News
SHANNON MACLEOD MIRAMICHI LEADER
Two world renowned musicians will perform with one of Canada’s leading youth orchestras at a show in Miramichi.
The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (NBYO) will join forces with two renowned professional musicians – singer Measha Brueggergosman and composer-arranger Aaron Davis – when they present a fundraising concert at the James M. Hill Memorial High School theatre at 2 p.m. on March 20.
Ken MacLeod, president and chief executive officer of the NBYO and Sistema, said it’s a fundraiser to support the work of the NBYO and Sistema New Brunswick.
“Once a year, we do a special guest-artist fundraising concert and we do that in some location in the province,” he said.“We chose Miramichi because we just started Sistema there and we really want to support the Sistema program and we want to build a relationship with the community.”
Sistema is a program to offer elementary-school aged children training in classical music, free of charge. Students have access upwards of 15 hours of training on a weekly basis. In October 2015, Sistema announced it’d be moving its program to Miramichi-area schools.
“We just started there a week ago, so we’re into our second week and we’re really excited, it’s going really well,” MacLeod said. “We have a couple of really terrific professional staff to start off.”
The NBYO fundraising event regularly features distinguished guest performers from outside the classical field.
“We intend for this concert to not be a one off, but we already plan to be back to Miramichi for our season,” he said. “The kids in the Sistema program need to see other young people performing at a very high calibre.”
In past years, these have included blues artist Matt Andersen, singers David Myles and Jill Barber, electro hip-hop group Radio Radio and The Divorcees.
“Typically what we do, is we take the music of guest artists and have it arranged for the orchestra and we perform a number of their songs,” he said. “So it’s not a Measha concert, it’s an NBYO concert with Measha as our guest artist.”
Brueggergosman was born in Fredericton and is a classically trained soprano operatic singer who said she enjoys opportunities to investigate other musical styles.
“It’s a way for me to challenge my classically trained mind,” she said. “It helps me to become a better musician.”
MacLeod said Songs of Freedom, arose out of Brueggergosman’s personal experience.
“She toured in Africa, following her own family’s roots of being sold into slavery, freedom in Nova Scotia,” he said.“A lot of them are African spirituals so basically we’re taking these songs and having them arranged for the NBYO, so this is the first time they’ve been arranged for a symphony orchestra.”
This will also be the first time Brueggergosman will perform her songs with an orchestra. MacLeod said Davis, who’s widely known as the co-founder of the jazz ensemble Manteca, did the arrangements on Brueggergosman’s album and for the concert.
“He’s performed with Holly Cole and quite a list of musicians,”MacLeod said. “He arranged the music for the Songs of Freedom, he’s also doing the arrangements for the orchestra and he will be here playing keyboard with the orchestra for these songs.”
In a news release, Brueggergosman said appearing with the youth orchestra will be the fulfillment of a long-held wish.
“The NBYO has massive street cred,” she said.“It is gaining a substantial reputation in the classical world, and of course it’s in my home province.”
The March 20 concert will open and close with selections by the orchestra. At the heart of the program will be the eight numbers, specially arranged by Davis and performed by Brueggergosman, Davis and the NBYO.
MacLeod said the NBYO currently has 75 members in its symphony orchestra.
“These are the best players selected by auditions from throughout New Brunswick and this is a very accomplished symphony orchestra.”
MacLeod said in recent years, it has released five CD recordings, they won an East Coast Music Award for Classical Recording of the Year in 2008, first place in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Competition in Vienna Austria for ‘Symphony Orchestra’ with the highest distinction of ‘Outstanding Success’ and more.
“This is one of the most accomplished youth orchestras in Canada,” MacLeod said.“This will be an incredibly powerful experience, to have someone of Measha’s calibre, and a full, large symphony orchestra is a rare thing.”
In a news release, NBYO conductor Tony Delgado said he anticipates a very special experience for the audience.
“I consider it a great honour that Measha has chosen to share time with our orchestra,” said Delgado.“She is an artist of the highest calibre on the world scene. She has an incredible background in some of the most demanding operatic roles and has performed with some of the most famous symphonic orchestras on the planet. Yet, she is also renowned for her versatility. Her voice brings similar power and beauty to spirituals, jazz and other popular forms.”
MacLeod said it’s one thing to hear orchestral music on the radio, but to experience it live in person, it becomes a physical experience.
“To see and experience it live is something else,”he said.
The Miramichi Sistema program based out of St. Andrews Elementary School under the direction of Sistema instructors Carlos Armao, a native of Venezuela, and Emily Field, both of whom are graduates of the prestigious McGill University music program.
Students from Ian Baillie and Napan Elementary School will also be eligible for the Sistema sessions. The program will eventually migrate to the incoming elementary school set to be built on King Street by the time that facility welcomes students in the fall of 2017.
“The (Miramichi) community has been so welcoming, it’s incredible the support we’re getting,” MacLeod said “We intend the Sistema to be a string orchestra (in Miramichi), so it won’t be a full symphonic orchestra with strings woodwind, brass and percussion, but it will be all the strings, violin, viola, cello and base.”
For the show, taking place at 2 p.m in the James M. Hill Memorial High School theatre, tickets are available through the Big Brothers Big Sisters/ Boys & Girls Club, located at 115 Ma-her St., or at Brookdale Flower Shop 488 King George Hwy. Cost is $28.50 for adults and $20 for students.
