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First-ever Pops NB brought together 4 orchestras, 350 musicians on Main St.
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
A unique combination of roaring hotrod engines and swelling orchestral music made for a true symphony of sound in downtown Moncton on Friday.
The first ever Pops NB, a worldwide network of free outdoor orchestral concerts hosted in cities like Boston, Toronto and San Francisco, brought together four orchestras and 350 musicians in the throes of the Atlantic Nationals Automotive Extravaganza’s all-day cruise-in.
The concert was one part of the residency program of the YOA Orchestra of the Americas, a world-class symphony orchestra in Moncton this week comprising 80 young musicians from 25 countries across the Americas. Over the course of their residency program, the orchestra is working alongside after-school orchestral program Sistema NB and performing at several local venues before embarking on the most extensive tour of eastern Canada by a symphony orchestra in history.
The first of these venues was Moncton City Hall plaza, and the first to perform were the children of Sistema NB. Because of the age of its musicians, president and CEO Ken MacLeod said the young orchestra often gets underestimated.
“The average age (of the musicians) is 10 years old, and often people think, ‘Well isn’t that cute’,” said MacLeod. “Then they come and experience this orchestra and it blows their socks off with the level and quality.”
This was certainly the case on Friday, when 110 children raised their french horns, violas and trumpets – all glinting under the hot sun – and treated festivalgoers and the general public alike to an auditory feast.
Cameron MacIntyre, 10, was pleased to provide the first dose of orchestral entertainment of the day with the help of his violin.
“(It’s exciting) to have all the orchestras here,” said MacIntyre, adding that this was one of the biggest performances he’d ever been a part of. “It feels good.”
The children’s performance was part of the residency program of the YOA Orchestra of the Americas, a world-class symphony orchestra in Moncton this week. PHOTO: TESS ALLEN/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
This is really what Pops NB is all about, said MacLeod: Making people feel good about orchestral music through tunes they know (and maybe some they don’t know – yet) in an easily accessible venue. He calls Pops NB “the perfect orchestral concert for people who don’t know they like orchestras.”
“If you think about major movie productions, almost always they have symphonic scores and you couldn’t imagine those movies without the music, and so most people really like orchestral music but they may not have experienced it live by a symphony orchestra,” he said. “(With Pops NB) they have a chance to do that.”
After the children of Sistema NB warmed up the crowd, the stage was handed over to the Moncton Youth Orchestra, followed by the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra alongside Tut-ta Musica: The teaching artists of Sistema NB.
The YOA Orchestra of the Americas closed out the show, dazzling the hundreds who came out to listen and dance and reinforcing their all-important mission. It’s something pianist Pedro Zenteno from Santiago, Chile takes to heart whether he’s performing in the Dominican Republic or in the streets of Moncton.
“YOA has a social mission of going places where most orchestras don’t go. We just try to connect to the communities we go to in the ways those communities will engage with us,” he said. “It’s not only in concert venues, but also bringing it down to earth, bringing it down to the people wherever the people are, whether that’s a car show or anywhere else.”
Jillian Somers frankly couldn’t imagine a better fit.
“Moncton is known for pushing limits and this event combination is no exception,” she said. “Where else but in Moncton, New Brunswick, can you enjoy an award-winning classic car show and an internationally recognized orchestra all in one?”
The YOA Orchestra of the Americas will next play in Moncton at Crandall University’s Brinton Auditorium on Thursday, July 16, at 7 p.m. by donation. Following their New Brunswick residency, they will travel to Toronto to 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.
