News
CORINNE FITZHERBERT VICTORIA STAR -- October 6, 2017
A day of music, art and the written word will be celebrated in Grand Falls on Friday, Oct. 13, with the help of members of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, or NBYO.
Students from throughout the region will be at John Caldwell School to take part in a Canada 150 project embarked on by the NBYO. The celebration is called Oh Canada: A Young 150!
Jim Tranquilla, director of community engagement for the NBYO, said two 50-minute assemblies will be held at the school for students in grades three to 12.
Students will be part of choirs that will perform the song“Sea to Sea” with the NBYO chamber orchestra at each assembly. The piece was written specially for the NBYO by celebrated Canadian composer Howard Shore, well-known for a vast body of work that includes the score to the Lord of the Rings films.
The work of former New Brunswick Lieutenant Governor Herménégilde Chiasson will also be featured at the assemblies. Chiasson, a poet, artist and writer, was commissioned to produce a literary work which he has called Peaceful Land.
Students from participating schools will display artwork and writing that has been completed to mark the event. At each assembly, students will be selected to read the pieces they have written and to present their artwork.
The assemblies will also feature the artwork of Tobique First Nation multi-discplinary artist Samaqani Cocachq (Natalie Sappier), who was commissioned to create a piece for the orchestra’s year-long celebrations.
Tobique First Nation artist Samaqani Cocachq (Natalie Sappier) was commissioned by the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra to produce artwork for the orchestra’s year-long celebrations called Oh Canada: A Young 150! The piece, called We Are Home, will be featured during a day of celebrating art, music and the written word with local school children at John Caldwell School in Grand Falls on Friday, Oct. 13. PHOTO: SUBMITTED
The piece is called We Are Home and in an artist’s statement Sappier describes how hearing every instrument in the orchestra reminded her of playing in the forest, seeing eagles flying overhead and being comforted by the medicine of the bear.
“When I hear and see the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, I see our future leaders who carry gifts of speaking with a language of emotion, healing, pride and unity through music,” said Sappier. “When I hear the music created by these young musicians I am proud to have them as my New Brunswick brothers and sisters because they inspire me, they awaken me; they remind me of the landscapes of home.”
Sappier is an artist in residence at Theatre New Brunswick where she is developing a multi-disciplinary work called Finding Wolastoq Voice.
The NBYO is made up of young people, many of them high school and university students, from throughout New Brunswick. One of its youngest members, Madison Mulherin, is a student at John Caldwell School. Mulherin plays the viola with the orchestra.
In a press release about the school event, it says the “internationally acclaimed NBYO has organized a celebration that pays tribute to Confederation and the accomplishments of a great history but also focuses on a future to be built from all the genius, optimism and hope of our youth.”
Students who perform in the choirs during the assemblies will also be invited to sing at an NBYO concert being held on the weekend. The full NBYO will be at the McCain Theatre at Woodstock High School on Sunday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. and everyone is welcome.
Students will be part of choirs that will perform the song “Sea to Sea” with the NBYO chamber orchestra at each assembly.