Autumn In this issue. Autumn 2013 TAKE NOTE 1. Barbara Smith, Executive Director

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1 Executive Director s Message 2013 Season Blake Pouliot James O Callaghan In this issue Behind the Music Canada-India Youth Orchestra 2013 Award Winners Fall Flashback - Georg Tintner TAKE NOTE Autumn 2013 Members of the NYOC stand for a bow with Maestro Alain Trudel at Toronto s Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music on July 29. Photo by Vanessa Goymour Message from the Executive Director What a great year this has been for the National Youth Orchestra of Canada! In May, we travelled to India to form the Canada-India Youth Orchestra, a truly unique experience that brought together some of the most talented young classical orchestral musicians in Canada and India for an intensive training program in Bangalore. I would like to thank all of the donors, sponsors and friends who made this initiative possible. I especially thank the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and the Bangalore School of Music for all of their support with this cross-cultural project. The NYOC s 2013 summer training institute began in June only three weeks after we returned from India. This was our first year in residence at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and we could not have been happier. I would like to thank Dr. Glen Carruther s and WLU s staff and faculty for the warm welcome and for inviting the public to attend NYOC s open rehearsals and concerts. We look forward to working with WLU for many years in the future. Our 2013 orchestra under the baton of Maestro Alain Trudel toured eight cities during the TD National Tour in July and August Waterloo, Cambridge, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver with enthusiastic audiences and glowing reviews every step of the way. While in Montreal, McGill University s Schulich School of Music was, once again, the site of the orchestra s recording session for the premiere Canadian recording of Gustav Mahler s Ninth Symphony. The CD, which is available for purchase at nyoc.org, also features the RBC Foundation Emerging Composer-in-Residence, James O Callaghan s, original composition, Isomorphia. To finish off the year, twelve alumni, staff, and friends of the NYOC participated in the 2013 Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October. They raised over $20,000 in support of the NYOC s annual summer training institute. I would like to congratulate all those who participated and thank everyone who supported our team with your generous donations. Finally, I would like to thank all of our sponsors and donors for making 2013 one of NYOC s best years yet! We look forward to a spectacular 2014 season and are honoured to welcome Maestro Emmanuel Villaume, who will lead the orchestra on an exciting concert tour, details of which will be announced soon! Barbara Smith, Executive Director Autumn 2013 TAKE NOTE 1

2 What a Season! The National Youth Orchestra of Canada reminds us why we were drawn to classical music in the first place. They revive for us the heart and soul of this special art form, and present it with skill and the exuberant joy the young seem to have as their birthright, Robert Harris, The Globe and Mail, in his review of the NYOC s July 29, 2013 Toronto Concert at Koerner Hall. Summer 2013 marked one of the NYOC s most successful national concert tours ever, with concerts for enthusiastic audiences in Waterloo, Cambridge, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver. Edmonton Edmonton board member Satya Das (here with Maestro Alain Trudel) hosts a pre-concert reception for NYOC at Edmonton s Winspear Centre for the Performing Arts on August 7. Vancouver The NYOC performs at Vancouver s Chan Centre at the University of British Columbia on August 11. Ottawa The NYOC rehearses for a performance at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on August 1 st. Montreal The NYOC performs an outdoor concert at Théâtre de Verdure at Parc La Fontaine in Montreal on August 4. 2 TAKE NOTE Autumn 2013

3 Blake Pouliot wins Canada Council for the Arts Michael Measures Prize The NYOC congratulates this year s recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts Michael Measures Prize, Blake Pouliot of Toronto. The prize is a $15,000 annual scholarship presented to the NYOC s top concerto soloist. An alum of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Blake, 19, is now studying at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles. He has participated in master classes with internationally renowned musicians including Pinkas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, and James Ehnes, and performed as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Hamilton Symphony, among others. Blake Pouliot and Alain Trudel hug following Blake s performance of Jean Sibelius Violin Concerto in Toronto on July 29. Photo by Cecilia Gee Blake Pouliot performing Igor Stravinsky s L Histoire du soldat during the NYOC s July 5 chamber music concert in Waterloo at Wilfrid Laurier University. Interview with RBC Foundation Emerging Composer-in-Residence, James O Callaghan RBC Foundation Emerging Composer-in-Residence and McGill University MMus candidate James O Callaghan s original composition, Isomorphia, premiered at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on August 1 and was recorded by the NYOC at McGill s Schulich School of Music studios in Montreal on August 3. Take Note spoke with James regarding the experience: What was it like to collaborate with Alain Trudel and NYOC to rehearse and perform Isomorphia? Working with Alain and the NYOC was a great experience. Because I had the chance to see how the orchestra operated in their last season, when writing a piece for them, I knew I had an incredible pool of talent and energy to work with that allowed me to take risks in my writing. I think experimenting paid off, as the musicians approached the score with an inspiring enthusiasm and dedication. Alain was an excellent collaborator in particular - his efficiency, understanding of the work s goals, and good sense of humour allowed the work to come to life with surprising ease. Alain Trudel and James O Callaghan backstage at Vancouver s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on August 11. What was it like to have Isomorphia premiere and be recorded in the same week? Having a work premiered, recorded in studio, and then performed again within less than two weeks is certainly not the normal experience for new music, so I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this luxury with this piece. I think the rapid pace of the tour helps preserve a consistency of sound and focus, so I have only to say that I really admire the energy of the musicians! Autumn 2013 TAKE NOTE 3

