Five members of the Intermediate Performance Group competed in different classes this week, receiving excellent comments and results. Three advanced to the trophy classes on Friday afternoon where Simi won the George Piers Trophy for Junior Strings and Alisa won the Matthieu Froment Savoie Trophy for Intermediate Strings.
This morning Stellae Boreales performed in the Suzuki String Ensembles class along with several other senior ensembles and were awarded first place.
All four members of the Senior Performance Group have been busy competing in the Kiwanis Music Festival this week, individually and as an ensemble. This morning they played Concerto for Four Violins in B minor by Vivaldi receiving a mark of 93 and very encouraging comments from the adjudicator.
During the week three members of the group advanced to the trophy classes which were held this evening. Congratulations to Christina who won the Edythe Young Browne Trophy Class for Senior Strings.
Next week several members of the Intermediate Performance Group will be competing in Junior and Intermediate string classes.
January 10th was a very fun day for the Stellae Boreales members. We spent the afternoon playing at two retirement homes. It was really fun to play both concerts. The seniors seemed really pleased with our performances. We played our repertoire from our first Stellae Boreales concert of the 2008-09 season. We didn’t have our pianist which made it a bit harder, but it was still exciting.
During both performances our audience was surprised at how young some of the musicians were. Both groups, intermediate and senior performances group did a good job playing at both concerts. After we had played, some of the musicians went to talk to the seniors that lived in the retirement homes and gave them cards with information on the group. I also felt good after the concerts when they came to thank us for playing for them .
D.S.P
My first concert in Stellae Boreales was a blast!
When we first arrived at the church, we started to practise all our pieces. It was a lot of fun to practise and play together. We also heard the senior performance group play. I really loved the Vivaldi Concerto in B minor. Later, we had dinner and dessert. Most of the dishes were delicious.
After dinner, our concert finally started! At the beginning, the intermediate performance group, my group, played a piece by Bartok, Sicilienne by Faure and Fantomen by Ost. After that, there were beautiful solos, followed by the Senior flute ensemble. At the end, all members of Stellae Boreales played 3 pieces: Sleigh Ride by L. Anderson, Csardas by McLean and Romance by Shostakovich. My friends in the audience were very impressed. Their favorite piece was Sleigh Ride.
What an exciting concert!
M-S. P. (10yrs)
On Sunday October 5th Stellae Boreales performed in a benefit concert called “By Youth For Youth” supporting school children affected by the China’s earthquake. It was at Carleton University. The proceeds will be used to deliver sports equipment and musical instruments to the schools. It was a great privilege for us to perform as we traveled to China just three months ago.
Our first piece was Romance by Shostakovich while our second was “The Butterfly Lovers” which is a famous Chinese piece we learnt especially for our trip. Other performers included other string musicians, pianists, vocalists and dancers. The pieces were a mix of classical and Chinese folk music. It was a very successful concert and a very worthwhile cause.
LT (14yrs)
The Stellae Boreales ensemble regrouped for the exciting new season on a dark and stormy first weekend of September at the Long Island RCMP camp ground. The camp is fabulous and has a huge central cottage with a fully equipped kitchen including a hall for rehearsals and a dining area overlooking the Rideau River. Several small sleeping cottages surround the main cottage.
Although a number of the ensemble were newcomers, Kit Barham, Rosemarie Klimasko, and Liko Yamane pulled everyone together and we practiced for many wonderful hours on our pieces.
Yes, lots of practice time, but we had other fun too, we had the chance to cook a delicious meal (planned and organized by Vicky Barham), play soccer and enjoy many board games.
Even though we had bad weather, it showed that we can all work together and thrive in a new and difficult situation, especially with help from all the volunteers. Hopefully we will get a chance to share the same experience next year, because we all know there is no better place to practice than with your friends in a nice camp ground.
E.T. 15years
(New photos have been added to the gallery. Just click on and of the latest photos, to the right of this post, and it will take you there)
On the second day of our trip in Beijing, me and my dad wanted to go out for a walk to the Forbidden City.
First, we tried to catch a taxi cab. All drivers pretended they did not even see us. No-one stopped to drive us. Then we went to the subway station. We bought a ticket and took the train. When we reached our destination, the exit of the station was filled with people. Some of them were selling umbrellas. They were selling them for a good reason. It was raining very hard outside. We did not want to go for a walk under pouring rain and waited for a while, hoping the rain would end soon.
After some time waiting we decided to go back. We hoped there would be more people selling umbrellas as well. When we got back to our station we saw even more people hiding from the rain. We bought two umbrellas for 20 Yuan, while the seller was asking only 10! That was lack of understanding from our side! But we made one Chinese person happy. When we opened our umbrellas, dad’s one broke right away. The seller pretended he did not see anything. I guess, our umbrellas did not have good warranty.
We rushed to the hotel under pouring rain, trying to get to our hotel as soon as possible. But it was not that easy. The whole way from the subway station to our hotel became more like a river. The water reached up to my knees and in some places up to my waist. Some people fell into the water with a big splash. I could hear it from far away. Finally, we came to our hotel, all wet and tired, but happy that we did not drown in this flood.
AK
Hier, le 15 juillet 2008, le groupe a été profondément privilégié de pouvoir assister à un fantastique spectacle d’acrobaties chinoises. Non seulement avons-nous été témoins des acrobaties incroyables, mais nous avons profité des numéros qui étaient extrêmement visuellement artistiques. Il y avait des pirouettes, des culbutes et des roulades, toutes presque parfaitement coordonnées ainsi que plusieurs pyramides humaines qui se constituaient d’une pure harmonie et d’un ballant exceptionnel de la part des acrobates.
