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ALEXANDRA WHYTE TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Moncton’s Julie Rochus has been playing her French horn across the Nordic and Baltic countries of Europe this summer, as she represents Canada in the YOA Orchestra of the Americas.
A teaching artist with Sistema NB, Rochus was chosen from 3,000 applicants – their most ever - to go on this tour with 79 other musicians aged 18 to 30. They will perform in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
“I really liked playing in Tallinn [Estonia],”said Rochus on the phone Tuesday right after she got off the stage in Dala-Jarna, Sweden. “We played in a church in the main square – a huge giant church ... It was great.”
The orchestra has been playing music from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story, and by composers Debussy and Brahms.
“My favourite is [Symphony Number 1 by] Brahms because it has great horn parts and I play with a really great section so it’s really fun,”said Rochus.
Rochus is not new to the YOA; she also toured with the orchestra last year when it held a summer residency in Moncton. Now she is happy to be able to represent her country overseas.
“Our encore is that we dance on the stage with our flags, so I hold up the [Canadian] flag and [the crowd] loves it,” said Rochus.“Sometimes we go into the audience and dance and I always hear someone shout ‘CANADA!’ when they see my flag and that’s really cool.”
It’s been a whirlwind tour, which Rochus says has been difficult.
“The hardest past is all of the travelling and living out of a suitcase,” she says, “[and] also being ready to play a concert at a moment’s notice. Even after you’ve been travelling, you still have to find the energy to put on a good concert and we always do.”
But the rewards, like having time off in Lithuania have been worth it.
“We saw huge cathedrals, old churches, we even saw a basketball game between Lithuania and Portugal,”said Rochus.“You’re encountered in Lithuania with a lot of history and a lot of culture and it made playing the concert there really special after I had seen a bit of the city.”
Even though she is far from home, in places that she’s never been, Rochus said that she feels a bit of Canada.
“Sweden reminds me a lot of Canada with the lakes and the trees,” she says. “It’s beautiful here.”
After two more concerts this week in Sweden, Rochus and the YOA head to Denmark and Germany. After that, Rochus heads home to teach music with Sistema New Brunswick.
“We have a Sistema summer camp in August so right away I’ll be back to teaching for the summer camp and then the school year starts, so I’ll be back into teaching for that,”said Rochus.