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COMMEMORATING THE FIRST WORLD WAR
FREDERICTON • The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra will travel to the cradle of the First World War this week where it will commemorate the roles New Brunswick and Canada played in the conflict.
The 75-member orchestra will be in Vienna on Saturday to perform an original work it commissioned to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War.
Ken MacLeod, president and CEO of the youth orchestra, said in an interview the terrible events of the First World War may seem distant, but the musicians realize that if they had been alive in 1914, the tragedy and trauma would have directly affected their own lives.
“The question is, how would young people today commemorate the 100th anniversary of the war, especially knowing that there are no living veterans?” MacLeod said.
“How do you commemorate a war where you can’t see and talk and interact with those people who were involved? It seemed to make sense for us to do our commemoration through music. So we commissioned an original composition that would commemorate the role of New Brunswick and Canada in the First World War.”
War and music have historically gone together, from powerful symphonies to mark battles and tragedies to simple marching songs for soldiers.
Dream of Dawn, the new eight-minute piece by Canadian composer Kevin Lau, will be the youth orchestra’s entry as the only Canadian orchestra in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Competition in Vienna.
MacLeod said that from the home stage of the Vienna Philharmonic, in the country at the heart of events leading to the conflict, the youth orchestra will pay musical tribute to those who paid deeply as a result of the war, and issue an orchestral call to a future built on tolerance, understanding and dialogue.
“There is so much that is wonderful about this for our young musicians: it’s a world première performance, it is commemorating something important to Canada and it is a competition for our orchestra,” he said.
This is a return engagement for the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra. In July 2011 the orchestra played in several venues in Vienna, and released the related CD Musikfreunde: Friends of Music.
After the 2014 competition, the New Brunswick musicians will play at two other sites in Vienna, as well as in famous music venues in Munich and Prague, opportunities being managed by the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival.
In the competition itself, there will be 20 countries represented, with 40 ensembles and about 2,000 young people from around the world.
“We have a unique opportunity to play our commemorative music and also communicate the message about how New Brunswick and Canada are commemorating the anniversary of the war,” MacLeod said.
The orchestra will return to perform its new work as part of concerts at five locations in New Brunswick during the 2014-2015 season, as well as in Ottawa. The tour’s music will also be recorded for a CD to be released in the fall of 2014.
MacLeod said the project will include creative input and resources from many collaborators including the University of New Brunswick’s Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society, the Canadian Music Centre, the New Brunswick Museum, the Canadian War Museum and Hemmings House Pictures.
“Because of our debt to those who paid an enormous price, we have named the entire project – the competition, the tour, the original music and educational materials we are producing – as ‘Keeping Faith.’
“With no veterans of the war alive today, our biggest challenge is to go beyond respectful commemoration, to education, to avoid the mistakes of the past, treasure what we have in the present and create a more peaceful future.”
Lau said the Great War is very important internationally and marks an important milestone in Canadian history and in the shaping of the nation’s identity.
“It is through the lens of music that am most comfortable expressing my identity,” said Lau, who was recently appointed affiliate composer of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
“My own experience is far removed from those who gave their lives to ensure the freedom of individuals such as myself. To comment on and commemorate the events surrounding the First World War, I can only draw upon my reflections of human conflict, as well as my sense of gratitude to those who sacrificed so much for the ideal of peace.”
MacLeod said the piece moves from the initial enthusiasm and excitement of the conflict, to the tragedy, carnage and also the sense of Canada’s growing national identity, shaped by the war.
He said this is the fifth major tour for the youth orchestra in the past 10 years. Other trips have included New York, Italy, China and Austria.
“Literally, in the last 10 years, I don’t think there is any other youth orchestra in Canada that has the kind of distinguished record of accomplishment as the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra,” MacLeod said.
"Playing on the best stages in the world – it is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is an achievement these young musicians will remember all of their lives.”
Ken MacLeod, second from right, and conductor Antonio Delgado, second from left, talk with double bass players Sebastien Sirois, left, and Shawn Park, right, during a recording session at Convocation Hall in Sackville on Sunday. PHOTO: VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
