"Hearing a 65-piece band playing Led Zeppelin is an experience," says Phil Murphy, conductor of the London community ensemble Encore . . .
the Concert Band. Helping Encore find its inner Black Dog tomorrow at 2 p.m.
at Central secondary school are guest performers -- clarinet player Wesley Ferreira and harpist Kathleen Gahagan. "I'm not the star. Wesley is a fantastic player," Gahagan says.
It's true the brilliant clarinet player and UWO Don Wright music faculty grad has the stellar Jimmy Page (guitar) and Robert Plant (vocal) roles in making good Black Dog's vow to "make you sweat . . .
make you groove." But it wasn't until Gahagan and her harp fit into Murphy's thundering herd behind Ferreira that Black Dog was finally fit for Encore. A few approaches had been considered, but none seemed to have the right Zep for the Black Dog arrangement.
Encore flutist Margaret Trethewey suggested her friend and frequent duo partner's harp would fill the ensemble spot. Gahagan clicked in rehearsals for her Encore debut and will be heard on a program including works by Richard Rodgers, Hoagy Carmichael, Sousa and others -- all of it more usual Encore fare than Page, Plant and company. Along with the Led Zep hit, they're part of Encore's commitment to 20th-century music this season, Murphy says.
"My harp has some little wheels," Gahagan says, "but I wouldn't be able to keep up with a marching band." The former Albertan studied music at Edmonton's University of Alberta and Montreal's McGill before moving here. She's been heard at First-St.
Andrew's United Church with Trethewey and others. One of the Rodgers' pieces on the program is Victory at Sea, with Gahagan's harp able to take its place amid the oceanic surges and swells of the Broadway composer's stirring melodies. On a smaller scale, she has also played with Enchante (Laurraine Sigouin and Jake Levesque, two-thirds of London folk/jazz vocal trio Mosaic) at its annual winter cabarets at the Landon branch library.
"(London soprano) Sonja Gustafson and I will perform a set of Shakespeare songs by composer and songwriter Steven Hardy in the New Year," she says. When: Tomorrow, 2 p.m.
Where: Central secondary school, 509 Waterloo St. (at Dufferin) Tickets: $15 adults, $12 seniors/students; check www.encoretheconcertband.
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