News
‘Keeping Faith’ CD will also be launched
SAINT JOHN • There will be lot happening when the internationally acclaimed New Brunswick Youth Orchestra presents its only concert of the 2014-15 season at Saint John High School on Sunday.
The NBYO’s 2 p.m. “Keeping Faith/ Gardons espoir” concert, under the baton of dynamic Maestro Antonio Delgado, commemorates the centenary of the The Great War of 1914-18 and features a performance of Canadian composer Kevin Lau’s moving composition, “A Dream of Dawn.”
It will also include a special multimedia launch of the NBYO’s commemorative CD Keeping Faith, which was recorded at Mount Allison University’s Convocation Hall last July, just days before the orchestra embarked on a commemorative tour of Germany, Austria and the Czech public.
Sunday’s matinée is the third of six concert stops in New Brunswick this season.
“Keeping Faith is the theme of this tour,” Geoff Britt, volunteer parent rep for the NBYO in Saint John, said Wednesday as he prepared for the orchestra members to gather in Saint John on Friday for pre-concert rehearsals.
“It’s actually the CD cover and the tour itself, on all the posters it’s presented in English, French, German and Czech ... to honour and respect the cultures of the countries we visited on the tour,” he added.“We did our world premiere of this Canadian composition that was commissioned by the NBYO from a Canadian composer specific to New Brunswick and Canada’s contribution to The Great War.
“It was quite the experience,” said Britt, who joined the orchestra on tour. “We went for two weeks and now we continue to commemorate the First World War centenary with our concerts and the CD release.”
The NBYO’s live performance of a “A Dream of Dawn” on Sunday, plus timeless classics by Borodin, Ravel and Shostakovich, will be performed before an audience that will include veterans and members of the Canadian Legion as its honoured guests.
Britt said the event will also pay tribute to the 50th anniversary of the province’s first youth orchestra, formed in Saint John by the late Philip Oland in 1965, and to the St. Mary’s Band, formed in 1903, for its generous and continuing support of the NBY0.
“It really is amazing for us as a volunteer for the NBYO – and the musicians, they sense this privilege and honour – to bestow this honour on these veterans and Legion members not only on Sunday, but throughout New Brunswick,”Britt said.“It’s a great experience.”
He said the NBYO felt it“very fitting” to honour St. Mary’s Band because of both its history and its musical connection.“A lot of these band members served as a marching band in World War I and some actually made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “And they have been generous supporters of the NBYO. They supported members of the NBYO so they could go on the tour.”
Britt said he is amazed and grateful, year after year, for the NBYO’s sponsors and supporters.
“We have restaurants, grocery stores, delis, bakeries, pizza places who are there for us when we need to feed these 83 musicians over a weekend,” such as the one ahead, he said.“It’s wonderful.”
Local families and friends will be billeting more than 60 out-town-members of the NBYO, aged 11 to 22, while they are in the city.
Britt said the NBYO is proud to partner with UNB’s Gregg Centre and the New Brunswick Museum to bring the commemorative concert to New Brunswickers. Tickets for Sunday’s concert are available at the Kent stores in Saint John, Rothesay and Saint John West, by calling toll-free 1-877-700-3130, or online at tickets.ticketwindow. ca/KeepingFaithGardonsespoir.
In a release announcing the release of the Keeping Faith CD, Lau describes his “A Dream of Dawn” as a meditation on service and sacrifice.
“My intention,” he said, “is to complement the ref lections of those pondering war in all its paradoxical facets, to recognize the horrors of human conflict while affirming our profound search for harmony in ourselves and abroad.”
In addition to“A Dream of Dawn,”the CD contains the NBYO’s full 2014 tour repertoire.
“Recording the entire concert to professional standards was a demanding but rewarding experience for our young musicians,”NBYO president Ken McLeod is quoted as saying.“Knowing that the final product would be heard again and again compelled all the players to reach for their very highest level of achievement. The result is an outstanding permanent record of a memorable program.”
Copies of the CD Keeping Faith will be available at the Sunday afternoon concert at Saint John High, at later performances on the tour, and on-line, after the tour, from the orchestra’s website nbyo-ojnb.ca.
