The Classical Now - Ian Parker

In 2003 and 2004, I produced and directed a television series called The Classical Now, which was broadcast originally on Bravo in Canada, and later on SCN and the Knowledge Network. The series, which was hosted by my good friend Will Fraser, featured young Canadian classical musicians performing and chatting about their work and their lives, and it was probably the best work I've ever done.

The following clip is one of my favourite moments from the show. It features pianist Ian Parker chatting with Will about the variations on themes that you can find within different pieces of music.

When you can inform and entertain in my business, that's a good day!

Paul Kimball

Synchronicity

This performance film I made for Bravo in 2007 featured pianist Heather Schmidt and cellist Shauna Rolston, talking about their friendship and creative collaboration, and performing music written by Schmidt, including a piece I specifically commissioned for the film titled "Synchronicity".

Heather and Shauna also talk about how they "fit together". I've always wondered whether these kinds of things are just coincidences, or whether there might be something more at work. Do we just get lucky when we meet people with whom we have a connection, or do we meet these people for a reason? Perhaps, if you give any credence to the idea of reincarnation, we travel through our "lives" linked to the same group of people, each of us fulfilling a different role in the next life (my dad, for example, might be my son or daughter in the next life, or my best pal). Maybe that's why, when you first meet someone and feel like you've known them your whole life, you have - just not this "life", but one before... or, if you see time not as a linear construct but more of a circle, then perhaps a "life" still to come.

That would be the ultimate synchronicity.

Paul Kimball