4 Behind the Music 2013 Training Session NYOC Percussionists drum out a Reich quartet in the first chamber performance of the summer. Faculty member Ed Tait mentors members of the bass section and even competes in an impressive bass riff duel with his students. NYOC Violinists find a new home at King Street Residence, hosted by Wilfred Laurier University during the summer session. NYOC ensembles will sweat through anything - literally to ensure a great performance at the boiling hot Central Presbyterian Church in Cambridge. The NYOC aims to keep music relevant in everyday life leave it to the orchestra members to keep things modern with dramatized - and rather eccentric - versions of classic madrigals. 4 TAKE NOTE Autumn 2013 At the NYOC s annual talent show, members get to demonstrate their other talents - including a comical 4-hands for Harp, where even the harp is dressed up in a bowtie.

5 Behind the Music 2013 TD National Tour It s easy to tell from the smiling and excited faces that this is only the first day of tour. Bus #2 is eager to get on the road! During the tour, members of the NYOC get used to the hardships of travel - one thing they can t get used to are the early mornings. NYOC aims to bring music with them everywhere - even the cockpit of an airplane! Thanks to Air Canada, Official Airline of the NYOC, for accommodating our instruments with First Class storage and a great view. Every tour session ends with a farewell dinner - it s good to see the smiles haven t faded even after two weeks on the road together! What makes it great? Members of the NYOC with Rob Kapilow, conductor of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine, as they rehearse Vivaldi s Four Seasons for a special concert series at Ottawa s Chamberfest. Between all of the rehearsals, concerts, and 14-hour bus rides, NYOC musicians look forward to any breaks they can get - especially those at famous landmarks like the Jasper National Park. For more Behind the Music photos and videos, go to Autumn 2013 TAKE NOTE 5

6 The NYOC Goes to India Canada-India Youth Orchestra Project Phase Two - May 2013 The Canada-India Youth Orchestra performs Antonin Dvorak s New World Symphony at the gala concert at Chowdiah Memorial Hall on May 25 in Bangalore, India. In May, 32 NYOC musicians, three faculty members, and Maestro Alain Trudel travelled to Bangalore, India for two weeks of mentoring and training with 36 Indian orchestral musicians from the Bangalore School of Music. At the end of the two weeks, the two groups of musicians performed a gala concert as the Canada-India Youth Orchestra. This trip not only opened my eyes to see other parts of the world that I had not previously been exposed to, but it also connected me with other musicians who are just like me: keen, devoted, and passionate. Participating in the first ever Canada India Youth Orchestra project proved to me that music can bring people together around the world. Music truly is a universal language. Gabriele Thielmann Violin NYOC Alumna 11, 12, 13 Members of the violin section on a water break during a scorching hot rehearsal. I am certain that my experience with the CIYO was indisputably one-of-a-kind. The National Youth Orchestra has proven for over fifty years that young musicians from across the country can come together and share their passion for orchestral music. However, what I witnessed in the few weeks in May proves that it can also be done on a global level. Music is truly a universal commodity that we can all enjoy together Daniel Mills Trumpet NYOC Alumnus, '10, '11, '12 Maestro Alain Trudel conducting the first full rehearsal of the Canada-India Youth Orchestra. CANADA - INDIA YOUTH ORCHESTRA PROJECT NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA CANADA Members of the Canada-India Youth Orchestra pose backstage in their traditional Indian kurtas. 6 TAKE NOTE Autumn 2013

