News
The orchestra will play on Main Street for the Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza on Friday at 2 p.m.
TESS ALLEN TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Former Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra concertmaster Leon Spierer spent 30 years sharing the “beauty of sound” with some of the most proficient orchestral musicians in the world.
Now, he is in Moncton, sharing that same beauty with talented youth from across New Brunswick and far beyond.
Spierer is just one of a faculty of principal musicians from the world’s top orchestras in Moncton this week, alongside world-class conductors, composers, guest artists and 80 young musical leaders from 25 countries in the Americas, for the YOA Orchestra of the Americas’ 2015 residency program.
The world class symphony orchestra will work alongside after-school orchestral program Sistema NB and perform at several New Brunswick venues before embarking on their first Canadian tour and the most extensive tour of eastern Canada by a symphony orchestra in history.
Until then, however, icons like Spierer hope to instill musicians from in and out of the Moncton area with their own seasoned takes on what makes a successful orchestra.
“What we are aiming (to do) with all these young people from different schools with different opinions on what sound is or what the beauty of sound is, we try to unify that,” he said. “Convince them that a good orchestra is not the one who plays the perfect notes; it’s how they play them.”
This involves, among many other things, plenty of teamwork and open-mindedness, said Spierer.
“To make music you need two things; emotion and the brain,” he said, emphasizing the importance of keeping your eyes on the conductor and your colleagues. “You have to be thinking all the time.”
Among the many things that have surprised and delighted Spierer since his arrival in the province, he is most astonished by how young its talent is.
“I grew up in Argentina, and there were … many young people who wanted to have some opportunity but at my time there was none,” said Spierer. “To hear that there are children now playing, this is a dream for all of us.”
It’s also incredibly important, added Spierer.
“A difficult child going to school might not become quite a good citizen,” he said. “You give him an instrument and he gets to love that instrument, you multiply that by thousands, and you get very, very fine citizens with good feelings and good brains.”
This was a sentiment shared by many other top orchestral musicians gathered at Crandall University on Thursday.
Craig Mumm is the associate principal violist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra of New York. He said that beyond trying to help the musicians of New Brunswick and of the YOA Orchestra of the Americas achieve “musical excellence”, he is in Moncton this week to encourage and engage in the cultural exchange among the students.
“I hope to bring to the students of New Brunswick the idea of sharing the cultures and meeting kids from Brazil and Bolivia and Cuba and all these places that they’ve seen on a map but have no idea what it’s like … it’s such a cliche to say that music is the universal language, but you see it here,”said Mumm. “When we’re in the orchestra … we’re completely of one mind.”
It’s lessons like this one being learned by eight-year-old Haley McKitrick, who was honing her viola skills with YOA Orchestra of the Americas members Ernesto Estigarribia and Cristian Diaz.
“I can be better and help them learn more also,” said McKitrick, from Richibucto.
Following the New Brunswick residency, 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.
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.
