tribute to Canada" concert attended by mayors and dignitaries throughout Perugia and including friends from the Da Vinci Centre in Victoria.

If there are encores, they will be lots of fun:

One day, when I was living in Toronto, the principal violist of the Canadian Opera company orchestra called me up: distraught!   She had arranged a chamber series which was advertised all over Toronto, and included her quartet friends from the Toronto Symphony. A miscommunication had occurred and the music she had advertised was no longer available! 

"Have you ever heard of Jimi Hendrix?", she added.

"Oh yes!" I said,  wracking my brain as to who on earth Jimi Hendrix was?

"Do you know a piece of his called "Purple Haze".

"Alas, regretfully not." I admitted.

"I'll play it for you!" she said.

Over the telephone came this trenchant, ghastly, caterwauling heavy metal guitar howl which reminded me of an occasion in Saskatchewan when a Lynx screamed directly over my head while I was walking through the caraganas to shut in some turkeys for the night. My stomach fell through my boots!

"Could you arrange it for me for quartet in one week?" queried my relentless viola.

"Why of course", says I, "I would be absolutely delighted!"

If you applaud a bit at the end of the first half, you'll get to hear just how delighted I was!

If you applaud a bit at the very end of the concert you'll get to hear "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga arranged for string quartet, somewhat as Bach might have considered it.  Your children or grandchildren will know the tune. I confess I couldn't bring myself to listen to the entire tune before arranging it, but I did get enough of its simple concept to come up with something.

I have also come up with a new type of  tickets which I call a "Canadashare" tickets. Canadashare tickets do two things: they allow people who wish to donate to the project to do so, and they provide free tickets to people who might otherwise be unable to attend the  concert.

My inspiration for this comes from the following:

Seattle Opera is justifiably famous for its Wagner Ring Cycles. I have attended two of them. One day I went to a performance with my sister and brother in law. My wife had felt unwell, and I had an extra ticket in my pocket. As we approached McCaw hall, I heard the "Ride of the Valkyries" theme being played rather well on tuba - by a man in a funny costume with a tall colourful hat, and a freezer bag over his fingers, so he could play in the rain. He was sitting in the juniper bushes, glasses all fogged up playing his heart out. I went over to him deposited my tip, and started up a conversation, - then I thought - I have an unused ticket in my pocket - do I have the courage to do the right thing?

"Edward, " I said "Would you like to go to the opera."

He hesitated but a second, his eyebrows shot up; he said "Why yes, I would, thank you."

He quickly stashed his tuba, and tall hat in the juniper bushes, and off we went.

Edward's strange costume, and the fact that he hadn't perhaps bathed in awhile, meant the ticket takers, ushers and fellow opera goers looked at us askance. We raised our heads up high, stared into the middle distance, and prepared to enjoy our Wagner.

Edward hummed happily along here and there, some people within earshot squirmed in their seats, but we didn't get thrown out over it. It turns out that Edward had a degree in music performance, and had simply fallen on hard times. He earned his living playing outside the opera house, and a sporting arena. He was known locally as "Tuba man."

Edward enjoyed the opera immensely but nearing the end he asked if he might leave early as opera goers were more generous with their tips after the opera than before?

I said "Why, of course", and off he went.

A year and a half later, I read in a news item that Edward had been set upon by a gang of youths at a bus stop in Seattle, and was badly beaten.

He lingered several days, his brother got to come and see him; then he died.

Edward, I only knew you for a day, but when people buy a "Canadashare" ticket to my concerts, you are the one who inspired the thought, I can't thank you enough.




Concert programme booklet is here: