Family & Friends Concert
Celebrate Love, Music, and Togetherness This Valentine’s Day!
Saturday, February 14, 2026, 7:30 pm
at Knox Presbyterian Church, 50 Erb St. W, Waterloo
As our original program with Christine Vlajk has been postponed, we are excited to present a special Valentine’s concert filled with heart-warming passion and beauty:
Progam
Vaughan Williams - English Folk Song Suite
Full Orchestra
Charpentier - Depuis Le Jour
Caroline Déry (friend of the KWCO)
Morricone - Cinema Paradiso
Yuliia Ostapenko (Principal Cello)
Bruch - Romance for Viola and Orchestra
David Wadley (Principal Viola)
Gounod's Je Veux Vivre
Caroline Déry (friend of the KWCO)
--- Intermission ---
Beethoven - Romance #2 opus 50
Bruce Skelton (Concertmaster)
Mendelssohn - Symphony #5 Reformation
Full Orchestra
Biographies:
Bruce Skelton, Concertmaster
Bruce began his orchestra career at the age of 9 with the Georgian Bay Symphony and later became Concertmaster of the group under the baton of Erna Van Daele.
While attending the University of Michigan to obtain a Bachelor of Music degree, he studied with Jacob Krachmalnick, former Concertmaster of the Philadelphia, Concertgebouw, and San Francisco Symphony orchestras.
Currently, in addition to his work leading the KWCO and managing the Leith Quartet, he regularly freelances in Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, and Stratford and maintains a very active teaching studio with more than 40 students.
Dave Wadley, Principal Violist
A native of Sault Ste. Marie, David Wadley began Violin studies in 1966 with David Warner-Smith. He subsequently gained valued knowledge from Lorna Glover, Stephen Kondaks, Lorand Fenyves, Mark Childs, Leo Wigdorchik and Mimi Zweig.
Having played Viola in the Emperor Quartet since 1981 and in the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony since 1983, David has gradually developed a sound that fewer and fewer people find objectionable.
David conducts and creates arrangements for young string groups, occasionally sneaking in an original piece. He has benefited from Composition classes with Tony Gartshore, Walter Babiak, Talivaldis Kenins, Edward Laufer, John Kruspe, Glenn Buhr, Peter Hatch, Allan Gordon Bell, Bill Jordan and David Eagle.
As an Orchestral Administrator, David has worked for the National Youth Orchestra, the Banff Festival Orchestra and the Glenn Gould School in Toronto. For the KWS, he variously served as Personnel Manager, Librarian, Negotiating Team Member, Treasurer, Archivist, and Players’ Committee Chair.
Yuliia Ostapenko, Principal Cellist
Yuliia is a musician from Ukraine, who holds an Honours Master's degree in Music obtained from R. Glier Kyiv Municipal Academy of Music. Her qualifications:
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Musician in a chamber ensemble;
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Musician of an orchestra (orchestral strings instruments, cello);
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Professional cello teacher (teacher-instrumentalist);
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Conductor.
From 2019 to 2022, Yuliia worked in the Ukrainian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Kyiv. She was also a member of the "Infinito" string quartet, which performed at concerts, weddings, and corporate events. Furthermore, in 2018, she worked for four months at the Zhangjiajie Philharmonic Orchestra in Hunan, China.
Yuliia has been giving private classes to kids and adults for more than 5 years.
Caroline Déry, Canadian Lyric Soprano
Caroline spends most of her time between Quebec City and Kitchener-Waterloo where she has been living for many years. She performed extensive recitals of sacred music and opera arias with ensembles such as the York Chamber Ensemble with whom she performed Haendel’s Silete Venti, under the baton of maestro Michael Berec, the K-W Chamber Orchestra, the Canadian Music Centre in Toronto, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Wellington Winds, the Waterloo Chamber Players, the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra and particularly, the Kitchener-Waterloo Community Orchestra in which she has been extremely grateful to be part of many of their productions, including three European tours in Austria, The Netherlands and Italy, under the baton of Maestro Daniel Warren. Caroline is very honoured to join them once again this evening and wishes you all a very happy Valentine's Day!
In the past years, Caroline made her debut as Giulietta at the Lincoln Center with the New York Lyric Opera Theatre, took on the lead role of Blanche in Poulenc's Les Dialogues Des Carmélites of Toronto’s Opera by Request, as well as two productions of Massenet's Manon. Caroline spent the summer of 2012 in Burgundy, France, where she took part in the international school at La Roche d'Hys giving a recital of concert arias. Her other operatic roles have included Queen of the Night in Magic Flute, Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Anastasia in Les Noces, Conception in L’Heure Espagnole, Belinda and the first witch in Dido and Æneas, the novitiat in Suor Angelica, and Seconde Prieure in Dialogues des Carmélites.
Caroline's performance of Purves-Smith’s Déjeuner du Matin, may be heard on a commercially available CD. Ms. Déry holds a Bachelor of Music degree in voice from Université Laval and diplomas in opera and performance, both from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Program Notes:
Vaughan Williams, English Folk Song Suite
In order to maintain a little integrity of our original program for this concert, we decided to include the beautiful Folk Song Suite by Vaughan Williams. It enhances our Valentine's Day theme as some of the songs are romantic in nature.
The first being “Seventeen come Sunday” - the answer a young maid gives to a wandering seaman when he asks her how old she is. Varying outcomes of this chance meeting ensue depending on the version of the song you hear.
“My Bonny Boy” is another song of love which ends in sadness for the young lady as she finds her bonny boy in the arms of another. These young British men - all rascals!
Folks songs from Somerset is a rousing finish to the suite, and it includes several snippets of folk songs. “The trees they grow so high” is a poignant song where the maiden, twice times twelve, is resentfully married off to a lad of fourteen by her father, who justifies it by the fact he is the son of a lord. She does fall in love and bears his son, but as the song says:
At the age of fourteen, he was a married man
At the age of fifteen, the father of a son
At the age of sixteen, his grave it was green
Have gone, to be wasted in battle.
And death had put an end to his growing.
Charpentier, Depuis le Jour
We are delighted to have our very own soprano, Caroline Dery, return to perform with us. Her association with the KWCO has spanned almost 20 years, and her most recent collaboration with us was at the KWCO’s concerts in Cavriana and Cremona, Italy, in the summer of 2024.
This is an opera about Louise finding her true love and then getting the parents on board. I’m sure it resonated with many over the years since its composition in 1900. Set in Paris, the opera is an example of verismo (“true”) opera. The libretto was written by the composer with help from French poet Saint-Pol-Rue and marks the beginning of naturalism in French opera.
What a beautiful life!
Oh! I'm so happy! ...utterly happy!
And I'm trembling delightfully
from the charming memory
of the first day of love!
Morricone, Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso
Cinema Paradiso is one of the great movies of our time. The score by Ennio Morricone is one of over 500 he has scored over his lifetime. His craft and dedication make this and every movie in which he has been involved so much more than it possibly would have been.
Our principal cello, Yuliia Ostapenko, brings a beautiful intensity and love to the stage for her performance of this transcription.
Bruch, Romanze for Viola and Orchestra
I believe that this is one of the most beautiful pieces ever penned by Romantic composer Max Bruch. The viola, a larger cousin of the violin, boasts a deep, sonorous voice that uses the longing, searching melodies to express the most lovely and moving moments in the instrument's repertoire.
The piece is about 8 minutes long, and our soloist, David Wadley, brings a mature and refined grace to this performance.
Gounod, Je Veux Vivre
The timeless, beautiful and yet tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet has launched hours of music - much desperate and woeful yet few joyous and full of life. Juliet has been reminded again that she must marry Paris, and she responds from her heart, saying, “No, no! I desire to live!
Our soloist, Caroline Dery, truly exemplifies this joy and passion for life as she reminds us to live!
Beethoven, Romance No. 2 in F major, Opus 50 for Violin and Orchestra
The two romances for violin and orchestra are some of Beethoven’s finest works for violin and showcase the more tender side of the instrument. It is thought that these pieces may have been designed as the slow movement for his concerto, written around 10 years later, but he decided to keep them as solo pieces. There are few flashy technical sections – Beethoven, deciding to allow the violin to explore the more singing qualities. The chamber-like “salon” orchestral accompaniment is interesting in that each time the main musical motive is presented in the violin, the orchestra responds in a very different type of accompaniment.
Our concertmaster Bruce Skelton’s singing tone is wonderfully suited to this piece.
Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 5 “reformation”
The Symphony No. 5 in D major/D minor, Op. 107, known as the Reformation, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1830. It was written to honour the 300th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession - a key document of Lutheranism, and was a momentous event of the Protestant Reformation. This symphony was written for a full orchestra and was Mendelssohn's second extended symphony. It was not published until 1868, 21 years after the composer's death – hence its numbering as '5'. The final movement is based on the hymn “Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott” (a mighty fortress is our God), written by Martin Luther himself. It’s interesting to note that the third movement of the symphony presents us with the lovely Jewish/Hassidic tune “Hevenu Shalom Aleichem” ("We brought peace upon you").
Mendelssohn’s sister Fanny gave the work the title Reformation Symphony.
We kindly ask that no recording - audio, video, or photography - be taken during the concert.
This ensures the best possible experience for the performers and all guests.
Thank you for your cooperation
