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Moncton to host world-class symphony orchestra
The YOA Orchestra of the Americas will begin its two-week 2015 residency program in New Brunswick this weekend
TESS ALLEN TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Wherever the YOA Orchestra of the Americas spends its annual residency program, it strives to cultivate the power of classical music. These have included communities in Panama, Chile and the Dominican Republic, where the world-class symphony orchestra has helped foster local programs with the unique skills of 80 young musicians from 25 countries across the Americas.
This summer, Moncton will join that list. The YOA Orchestra of the Americas will begin its two-week 2015 residency program in New Brunswick this weekend. From July 5 to 17, they will work alongside the after-school orchestral program Sistema NB and perform at several local venues before embarking on the most extensive tour of Eastern Canada by a symphony orchestra in history.
“Every year there’s a symbolic purpose to the community that receives us,” says creative director and general manager Mark Gillespie. In New Brunswick, he says, that purpose is two-fold.
“On the one hand, the purpose is to create an experience for our musicians … who will go back as change agents based on the experience they have here,” he says.“On the other hand, our objective is to … shine a light on the efforts of Canada and Sistema NB and on everything this province has to offer.”
Gillespie adds that it is these efforts that made Moncton and New Brunswick, the first Canadian province to act as a host for the YOA Orchestra of the Americas residency program, a no-brain-er.
“We’re particularly thrilled to be here in New Brunswick because of the great momentum that’s been established over the last six years through the efforts of Sistema NB to build an awareness of the power that orchestra can have in the transformation the lives,” he says. “Our orchestra … supports these grassroots movements happening across all the countries in the Americas. To be coming here to New Brunswick in order to celebrate this great achievement and draw attention to it is a huge honour.”
New Brunswick, in fact, has the largest youth music program in the country, and serves as an internship site for the YOA Orchestra of the Americas’ Global Leaders program; this made for a stellar case in attracting the residency program this summer, says president and CEO of Sistema NB Ken MacLeod.
“We have seen such a dramatic development in the scope and scale of orchestral music in our province in recent years,” he says.“When the YOA Orchestra of the Americas turned their sights to Canada this year, we were the logical choice for them to pick as a residency partner because of our affiliation and because of the stature and respect that our programs have developed over the last few years.”
This will be the second year Moncton’s Julie Rochus will tour with the YOA Orchestra of the Americas. The French horn player and teaching artist with Sistema NB’s Moncton centre is looking forward to extending the same reception she received when she toured with the group in Panama two years ago.
“This is going to be huge for the orchestra music community (in New Brunswick),” she says.“First of all, musicians will able to come to New Brunswick and see what an awesome program Sistema NB is … and my students are going to be able to see a whole new world of musicians coming to Canada.”
Rochus was one of 13 Canadians and one of three musicians from Sistema NB to be selected from the 2,200-person audition pool.Kathryn Clarke and Maestro Antonio Delgado were also chosen. Another Moncton native and NBYO alumnus, Kristan Toczko, out-competed 35 fellow harp applicants to win the single spot available in this year’s orchestra.
The residency will include a faculty of principal musicians from the world’s top orchestras – the Berlin Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra of New York, the Rome Opera Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra London and others, as well as world-class conductors, composers and guest artists.
Following the New Brunswick residency, on which the provincial government is spending $30,000, the orchestra will travel to Toronto, where they will perform in two concerts at the Pan Am Games. This will be followed by the Stratford Festival, and then on to Quebec, where they will perform at that province’s most prestigious festivals and venues.
But before that, New Brunswickers will get a chance to see the orchestra in their own backyards at one of four shows across the province.
The orchestra will play on Main Street for the Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza on Friday, July 10, at 2 p.m.; at The Fredericton Playhouse on Tuesday, July 14, at 7:30 p.m.; at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John on Wednesday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m.; and at Crandall University’s Brinton Auditorium on Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m.. Both Moncton performances as well as the Saint John performance are free of charge, but the show at Crandall University will accept donations. Tickets for the Fredericton show can be purchased at The Playhouse at $30 or $15 for those under 19.
SHOW FACTS
WHAT: YOA Orchestra of the Americas WHEN: Friday, July 10 at 2 p.m. and Thursday, July 16, 7 p.m. WHERE: The July 10 performance takes place on Main Street, Moncton as part of the Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza. The July 16 show is at Brinton Auditorium on Crandall University’s campus ADMISSION: Both performances are free, but donations will be accepted at the Crandall concert.
