Orchestras Canada

Sistema New Brunswick presents its first ever “Sistema TLC”, an intensive bootcamp for teachers and learners in the Sistema method. The program will run from August 14-17 in Moncton, New Brunswick, and (as the on-line description says) “focuses on practical tools to propel your El Sistema-inspired dream and program forward.” Highlights include:
• Experienced faculty and staff from Canada, the United States and Venezuela;
• A relevant North American perspective including the scale and scope of programs and the need for partnerships, fundraising, evaluation and more;
• Interactive workshops;
• Hands-on ‘lab’ experiences with the Sistema NB Children’s Orchestra;
• Networking opportunities.

Registration is free, but enrolment is limited. To find out more, please visit: sistematlc.eventbrite.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.”

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.

Three years ago, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra launched a guest conductor program, “to inspire and develop talent within the youth orchestra”.  This year, with the launch of Sistema New Brunswick and the opening of the NBYO’s first Sistema Centre in Moncton, the NBYO invited a guest conductor (and product of the famed El Sistema program) from Venezuela to lead them, and it’s not just a fly-in weekend visit, either!  Maestro Antonio Delgado is spending the entire month of January with the NBYO and Sistema New Brunswick, teaching and mentoring at the Centre, leading youth orchestra rehearsals and sharing the podium with NBYO music director Dr. James Mark in concert, as well. 

Maestro Delgado has conducted every major orchestra in Venezuela, and has worked in Ecuador and Puerto Rico. Currently, he is in charge of the Musical Direction of the National Theatre “Teresa Carreño“, where he conducts the major Venezuelan orchestras in Symphonic concerts, Ballets, and Operas.

Another highlight of the guest-conducted concert?  The musicians of the NBYO were joined on stage by all thirteen members of the NBYO faculty, including David Adams and Paul Campbell, violin; Chris Buckley, viola; Sonja Adams, cello; Andrew Miller, bass; Karin Aurell, flute; Belinda Code, oboe; Jean-Guy Boisvert, clarinet; Robert Lewis, bassoon; James Code, horn; Richard Gibson, trumpet; Richard Kidd, trombone; tuba; and Michel Deschênes, percussion.

For more information about the NBYO, please visit their website here.