There will be a little bit of personal history on display during Dave Klinger and Marjorie Cullerne’s upcoming concert Music for Violin and Piano at St. Anne & St. Edmund Anglican Church in Parksville. The duo will be performing a selection of songs written by Cullerne’s great-uncles Harry and Haydn Wood.
“They purposely wanted to write music that the common man would like,” she said. “This music is written for the people.”
The Woods were 20th century English composers who wrote what Cullerne described as “light classical” music. Two of the Wood’s pieces that Klinger and Cullerne, who is a self-titled historian on her musical relatives, decided to put on the set list include “The Royal Empress Tango” by Harry and “The Manx Fiddler” by Haydn.
The upcoming concert will also feature songs from Klinger’s past: a tune called …as cold and lonely as the dawn that he wrote several years ago. He said the pieces have gone through several variations over the years, including a revision for the upcoming concert that transformed the piece from a piano solo into a duet for piano and violin.
“It’s kind of a ballad,” Klinger described. “I don’t know how to categorize it.”
Beside their personal songs, Klinger also said he and Cullerne will play a variety of other songs to fill out the afternoon.
“It’s a fairly mixed bag; everything from Beethoven to Turkey in the Straw,” he said. “I think there’s something for everyone.” In particular, he listed off sonatas by Beethoven and Mozart, the theme from Schindler’s List. Cullerne also said she might put her tap shoes on “for 30 seconds” and dance to a fiddle tune near the end of the show.
Klinger, on piano, and Cullerne, on violin, have played music together for about two years, including a concert last year. Both musicians are also active with other groups in the central Island area.
Their concert Music for Violin and Piano will be on Jan. 18 at St. Anne & St. Edmund Anglican Church. Tickets are $15 for general admission and are available at the door or online (eventbrite.ca). Children 13 and under are free.
Doors to the show open at 2 p.m., with music starting at 2:30 p.m.