The 2023-2024 Bravo Niagara! festival season marks a milestone for co-founders Christine Mori and Alexis Spieldenner.
“I moved back to Canada a little more than ten years ago,” Mori says, “and when I ended up in Niagara-on-the-Lake, I didn’t know anyone, except my father. But it had been something that I had always dreamed about doing.”
The Juilliard-trained former principal pianist of the Florida Orchestra had organized performances for herself and some of her sunshine state friends many years ago, but she had never created an ongoing, annual festival.
Her daughter Spieldenner, meanwhile, had just finished her studies in music at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
“I was initially going to take a gap year,” remembers Spieldenner, an accomplished harpist. “I was thinking of going to law school. Then my mom had this idea about starting a music festival. She said ‘let’s see where it goes’.”
“We were very lucky,” Mori says. “We moved to The Village, and (Village developer) John Hawley was supportive from the beginning. He encouraged us to do this. It’s been an incredible journey.”
“The community has really embraced it,” adds Spieldenner. “That’s what has made Bravo Niagara! what it is, it’s because of the community that we live in.”
The festival launched in 2014 with its first show at Stratus Vineyards, featuring two of Mori’s former colleagues in Florida.
“I had this wild-eyed idea to bring a Steinway into the press alley at Stratus,” says Mori. “They had never had a concert grand there. We had no idea how it would sound in there. We went in the night before to hear it, and it sounded incredible.”
That spring also featured shows by Molly Johnson and Robi Botos. They followed the spring line-up with a fall appearance from the Ehnes Quartet at Chateau des Charmes Winery.
Ten years later, violinist James Ehnes and his quartet return to Bravo Niagara! Festival as one of seven shows, a mixture of classical, jazz and soul along with the world premiere of an original ballet based on Mori’s family’s experiences as Japanese Canadians during the second world war.
It all kicks off Oct. 28 at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre’s Recital Hall in St. Catharines a performance by Haitian-Canadian singer Dominique Fils-Aime, the 2020 Juno Award winner for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.
Fils-Aime is touring on the strength of her fourth album, Our Roots Run Deep, the first in an expected trilogy through which the jazz/soul singer plans to delve into intergenerational treasures in hopes that the music will help dispel taboos surrounding mental health that are present in BIPOC communities.
“She’s incredible,” Mori raves. “This is her first time in the Niagara region. She’s a mix of R&B, soul and jazz. She brings something different from our usual offerings.”
Grammy Award winning violinist Ehnes appears with his quartet at the same venue on Nov. 19, while the Manhattan Transfer brings their 50th Anniversary Tour to the PAC’s Partridge Hall on Dec. 3.
“This is their farewell tour,” Mori says. “And it’s holiday time, they’ll be doing holiday music. They are iconic.”
The second half of the season starts on Feb. 25, with Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Celebration back at the Recital Hall.
Six-time Grammy Award nominee and pianist Gerald Clayton is the Blue Note Quintet’s musical director. Rounding out the group is vibraphonist Joel Ross, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, drummer Kendrick Scott and bassist Matt Brewer.
“It’s a legendary record label,” Spieldenner says of Blue Note. “This is the Ontario debut of their 85th Anniversary tour. This quintet features some of the hottest young names in jazz that are all Blue Note artists. They’ll play some of the classics and some of their original compositions.”
March 10 will see the return of the Cheng-Squared Duo of cellist Bryan Cheng and his sister, pianist Silvie Cheng. And on May 9 the festival takes a trip to Toronto, where Mori and Spieldenner will present pianist Hayato Sumino at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre.
“It’s an exciting new partnership with them to showcase some of these phenomenal Japanese pianists who are not performing elsewhere in Canada,” Mori explains. “This will be his (Sumino’s) Canadian debut.”
Finally, the world premiere of Kimiko’s Pearl, a new ballet commissioned by Mori and Spieldenner, is scheduled for two performances June 22 and 23 at the PAC. The ballet honours the resilience of the Japanese Canadian community and sheds light on a dark chapter in Canadian history.
Bravo Niagara! announced yesterday that the ballet is the recipient of a $130,000 grant from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
"It’s a dream to get the support, to have that endorsement from them,” Spieldenner says. “It will support not only the creative development of Kimiko’s Pearl but will also support the commissioning of a new orchestral suite.”
The gift will also allow the creative team, including dancers and visual artists, to undertake two residencies to develop and finalize the sound, video and projection design for the production.
Looking back on ten years, Mori and Spieldenner are asked about whether or not they have become closer as mother and daughter through their decade working together.
"We’ve always been close,” Spieldenner insists. “I think it’s our close relationship that has made Bravo Niagara! work, made it so successful.”
“It’s so special to be able to not only support artists,” adds Mori, “but to be able to create something
together. It’s really a dream.”
