THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013 I BREAKING NEWS: VANCOUVERSUN.COM
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MUSIC I CLASSICAL
Youth orchestra offers up free show
Concert initiative a chance to draw more listeners in to challenging world of chamber music The National Youth Orchestra ofCanada
Sunday, 3 p.m. I Chan Centre, 6265 Crescent Rd. Admission I Free DAVID GORDON DUKE SPECIAL TO THE SUN
The National Youth Orchestra of Canada visits Vancouver this weekend in what is sure to be one of the musi cal highlights of the summer. It plays at the Chan Sunday afternoon in a program including music by Wagner, Britten and Debussy. As it turns out, there's more to this visit than a single concert: the Van couver gig is sponsored by the Health Arts Society, the brainchild of David Lemon, which brings top-quality performances of chamber. music to audiences in Lower Mainland car.e facilities. Lemon, who has also served on the board of the NYOC, founded Health Arts in 2006. For this event, an inter esting model was hatched: get a lim ited number of backers to support the endeavour, then offer a free public concert, plus an ambitious outreach program of shorter chamber music programs, with orchestra members playing to listeners whose limited mobility effectively bars them from to traditional concerts. "A free concert is a wonderful oppor tunity to hear challenging music played by this group, which plays very well after weeks and weeks of rehearsal," Lemon says. "These young people are highly trained and can take full advantage of such a wonderful learning experience. Their Vancouver appearance is a great opportunity to offer the majority of tickets free to the public at"large - the best possible way to bring an audience to this wgnderful youth group." Established in 1960, the NYOC has been of inestimable importance in Canadian musical life. British Colum bia has always sent a strong com plement of players, and this sum mer there are two further Vancouver connectipns. Firstly is conductor Alain Trudel, who was the last to lead Vancou ver's CBC Radio Orchestra before it was disbanded in 2008. Secondly, James O'Callaghan, a composer and sound artist who studied at Simon Fraser University, has been this year's Emerging Composer-in-Residence and Sunday's concert features his new work, Isomorphia, for orchestra and electronics. The chamber music aspect of the NYOC's mini-residency is another matter entirely. In past years, there has been some criticisµi that big blo_ckbuster programs don't address the whole orchestral playing spec trum. Indeed, Arthur Kaptainis of The National Post's review of the orches tra's recent Toronto performance chided: "Once �gain I find myself
The National Youth Orchestra of Canada will be performing selections by Richard Wagner, Benjamin Britten and Claude Debussy as part of its free concert Sunday.
A free concert is a wonderful opportunity to hear challenging music played by this group. DAVID LEMON
FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF HEALTH ARTS SOCIETY
tempering my commendation with the wish that Trudel would program some Mozart and Haydn to balance all the big stuff." Playing chamber music at least partly addresses this concern. As Lemon notes, "The chamber music component is very important in musi cal training. You have this enormous orchestra playing enormous works, but the balancing of it with cham ber music experience is not so widely publicized. "Chamber music is, by definition, music for small rooms, and that's exactly the environment we can sup ply - audiences of about 40 people, who get very little live entertainment and music making of this quality. We have 11 groups, of four and five
players each, and then a brass ensem ble of 11 players. We're squishing all Composer uses field recordings of Vancouver's envJronment this activity into two days. Neverthe less, it is wonderful to have this kind As the NYOC's Emerging Composer with so many instruments to keep track of outreach." of). The result was very �lose to what I in-Residence, James O'Callaghan has Then there are the implications of enjoyed a unique opportunity during had imagined. Either I got lucky, or I'm gifted young players, on the thresholds the last two seasons. getting the hang of this:' of their professional careers, playing "I was able to not only hone my skills, Though the work has been performed for marginalized audiences. elsewhere, hometown listeners may but also experiment and try new tech "The care home experience will be niques;' O'Callaghan says. well have an edge in understanding the a definite eye-opening experience," work's sound materials. Lemon admits. "It will likely change Though he had already had readings "Most of the sounds are transcrip by the Victoria and Vancouver orches some of the young players' lives." tions of field recordings;' explains tras, this was a chance to take risks. When you get down to it, chang ing lives is what both these programs "The most surprising thing was actually O'Callaghan. "Animal calls, water rush are about. The NYOC is a finishing how little I was surprised by the result. ing, traffic jams, and other sounds of the environment. So, for listeners in school for up-and-coming orchestral Since I come from an electroacoustic performers; the network of provin background, where the composition of Vancouver, what they will hear are 'rel cial Health Arts Societies are about the sound is always direct and immedi ics' of this process:' bringing the life-enhancing value of ate, the process of writing for or.chestra music to those who may well need it can be very abstract for me {especially David Gordon Duke, Special to The Sun the most. "We undertook about 900 �--------------------------- concerts in British Columbia last year, and the same number this year," Lemon says. Just as the NYOC draws from every province and territory, the HAS has gone national. "We do have programs now in every province and territory, although the organizations are still nascent in some locales. We want all these satel lite organizations to be adopted and staffed by local .people," Lemon says.