7 NYOC Award Winners The NYOC would like to congratulate the following prize winners: Horn section member, Mikhailo Babiak, 25 of Toronto, won the Air Canada Audition Award. The prize includes two round trip tickets to anywhere in North America where Air Canada flies. Cellist Tess Crowther, 21 of Edmonton, won the Steve Sitarski Award which includes a $1000 scholarship. Flutist Lara Deutsch, 22 of Ottawa, won the Karli Montgomery Staff Scholarship which includes a $500 scholarship. Congratulations to all three on a fantastic season! NYOC Alumnus Craig Landry, VP of Marketing for Air Canada, the NYOC s Official Airline, presented this year s Air Canada Audition Award to Mikhailo Babiak during the NYOC s July 29 concert. Photo by Vanessa Goymour NYOC Records Mahler and O Callaghan This year s audio CD by the NYOC, recorded with Maestro Alain Trudel at McGill University s Schulich School of Music studios, features two important works: Gustav Mahler s Ninth Symphony, and RBC Foundation Emerging Composer-in-Residence, James O Callaghan s Isomorphia. Rarely performed publicly, Mahler s Ninth Symphony was performed by the NYOC at Ottawa s National Arts Centre on August 1 st and at Edmonton s Winspear Centre on August 7 th. This disc marks the premiere Canadian recording of Mahler s Ninth. The CD can be purchased online at nyoc.org or downloaded from itunes. Team Molto Presto Raises $20,230 in the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon The NYOC s Team Molto Presto captain, John Rudolph, expresses appreciation to all team members, donors and friends for the generous support for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon on Sunday, October 20. We congratulate John and his team for their extraordinary fundraising and athletic effort to raise money for the NYOC. Team Molto Presto John and Mike Rudolph Autumn 2013 TAKE NOTE 7

8 Fall Flashback The NYOC Remembers Georg Tintner ( ) The late Georg Tintner conducted the NYOC eight times between the years 1971 and 1989 and had a significant influence on the NYOC s training and performance culture. Born in Austria, the first Jewish member of the Vienna Boys Choir, a composer at six, and a conductor of the Volksoper at nineteen, Maestro Tintner was one of the bright young musicians in Vienna. He fled Europe and the Nazis to New Zealand in the late 1930s. He moved to Canada in 1987 when he became director of Symphony Nova Scotia. Maestro Tintner is best known to music lovers for his recordings of Anton Bruckner, available on Naxos. His noted CD box set of the complete Bruckner Symphonies, recorded with the New Zealand Symphony, the Irish National Orchestra, and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra will be re-released by Naxos in January 2014 and will feature a bonus CD of a 1974 lecture on Bruckner by Maestro Tintner during the NYOC s summer training institute. Three albums he recorded with the NYOC, featuring Gustav Mahler s Symphonies #1 and #10, and Arnold Schoenberg s Transfigured Night among other works, are available for download online at naxos.com. Georg s third wife and widow, Tanya Tintner, recently completed a biography on his life and works, Out of Time: The Vexed Life of Georg Tintner (Wilfrid Laurier University Press). Her book has been described as vivid, compulsively readable (Neville Cohn, West Australian) and a brilliant new biography (Benjamin Ivry, Jewish Daily Forward). Matthias Wurz of The Vienna Review says, This book is not just a discovery of a true musician, but also a fascinating yet detailed cultural history of a century. Out of Time is available for purchase from WLUP and Amazon.ca. Concert programme featuring the NYOC conducted by Georg Tintner at Michigan State University on August 25, According to Mrs. Tintner, Maestro Tintner was passionate about music and musicians and loved to work with the members of the NYOC. He saw them as totally and utterly devoted to music and the admiration was mutual. He saw the NYOC as the musicians of the future; musicians who wanted to be there and who wanted to work and perform. He never underestimated the NYOC s musicians. She quotes NYOC alumnus Myles Jordan saying, Georg Tintner single-handedly was the best thing that ever happened to Canadian orchestral training, by far. A 1999 CBC Radio documentary, Remembering Georg Tintner, aired on And the Winner Is... can be heard at Editorial Contributors Erin Cechetto, Cecilia Gee, Vanessa Goymour, Victoria Kotyck, Mike McClintock, James O Callaghan, David Popoff, Barbara Smith, Tanya Tintner The NYOC expresses sincere appreciation to David Popoff for the design of this newsletter. National Youth Orchestra of Canada 59 Adelaide St. E. - Suite 500 Toronto, ON, M5C 1K6 Toll Free Toronto Fax info@nyoc.org Charitable Registration No RR TAKE NOTE Autumn 2013