Luca Baratto, Pianist, Tuesday, January 24, 7:30 pm, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

Since winning the 2015 Honens International Piano Competition, Luca Buratto has blazed onto the world stage with a reception of which most musicians can only dream. His recitals at Wigmore and Carnegie Halls heralded the Italian pianist as “a name to watch” (The Guardian) and “no ordinary virtuoso” (The Telegraph). Buratto’s incisive interpretation of the music of Robert Schumann has earned him particular acclaim. In a review of his CD release Schumann: Davidsbündlertänze, Humoreske & Blumenstück, Alex Baran of Wholenote Toronto wrote: “Buratto plays with such a conviction that you immediately know he is certain he has revealed Robert Schumann’s true voice.” Gustin House is thrilled to open its all-piano recital season with Luca Buratto performing music of Schumann, Debussy and Ravel.

Click on each page of the program to enlarge

Inter-arts Event featuring Music, Sculpture, March 3, 2023

Our Sunday series re-opened in March at St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, with wonderful Saskatchewan artists highlighting the music of composers connected to Saskatoon.  Soprano Helen Pridmore and pianist Michael Angell performed works of Robert Fleming, Marguerita Spencer, and Harry Abley; and Gregory Schulte, organ music of Russell Green. Pre-eminent Saskatoon sculptor Douglas Bentham discussed art in metal and wood, with an array of his works displayed.

Douglas Bentham

Michael Angell

Gregory Schulte

Helen Pridmore

Catherine Vickers, Pianist, Tuesday, April 11, 2023, 7:30 pm,

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

Gustin House proudly presents Saskatchewan-born international pianist Catherine Vickers in a recital of fascinating music from the 20th and 21st centuries! A winner of the Busoni Prize and Gold Medal in Italy, she continues to be praised as a stellar classical pianist for her concerts in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. She has become especially well known and much respected as an active practitioner of modern repertoire, including newest avant-garde compositions. A resident of Germany, Vickers is a regular guest at international new music festivals and has been artistic director of an electronics-piano festival in Karlsruhe. She recently published the fourth in a set of books on piano technique for contemporary music.

 For her return to the Lyell Gustin Recitals in Easter week, Catherine Vickers has designed a unique program, a soundscape of music from the late 19th century to the 21st ... Weber-Liszt, Brahms, Debussy, Scriabin, and a 2019 work by N. Huber, all in celebration of 300 years of The Piano!

Click on each page of the program to enlarge

Elegies: Music of Lament, Music of Memories. June 4, 2023

On June 4, pianist Katherine Dowling of Toronto performed “Elegies:  Music of Lament, Music of Memories.”  The somewhat less-known repertoire had been deeply assimilated by the artist during pandemic times; it evoked a quietly beautiful spirit.  The event was part of a provincial tour supported by SK Arts.

From the City of Bridges to the City of Lights: Honouring Boyd McDonald,

June 25, 2023

Gustin House was honoured to host a June 25th piano duo/duet recital by Boyd McDonald and his wife Carolyn Arnason, given in the presence of close artist colleagues Eli and Chrissie Bornstein, former students, relatives, and Gustin friends. In the previous week, the pianist had visited his family homestead, locales where he had lived while studying piano with Lyell Gustin and composition with Murray Adaskin, and also Emma Lake, scene of many Gustin Studio summers.  Filmmaker Nigel Baines of Toronto captured it all for a documentary on Mr. McDonald, “From the City of Bridges to the City of Lights.”

David Jalbert, Pianist, August 22, 2023, 7:30 pm, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

A brilliant pianist with a warm, elegant style and extensive repertoire, David Jalbert is among the elite of a new generation of classical musicians. Named by CBC as one of the 15 best Canadian pianists of all time, he is a national and international prize winner, having received four Juno nominations and six Prix Opus awards. Gustin House warmly welcomes this final artist of the 2023 series to perform music spanning three centuries–-works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin and Prokofiev. With his personal style at the piano and a charismatic stage presence, David Jalbert dazzles audiences, critics and the press, who describe him as “a deeply musical pianist” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), “a virtuoso in the best sense of the word” (La Presse), and “[an artist with] wide-ranging musical imagination and phenomenal technique” (Toronto Star). 

Click on each page of the program to enlarge

Illuminations: Music and Art for an Autumn Afternoon, October 22, 2023

At “Illuminations:  Music and Art for an Autumn Afternoon,” held October 22, painter Robert Christie showed large, engaging abstract works, transforming Gustin House into a veritable gallery.  Flautist Ann Salmon, tenor Michael Harris, and pianist Gregory Schulte performed works by French composers, and Bach, including “Benedictus” from B Minor Mass.

Robert Christie

Michael Harris

Ann Salmon

Gregory Schulte

In Praise! Women in Music--Composers, Performers, Cultural Leaders. November 19, 2023

On November 19, a second autumn event at Gustin House featured the Mathieu-Chua Duo with their program, “In Praise! Women in Music--Composers, Performers, Cultural Leaders.”  Violinist Véronique Mathieu and Toronto pianist Stephanie Chua gave a recital of fascinating works by fix female composers of the 19th to 21st centuries.  Lynn Ewing read excerpts from the Trounce Letters of 1883-1887, highlighting varied musical contributions of Bessie Trounce in the early Temperance Colony in what is now Saskatoon.