Team effort: Chan will skate long program to music composed by Radford

TORONTO – Patrick Chan had spent a frustrated few weeks searching for new music this off-season when a chance occurrence in a hotel lobby changed everything.

The three-time world figure skating champion and teammate Eric Radford were returning from a night out in St. John’s, N.L., at Skate Canada’s annual general meeting, when Radford plopped himself down at the piano in the lobby and began to play.

The music drew the attention of numerous late-night revellers. None moreso than Chan.

“The minute he started playing, I paid attention,” Chan said. “I said ‘Oh my god, is this something that you wrote?’ Eric said yeah. I said ‘Keep playing.’ Then I said ‘Oh my god Eric, you need to send me a bunch of your pieces, I need to listen to them.’”

And so Chan’s long program next season is to “A Journey,” written by Radford, a piece of music that represents more than simply the soundtrack to his skating.

“Every time we start the season, this portion of the year, where we’re choreographing and making up new programs, it’s always exciting, a bit of a fresh start,” Chan said. “But knowing that there’s this really cool factor about this piece and this long program this year. . .it was kind of meant to be, how challenging it was for us to find music. It was meant to be.”

Radford, from Balmertown, Ont., is a two-time world pairs champion with partner Meagan Duhamel. He’s also an accomplished pianist and composer, having studied at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. In the Sochi Olympic season, he and Duhamel skated to “Tribute,” a piece of music he wrote after the death of his longtime coach Paul Wirtz.

Radford sent Chan five pieces of music, and Chan in turn forwarded his two favourites to his coach Kathy Johnson.

“Didn’t tell her who they were from, didn’t tell her any information. I said: ‘Just listen. I don’t want you having any preconceived idea of the piece. Just listen to it for what it is and let me know what you think,’” Chan said. “And she ended up loving it. And then I told her it was Eric who composed it. David (Wilson, his choreographer) also loved it, and it just went from there.”

Chan describes the music as classical, but his movement on the ice to it as “contemporary.”

Radford recently spent time in the studio composing a segment that bridges the two pieces — one of which is heavy on violin and cello, and the other is heavy on the piano.

Chan was in Toronto on Thursday working with Wilson, and can’t wait to show Radford the results.

“He’s so passionate about (his music),” Chan said. “But it makes me even more passionate and excited for him to see it, more than anybody else. I’m really excited for him to see how David and I interpreted the music.”

The 25-year-old from Toronto said “A Journey” is a nod to the longtime friendship between the two skaters, and their respective roads to the top.

“We were talking about this when we were on tour this year, looking back at those days when we were so young, and not knowing what was ahead, and now we’re travelling together, at the greatest peaks of our careers. . . it’s just really, really cool,” Chan said. “So that’s our expression of our journey. Two individuals from two different lives can come together and collaborate musically and our friendship is being brought to a whole other level of trust.”

Chan and Duhamel and Radford will open their seasons at Skate Canada International in Mississauga, Ont., in late October. That event also marks the return of Canada’s Olympic ice dance champions Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who took two seasons off competing after the Sochi Olympics.

Chan returned from his own one-year hiatus last season, and saw decent results on the Grand Prix circuit. He faltered at the world championships in Boston, however, and finished fifth.

He said skating to Radford’s music will relieve some of the pressure of competing next season.

“Just the sheer thought of ‘Oh my god, Eric wrote this for me to skate to.’ Having that concept in my mind while skating, it makes me want to just focus on myself, or pleasing Eric, not pleasing a whole audience or all the judges.”