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The teachers of Sistema New Brunswick perform on Sunday with local fiddle players to honour the tradition of fiddling at the Capitol Theatre on Sunday
MARY FAHEY TIMES & TRANSCRIPT 6-June-2015
When local fiddling meets an orchestral arrangement, it’s a blend of two long-standing traditions in music.
Tutta Musica, a professional orchestra made up of the teachers in Sistema New Brunswick, is putting on a show at the Capitol Theatre on Sunday featuring local fiddlers Ivan Hicks, Samantha Robichaud and Dominique Dupuis. The show, said Dupuis, will honour the local fiddling tradition.
“We try to showcase fiddling as much as we can,” she said. “I think you can make anything work as far as trying to unite different styles.”
The show is called Fiddling Stars. Dupuis was invited to play, as the event seeks to bring fiddling, the beloved music of the Maritimes, into the spotlight. Each of the three guest stars will represent a different side of fiddling, and Dupuis has been charged with the task of showcasing some traditional French Acadian songs as well as some of her own compositions.
She hopes to bring a bit of colour to the stage through her blended repertoire of traditional and original.
Dupuis said it’s a challenge, as the two sides need to work together in new ways, but it’s exciting to leave the comfort zone.
During rehearsal, she said there was a mutual respect between the classically-trained orchestra and the fiddlers. They need to listen to each other on stage in ways she’s not used to.
“Both sounds go really well together … I really look forward to hearing the end result on Sunday.”
Ken MacLeod is the founder of the Sistema New Brunswick program. He said the Tutta Musica is still in its first year, but it’s been a successful one.
These teachers are accomplished musicians in their own right, he said, and they want to play.
He said Tutta Musica and the whole Sistema New Brunswick program wants to engage in a variety of art forms whenever it can and bridge the gaps betweens genres.
The orchestra has also done shows that mixed with comedy and drama. This show will just adding a dash of local culture into that mix. “It’s really to make the orchestra more accessible to more people,” said MacLeod. “It’s something very unusual, and yet it will be very enjoyable.” These teachers are“socially minded,” said MacLeod. He said he’s often heard that they, as artists, have never worked so hard as they have in Sistema, but they’ve also never been more satisfied.
While Tutta Musica gives them a chance to set aside teaching for the day and present their talents as musicians, MacLeod said the program often allows them to do both.
“They get to combine their music and teaching and making a difference in the lives of kids and families and communities. And they can do that all within this organization.”
These teachers come from across the globe, from right here in New Brunswick to Venezuela and Mexico.
Kristin Day, originally from Ottawa, teaches in the program.
She’s a bassoon player who came to New Brunswick specifically to teach at Sistema.
She’s been involved in six or seven of Tutta Musica’s shows since January. She started playing bassoon 18 years ago at 13, and she’s been with the program for two years.
She said it’s “absolutely amazing” to pass on what she knows to such promising youth.
“There’s nowhere else in Canada (with) this scale of music program happening here,” said Day.
Day said the Fiddling Stars show fuses two old styles of music to make something new. This is not the kind of show an orchestra usually performs.
“It’s like fusing of the two; the old traditions of the orchestra and the old tradition of the fiddle. It’s a new thing.”
While Dupuis said she’s never been directly involved with anything in the Sistema program in the past, she’s excited to now associate herself with the program.
She agrees with the spirit of Sistema
– bringing music to kids who need it and getting them involved with an orchestra.
She said with all the fiddlers in Moncton, she’s honoured that she was asked to participate.
Even if you’re not into classical music, she said, you’ll want to see it played alongside fiddling.
“Because fiddling is so prominent here in the area, we kind of forget about it. We don’t shine a lot of light on it,” she said. “It’s nice to dedicate a whole afternoon to that. They’ll be able to fall in love with fiddle music all over again.” Tutta Musica’s show Fiddling Stars will take place at the Capitol Theatre on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $23 to $31.50, depending on seating, and they’re available at the Capitol box office or online at capitol. nb.ca.
