News
Mar 2, 2018 -- CBC Shift Host Vanessa Vander Valk speaks with touring NBYO delegation from Mexico City
Eight musicians with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and El Sistema travelled to Mexico City this week. They took part in a pan-American performance that includes 800 musicians from across the Americas, said youth orchestra CEO Ken MacLeod. The NBYO musicians number eight of a total Canadian contingent of 14 youth musicians. Six of the eight musicians began their musical experience with Sistema NB.
Listen here as CBC Shift Host Vanessa Vander Valk intervirews Ken and three of the eight NBYO members on tour, from Mexico City. Grace Hamilton of Moncton plays trombone. Jocelyn Blanchette studies percussion under Michel Deschenes at Université de Moncton. And Gawon Suh from Quispamsis, NBYO Concertmaster, plays violin.
The four days of rehearsal will culminate in a performance at the National Theatre, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City. One piece of the repertoire is Márquez’ “Alas a Malala” (Wings for Malala), a piece inspired by the young Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafsai, the Pakistani champion for education as a fundamental right.