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Another great evening at the Gibson

May 9, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Dear editor:

A man with an oboe and a cheerful grin, another with a violin and unbelievable tenor voice, add a gorgeous young woman on the cello, a hefty fellow with a big accordion and you have the multi-talented Quartetto Gelato. This popular concert group played at the Gibson Centre in Alliston on Friday, April 26. My congratulations to the Gibson for continuing to bring us some of the finest artists that Canada produces.

This isn’t the first time Quartetto Gelato has been in our midst. When the Tottenham Concert Goers were making their mark in the 1980’s and 90’s, they were one of the star performers. I was in the audience amoung others having a great time. There was one founding member in the group in Alliston and that was Peter De Soto, the man with the violin and amazing voice.

When four people who in themselves are solo performers and in two instances have played round the world, it’s amazing how well they enhance one another, taking turns to provide “virtuosic showpieces, romantic tenor arias, blazing gypsy show pieces and a world accordion champion”.

I must admit, my favorites were Peter De Soto’s solos, La vie en Rose, for instance. He would start by playing with his violin, beautifully, and then almost surprise us with the song which would grow from very soft to truly powerful. I heard someone make this comment, Peter plays the violin like Paganini and sings like Pavarotti.

Colin Maier the oboe player is multi-faceted. Well beyond his music career he also has one as a dancer, actor, stunt-man, acrobat – to name four, and plays ten additional instruments.

We watched Colin play his oboe as a solo and in the middle of it, stand on top of two chairs with wheels which were pushed together front to front. Not missing a note, he jumped up and stood where the chairs met, putting his right leg on one chair and the left on the other. Then, as the chairs were slowly pulled apart, the acrobat in Colin took over as he executed the splits and just kept playing.

The two members who toured the world were cellist Liza McLellan, striking in pink, and Alexander Sevastian, accordionist. He was given his own ovation after conquering a Bach Fugue. It was a great evening.

Betty Anderson,

Tottenham

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