On October 8th, 2025, UNB’s artist-in-residence, Nadia Francavilla, along with New Brunswick’s professional chamber orchestra, the Atlantic Sinfonia, played to a full house at Memorial Hall. The concert began with a contemporary piece by American composer Caroline Shaw called “Entr’acte” and finished with Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons,” which musicians around the world are celebrating this year for the piece’s 300th Anniversary.
Memorial Hall is the Atlantic Sinfonia’s home base, and it was clear that the musicians felt comfortable there. Purple lights illuminated the two framing pillars on either side of the stage and four shells framed the front. Nadia matched the lighting in a jewel-toned purple gown that made her practically glow during her solos. Even from the balcony seats, which were filled to the brim, it was clear that this group of musicians had the chemistry of good friends doing something they knew they could do very well. Indeed, when asked how she felt after the show, Nadia responded,
“Still excited. There’s nothing like doing this with a bunch of friends. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Leading up to the concert, Fredericton experienced an unseasonable heat wave, with temperatures reaching highs of 30℃ on October 6th. But on the day of the concert, the heat broke, and rain thoroughly drenched the city. Hearing the drama, excitement, and uncertainty of the troposphere reflected in a 300-year-old piece of music made that evening feel nothing short of magical. There is a comfort in the notion of the four distinct seasons of three centuries ago as our seasons grow indistinct and unpredictable due to climate change. There is also an eeriness in honouring an ode to distinct seasons immediately following an October heat wave. This irony is certainly is not lost on Nadia, well-known for her climate activism in addition to her mastery of the violin.
The introductory piece, “Entr’acte” composed by Caroline Shaw, addresses the turbulent weather of contemporary life. The piece uses minuet and trio to build off of the classical form, but the parts go in different directions, sometimes overlapping, sometimes including white noise and dissonant plucking to create a sense of disorientation. The diverging paths always come back together, though, ending on a hopeful note and with a cello solo.
In introducing Shaw’s piece, Nadia mentioned that it was meant to reflect how fragmented music listening has become today. After the show she elaborated:
“[Shaw] writes about how we all start together, and then she has different kinds of rhythms that we all play so it sounds like we’re not quite all playing together. And then she sort of pushes the envelope a little bit more and a little bit more. It sort of feels like you’re disintegrating a little bit, and then she brings you back.”
Regarding the plucking and rubbing of the violin strings to create a sense of white noise, Nadia said,
“you still have a sense of rhythm but you don’t have a sense of note anymore. It’s hard to coordinate, but we’re all comfortable playing contemporary music, so it was fun.”
“Entr’acte” reflects Nadia’s desire to include a woman composer’s work in the evening’s program. Additionally, she wanted to ensure that the piece would pair well with Vivaldi so that people could still relate to the contemporary piece. She wanted something,
“From today. Not from 20 years, 30 years ago, but something that speaks to the world we live in.”
After playing “Entr’acte,” Nadia took position in the centre of the stage as the solo violinist for Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.” Vivaldi was the first to put a soloist into the concerto back in 1725 when “The Four Seasons” was published in Amsterdam. Nadia remarked to the audience that playing this piece on her 300-year-old violin felt special given that it is likely that the music was played on the violin many times before it came into her possession.
“The Four Seasons” as played by Nadia and the Atlantic Sinfonia is bright and full of life. One is reminded of the fact that the accompanying sonnets begin and end with joy. Nadia and the other musicians embodied the music, bending and extending their bodies as the notes rose and fell. STU student Sawyer Holmes said,
“The show was incredible. I felt like I was transported into the world, into the different seasons, I could picture it all in my head. And it was a really awesome, vivid experience that I will remember for years to come.”
The MusicUNB 2025-2026 concert series still has many more upcoming concerts this semester and next semester offering significantly reduced ticket prices for students. A particular event to look out for is the Contemporary Music Festival called “Terra Ignota, Terra Ignita” taking place November 21st-23rd, 2025. The festival includes three concerts. The first, “Resonant Landscapes,” uses community-sourced sounds and images gathered by the public on nature walks in Fredericton and Sackville to create an improvised piece on climate change and biodiversity. The second concert, “Flickering Sky,” explores the aftermath of fire, drought, and storm, and tests the limits of an individual’s tolerance for disruption. And the third concert, “Dark Water,” explores water as both vessel of life and world of the unknown. Nadia Francavilla is performing in all three of these concerts.
Students should take any opportunity they can to hear these brilliant performances and to experience the magic of Memorial Hall. The stained glass windows, along with the old wooden stage and occasional whispers of the Memorial Hall ghost, make every performance there unforgettable. After the Vivaldi concert, first year student at the Renaissance College Lana Harrell encouraged more students to come out to the shows, saying,
“It was wonderful, a very good use of anyone’s time. People should definitely come and watch the performances more often.”
Now that the concert is over and the heat has broken, we are free to enjoy the autumn weather. The leaves have long since turned. There is cinnamon in my coffee. 300 years ago, Vivaldi created music that still paints images in the listener’s head today. As for me… this “peasant celebrates by dancing and singing / The pleasure of the rich harvest” (Vivaldi’s Autumn Sonnet (Concerto No. 3 in F Major)).
