Saskatoon Express: Jeffery Straker excited to perform with SSO

This article was originally published in the Oct. 15, 2018, edition of the Saskatoon Express weekly newspaper.

By Shannon Boklaschuk

From house concerts to concert halls, Jeffery Straker has played them all.

But the size of the venue doesn’t matter to him; rather, his focus is on setting the stage for a great experience for the audience and the musicians alike.

“One of the things about my shows is whether they’re in a house concert living room with 40 people or TCU Place with 2,000, I really try to make them all somewhat intimate,” said Straker, an acclaimed Canadian pianist and singer-songwriter who was born and raised in Punnichy, Sask.

“I talk to the audience between songs and I sort of give the background on songs. I like to create an environment like that. Because I find that in a performance, though there’s music and energy flowing from the performers to the audience, in my experience when the audience is engaged and feeling like it’s an intimate setting, energy comes back from them, back onto the stage.”

Straker, a classically trained pianist who studied plant biology at the University of Saskatchewan, is certainly a busy musician, performing more than 100 shows a year. This includes recent tours in Mexico and Peru, appearances on Telemiracle and performances with the symphony orchestras in Saskatoon, Regina and Sudbury.

Straker, whose most recent album is 2017’s Dirt Road Confessional, has also performed in international locales such as Ghana, Ireland, China, New York City, Panama and Chile. Critics have compared him to icons such as Carole King, Billy Joel, Harry Chapin and Kris Kristofferson.

Straker last played with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (SSO) in 2013 and now, five years later, he’s looking forward to reuniting with the orchestra for a concert at TCU Place on Oct. 20. However, he admits it may be difficult to top that special evening back in 2013.

“That night in 2013 with the SSO was one of those nights in my musical life where I distinctly remember all of the stars aligning – and by that I mean the audience was on fire, the orchestra played incredibly and the band I brought with me, they were in such a great space,” Straker said, adding people still mention that concert to him and recall it with fondness.

“It’s a bit of a high bar to try to live up to again – but there’s a whole bunch of new songs, so it’s going to be a completely fresh night. Given what I know we were capable of in the past, I’m really excited to see what we can do this time.”

The upcoming concert will feature a mixture of songs from Straker’s catalogue as well as some new ones arranged specifically for the SSO. Straker said performing with orchestras adds to “the freshness and the energy” of his shows. While he’s accustomed to hearing his songs played in solo or duo form, or perhaps with a four-piece band, it’s not often he hears them performed by an orchestra.

“For me, it’s almost like the songs are brand new again. So I have the experience – almost – of getting to hear the songs for the first time again, and that’s really electrifying,” he said.

“When you first write a song and it’s done, there’s this real great feeling – and every songwriter, every creator, sort of knows that feeling. But when the orchestra brings it to life, you get that again.”

Straker, who currently splits his time between Regina and Toronto, said he loves doing shows in Saskatchewan, where audiences have shown him a lot of support. He added that audiences also “love and adore” the SSO. He believes fans of his music and fans of the orchestra will both be pleased with the concert.

“Some of the people will be people who follow my music; some of them will be supporters of the orchestra. But I really think we come together and do something that sort of both groups of people are really going to like. I think it’s a well-put-together collaboration.”

The concert will start at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 20 in the Sid Buckwold Theatre at TCU Place. Tickets can be purchased online at saskatoonsymphony.org.

Straker on his time in the College of Arts and Science:

“In all honesty, I loved my BSc—and the reason I loved it was because I really liked science, but I also loved the other stuff. I took a smattering of history and sociology and a bunch of humanities, because I just loved it all. To me, I loved the broad education. It was exactly what I wanted to do, and I didn’t sit around being like, ‘Oh, whatever will I do with this degree?’ I was just convinced there would be something and, as it turns out, there was. I loved my degree. I recommend it to people.”

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