News
ALAN COCHRANE TIMES & TRANSCRIPT -- 26-June-2015
Downtown Moncton will be a busy place on Friday, July 10, with concerts by four orchestras featuring musicians from around the world, hundreds of hot rod cars and a downtown street party featuring Canadian classic rock group April Wine.
“We just finished the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which brought world class athletes from many countries in the world to Moncton, and now we’re following that up with world-class musicians from 30 countries performing here in a new event,”says Ken MacLeod, president and CEO of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra.
This will be the first year for the new Pops New Brunswick concerts and Macleod is hoping it will become a signature destination event for Moncton. It is modeled after popular orchestral events like the Boston Pops and New York Pops, which draw huge crowds each year.
The four-hour concert schedule on July 10 will begin at 11 a.m. with the Sistema New Brunswick Children’s Orchestra, which includes 110 young musicians from all four centres where the after-school music program exists. Next up will be the 65-member Moncton Youth Orchestra. After that will be a combination of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and Tutta Musica, the teaching artists of Sistema New Brunswick. The final performance will be the YOA Orchestra of the Americas, which brings together young musicians aged 18 to 30 from 25 countries.
The Orchestra of the Americas is an international effort led by Artistic Advisor Plácido Domingo. Each year, the YOA takes the top musicians and brings them together for a concert tour. This year, they will gather at Moncton’s Crandall University for a couple weeks of workshops and rehearsals and then embark on a tour which includes performances at the Pan-Am Games in Toronto. MacLeod says this is the first time the YOA has done a residency in Canada, and the organization chose Moncton mainly because it is home to the Sistema program which helps at-risk youth by teaching them how to play a musical instrument in an orchestra.
The outdoor show in Moncton will be their first performance together. The YOA will also perform at the Playhouse in Fredericton on July 14, the Imperial Theatre in Saint John July 15 and at Crandall University July 16.
“These musicians are among the best in the world and they will be in Moncton for two weeks,”says MacLeod.“This is their training camp and our concert will be their warm-up before they go on tour.”
The first-ever NB Pops concert will be emceed by New Brunswick singers David Myles and Monique Poirier.
But the free four-hour concert on the big stage at City Hall is just part of the day’s action. Friday, July 10 is also the day of the Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza cruise-in, where hundreds of classic cars and hot rods will be parked along Main Street.
“Who would’ve thought orchestral classic and classic cars go together, but it’s popular music played at a high level by great orchestras with musicians from 30 countries,”MacLeod said.
Once the orchestral concerts are finished, stage hands will have to work quickly to set up for a concert by classic Canadian band April Wine, headliner for the free downtown street party from 6 p.m. to midnight. The orchestras require a large open space to fit about 100 people seated on chairs with their instruments, while the April Wine show requires less space for a four-man band, amplifiers and sound system.
“I love playing outdoor shows like this,” says Brian Greenway, who has been lead guitarist and singer for April Wine since 1977. “And when it’s a free outdoor festival show, you really get a wide audience of people who know all the songs, and young people who weren’t born when they first came out.”
In a telephone interview from Montreal, Greenway said April Wine is still going strong after more than 40 years of performing.
“It’s a job and it pays well and we have fun so we keep on doing it. It’s what we do.”
April Wine has performed in Moncton many times over the last 40 years at the Moncton Coliseum, various bars and downtown for the Canada Day festivities in 2011. The band is best known for such hits as Weeping Widow, Just Like That, Lady Run Lady Hide. Bad Side Of The Moon, Roller, Just Between You and Me, I Like to Rock, and Sign of the Gypsy Queen.
After 40 years, singer Myles Goodwin and guitarist Greenway are the only long-term members still with the band. Greenway says Goodwin decided about a year ago that he wanted to retire from touring and replace himself with a new singer. But that plan ended when they couldn’t find a suitable replacement.
“He wanted to go and get another singer but we couldn’t find one that fit. We auditioned a bunch of singers and after a while I told him (Goodwin) that if you aren’t there I won’t be either.”
This year, April Wine continues to perform at many festivals and shows. But unlike the old days of loading up the trucks with gear and hitting the road, they usually fly to a gig and use gear that is all set up and waiting for them when they arrive. This means that they might not do some of the songs that require piano or other special sound effects.
Jillian Somers, the City of Moncton’s manager of marketing and events, said having the youth orchestra, the Atlantic Nationals and the downtown street party all together on the same day will be a logistical challenge but also shows how the city can step up to those challenges.
“It’s going to be a happening day, bumper to bumper and shoulder to shoulder on Main Street,” she says, noting that thousands of people normally venture downtown for the car displays and live music.
“We’re always looking for ways to extend the entertainment through that day and we were able to partner with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and the Atlantic Nationals to do that. Having the orchestral concerts adds another layer to the car show. It also showcases the talent we have here and the musicians from around the world who are coming here. When the idea came up, we looked at each other and said its just crazy enough that it might work.”
Logistically, it means city staff will work with promoters and various service providers to make sure the stage, portable toilets, security and everything else is in place as thousands of people show up to see the cars and stay for very different genres of live music.
