Orchestras Canada

The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra has just returned from a wildly successful tour to Vienna, Austria, where they won first prize at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and were described by the judges as “outstanding.” The 68 NBYO members were led by their music director Antonio Delgado.

It’s hard to convey – in this format – the sheer joy and excitement that the NBYO brought to their performances, and the pride that they and their supporters are feeling! For that, we’ll refer you to the NBYO website and blog, where the highlights of each day (and some wonderful pictures) have been posted. A recording of select tour performances will be released by the NBYO in the fall.

For more information, please visit nbyo-ojnb.ca/blogs.

Earlier this week, New Brunswick Youth Orchestra/Sistema NB board chair Ken Macleod gave us a report on the first-ever national summit on Sistema, which took place in Moncton on May 14 and 15. Some 60 participants from every region of Canada and several US states took part in the gathering, which featured a keynote address by David Ascanio of Caracas, friend and collaborator of Maestro Abreu and one of the founders of El Sistema more than 35 years ago. The program featured much sharing of information, collaboration, and practical help to encourage delegates to begin or develop further their own Sistema programs. A particular highlight was the closing public event, which featured a performance by the 105 young children of the Sistema NB Children’s Orchestra and 80 voice children’s choir, who (in Ken’s words) “demonstrated, without a single spoken word, the power of youth and music to change us all – Bravo!” Mr. Macleod continues, “I am confident the results of this historic summit will be immediate and important in bringing joy and hope through music to the children, families and communities throughout Canada who can benefit. The NBYO and Sistema NB were honored to be a part.”

ADMINISTRATIVE/ADMINISTRATIF
New Brunswick Youth Orchestra/Orchestre des jeunes du Nouveau-Brunswick
Provincial Director Sistema NB/Directeur provincial de Sistema NB
February 11 février 2011

AUDITIONS
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Percussion (National)
February 25 février 2011

Victoria Symphony
Principal Cello (International)
April 4 avril 2011

YOUTH AND TRAINING / ÉDUCATION ET APPRENTISSAGE
National Arts Centre Orchestra/Orchestre du Centre national des Arts
NAC Summer Music Institute/Programme des jeunes artistes 2011
February 8 février 2011

In recent years, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra has performed in New York, then Parma, Italy, and Beijing. In the summer of 2011, they travel to Vienna, to compete in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival under the leadership of new music director Antonio Delgado. The competition attracts outstanding youth orchestras from around the world, and the NBYO was selected to represent Canada, on the basis of a recording submitted earlier this year.

In the words of NBYO board chair Ken Macleod, “this could be our biggest test ever. All of the participants will be at the top of their game in Vienna – the heart of European classical music. The competition will be judged by internationally renowned music professionals.” The icing on the cake? The competition takes place in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna, internationally acclaimed as one of the top three music halls in the world.

“The competition requires that we perform a Canadian composition, and we are proud to take New Brunswick composer Richard Kidd’s original composition, The Marco Polo Suite to the world stage,” said Delgado. “The orchestra will perform the two compulsory pieces of Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances No. 3 and No. 8 as well as Arturo Marquez’s Conga del Fuego Nuevo – music that will not only challenge our students but demonstrate their talent.”

nbyo-ojnb.com

In mid-October, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra is joining another 120 New Brunswick performers in the October 23 world premiere of a new work of musical theatre based on an amazing New Brunswick success story. Partner organizations include the Saint John Theatre Company, the NBYO and the Saint John High School Concert Choir, and they are combining to present Marco Polo: The Musical, an original work written by Saint John natives Mark Blagrave (book) and Richard Kidd (music). The play follows the story of several individuals whose lives are tied to the Marco Polo ship, from its construction and launch at Marsh Creek in Saint John, to the trip from Liverpool to Melbourne that earned her the reputation as being ‘The Fastest Ship Ever Built’, and finally, to her resting place off the coast of Prince Edward Island.

3000 students from across New Brunswick will attend a free student matinee performance of the work, the culmination of weeks of student outreach activities this fall semester, including school visits, study guides, research projects and essay contests.

nbyo-ojnb.ca

This week, we’ve posted a multi-media presentation by New Brunswick Youth Orchestra president Ken Macleod on the first year of Sistema New Brunswick. You can read all about it, here.

Mid-August also brought welcome news to the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and its Sistema New Brunswick program. The province has agreed to invest $1.84 million over the next four years to help expand Sistema New Brunswick from one centre (based in Moncton, and launched in 2009) to a total of four communities across the province. The NBYO has committed to raising an equal amount of money from the private sector.

In an interview in the Moncton Times & Transcript, NBYO president Ken MacLeod observed “through music, the lives of the children have been enriched and in addition to developing music skills there have been other benefits: improved literacy and performance in school, more self-confidence and self-esteem, the feeling of belonging and the knowledge of how to work together as a team.” The next Sistema NB centre will open in September 2011, and MacLeod notes that “we want to be in communities where there is a higher percentage of low-income families because one of the objectives of this program is to provide options for children with families that don’t have them. We also want one of the centres to be in a community where the first language is French, and then part of it depends on the level of partnership we have from the community because we can’t do it alone.”

Late last week, Mme Sophie Galaise, Directrice generale of the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, was recognized as a “Woman of Distinction” in the field of arts and culture by the YWCA of Quebec at their annual Gala. She was cited for her track record of developing and transforming the organizations for which she has worked, the positive impact she has had in the cultural milieu, and her unique combination of business acumen and sensitivity to music and the arts – and, in particular, the numerous accomplishments of the OSQ since her arrival in 2007. Congratulations!

The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra has announced the appointment of Antonio Delgado as its new Resident Conductor, effective September 2010. Maestro Delgado, himself a product of the highly regarded El Sistema of Venezuala, will play a joint role, conducting the NBYO Senior Orchestra, and also driving the growth of the Sistema movement in New Brunswick, which officially launched in Moncton earlier this year. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, he was most recently a conductor with the world famous Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, (National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela). He has conducted every major orchestra in Venezuela, has worked in Ecuador and Puerto Rico and has been a guest conductor in Italy, Cuba, Guatemala, and Panama. In 2006 he was appointed the Music Director of the National Theatre “Teresa Carreño”, where he conducted major Venezuelan professional orchestras in Symphonic concerts, Ballets, and Operas. He began in the National System’s (El Sistema) “Nucleo La Rinconada”, where he studied violin and music theory.

We were charmed to learn that the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s Sistema NB program is benefiting from two ‘Teachers in Residence’ from Venezuela – Pedro Moya (violin) and Pamela Arce (cello).  During a three-week stay in New Brunswick, they have been teaching every day in the Sistema centre, giving individual lessons to Sistema children, offering a mini music camp for the Sistema orchestra, and presenting a master classes for the NBYO senior orchestra, as well.  On the final day of their visit, they’ll lead a recital of the Sistema orchestra for family, supporters and other community members.

Tomorrow night, May 15, Timothy Vernon conducts his final concert as Music Director of Orchestra London after 10 years of service.  Under the title of Music Director Laureate, he will return in June to conduct the orchestra’s opera production, Giulio Cesare, and will also lead several concerts during the 2010-11 season.  Maestro Vernon states, “This is not goodbye, but ‘until we see each other again’.  It has been a thrilling privilege this last decade to work with such fantastic, marvelous, and dedicated musicians.”