On Saturday, March 18, the Calgary Youth Orchestra (CYO), one of Canada’s leading youth orchestras, will perform side-by-side with the Calgary Phil musicians for a thrilling collaborative performance. A combined orchestra of more than 100 musicians will perform two world premieres paired with one of the most popular pieces in the Symphonic literature.
Under the baton of the Calgary Phil’s Music Director Rune Bergmann, the concert opens with Calgary composer Vincent Ho’s world premier “Celestial Horses: Fanfare & Fugue Fanfare” for brass, organ, percussion, and spatialized brass ensemble. Inspired by a photo of galloping Hungarian horses taken by Calgary Phil supporter and Ho’s friend Walt DeBoni, the Calgary Phil musicians will play the Fanfare and Fugue on stage while the youth players are spatialized around the concert hall playing materials that evoke the sounds of galloping horses.
“This would create an antiphonal experience that would have the audience hearing music coming from the stage while also hearing galloping musical materials surrounding them from all other directions,” says Ho.
Also being premiered at this concert is Calgary composer Allan Gordon Bell's new work "Symphonies of Luminous Being”. This piece is his final installment of his 3-symphony cycle inspired by Earth (Symphonies of Earth and Sky), fire (Symphonies of Hidden Fire), and nature. This is also his first major orchestral commission in almost 15 years.
The concert also features Bell’s “The Sundogs Reel” for string orchestra (conducted by CYO music director Edmond Agopian) and Dvořák’s spectacular New World Symphony. The concert is one of the highlights of the season for CYO and its musicians.
“I am a newbie to CYO, this is my first year and also my first year of playing in a proper orchestra,” says CYO violinist Mira Scullen. “It has been an exhilarating, if not at times nerve racking experience.”
For Mira and many of her fellow CYO members, this will be the first time to play with the professional orchestra.
“It's such a strange feeling knowing that these people who you have looked up to and watched concerts of are now playing with me. The fact that we have this opportunity is quite remarkable and I am very grateful for it. I was very intimidated when we were playing, having professional musicians around you, who aren’t your teachers. I am nervous but also very excited to be able to play with all these amazing musicians.”
New World. New Generation. It will be a night to remember for all.
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Founded in 1957, the Calgary Youth Orchestra is recognized as one of the finest youth orchestras in the country. Under its music director, Edmond Agopian, the CYO has toured Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and New Zealand.
The orchestra has commissioned works from a number of composers, most recently Calgary composer, Calgary Phil’s Assistant Concertmaster and CYO alumnus Donovan Seidle. Many of CYO alumni also perform with the Calgary Phil including Principal Cello Arnold Choi, violist/composer Arthur Bachmann, Assistant Principal Second Violin Stephanie Soltice-Johnson, violinists Maria van der Sloot, Adriana Lebedovich and Theresa Lane, and bassists Patrick Staples and Jonathan Yeoh.