Au début, je n’avais aucune idée à quoi m’attendre. Tout ce que je connaissais était la situation familiale des familles chinoises : à cause de la surpopulation, chaque couple a seulement droit à un enfant. À cause de ceci, les parents poussent leur enfant unique le plus possible afin d’assurer son succès pour faire honneur à la famille. Comme je m’y attendais, dans le spectacle d’acrobaties se trouvaient plusieurs jeunes acrobates qui avaient évidemment été élevés de cette manière. Le niveau de perfectionnisme qu’ils ont atteint était étonnant, et je peux affirmer avec certitude que j’ai vu des choses auxquelles je ne m’attendais absolument pas… Comme dernier numéro, cinq motocyclistes exécutaient des trucs dans une seule sphère métallique, tous en même temps! C’était non seulement impressionnant, mais assez épeurant à mon goût. L’odeur de gaz était un simple prix à payer pour voir de telles acrobaties!
En général, j’ai eu une expérience très positive en Chine et c’est encore difficile à absorber que nous sommes allés faire une tournée en Chine. D’un côté, j’ai hâte de retrouver mon rythme de vie au Canada, mais la Chine va certainement me manquer!
CS-D
Au retour, quel accueuil chaleureux! Heureusement que je n’ai pas décidé de rester en Chine, j’aurais manqué ça! Ce fut deux semaines bien remplies, très bien même, avec son lot de petites aventures qui nous font encore sourire.
Ce qui m’a frappée durant ce voyage…
Déjà vu une fleur de lotus? Les couleurs et les feuilles sont magnifiques. Elles me font penser au développement musical des jeunes durant notre voyage. Les belles grosses et grandes feuilles vertes étaient déjà présentes avant de partir tandis que la fleur aux couleurs vives s’est lentement ouverte pour nous laisser voir sa beauté dans toute sa magnificence. Impressionnant à voir et entendre! En 2 courtes semaines, ils sont devenus de vrais professionnels!
L’endroit qui m’a le plus charmée : le Temple du ciel de Beijing (Temple of Heaven) : un endroit où les gens dansent, jouent à toutes sortes de jeux, font de la musique, etc. On sentait la joie de vivre chez eux. Ils nous incluaient dans leurs jeux; c’était magique! Un vrai ciel sur terre!
Nous avons aussi été témoins d’une partie de « ping-pong »… (en l’honneur de Ping! … Oui, je sais, tout le monde y a pensé…) entre le professeur de musique de Shanghai et nul autre que … Rosemarie!
Mise au jeu : les élèves de Shanghai nous interprètent une pièce folklorique chinoise, assez bien exécutée, suivie d’un solo de violoncelle, une pièce de Dvorak. C’est une pièce très difficile à jouer. C’est le tour des canadiens : Double concerto de JS Bach et Jalousie. Ils sont solides comme du rock et on voit comment leurs 2 semaines de tournée les ont rodés, frisant la perfection.
La balle est aux chinois : un autre solo, d’un altiste, cette fois.
Et c’est à Rosemarie! Toutes les têtes, sans exception, suivaient la balle sans en manquer une seconde. Elles se tournent vers Rosemarie. Catherine accepte son invitation à jouer. Elle s’exécute avec brio et simplicité. Liko, malgré une rage de dents, accompagne Catherine de main de maître. Nous sommes tous très fiers d’elles. La balle bondit dans le camp des chinois. D’un bond, ils décident de nous faire entendre un jeune violoniste talentueux. « Et il n’a que 11 ans! », ajoute le professeur!
Finalement, la balle tombe dans le centre de la table : « Pourquoi ne pas jouer ensemble? », de proposer Rosemarie? Ils jouent la Danse hongroise No. 5, solidement dirigée par Kit suivie d’une version différente du « Butterfly Lover’s Concerto ». Stellae Boreales poursuit avec la version qu’on connaît dans laquelle Laurent nous fait honneur.
Bilan de cette grande joute à jamais inscrite dans les annales de Suzuki : succès sur toute la ligne! Les chinois ont très apprécié que Stellae Boreales joue une pièce composée par un compatriote. De plus, ils ont tellement aimé Jalousie qu’ils veulent obtenir la partition. Par-dessus le marché, ils désirent venir rencontrer les professeurs et élèves de l’école Suzuki à Ottawa. Bravo! Mission accomplie!
Les souvenirs se bousculent. Ceci n’est qu’un chapitre. Nous en avons vu de toutes les formes et toutes les couleurs, accordées aux goûts de tout le monde. Tout a très bien été, les concerts comme les visites!
En trois mots : un voyage magnifique!
Claire S.
The China Welfare Institute Children’s Palace (CP) is a beautiful marble and glass structure built in the 1950s. On July 13th , we celebrated ABT’s 12th birthday at lunchtime, in a restaurant located across the street from the CP. Then we proceeded to the large orchestra classroom on the CP 10th floor, for our musical exchange
with the CP orchestra. About 30 CP parents sat at the back of the classroom, watching their children practice. It reminded me—as a long-time Suzuki parent—of our own Saturday group classes in Ottawa.
Our Shanghai guide, Julia, translated as the CP teacher, Mr. Lin, introduced the CP orchestra, which ranges in age from 8 to 16 years, and comprises a senior group and an intermediate group, very similar to SB. That said, the CP orchestra is a lot bigger than SB, with 12 cellos and a double bass, about 11 violas, 8 1st violins and 8 2nd violins. They started off with a polka Hora Spring. Then, after enthusiastic applause from the Canadians for the CP performance, our own SB (all wearing their red SB T-shirts) played 3 pieces—Bach Double, Jealousy, and Butterfly Lovers.
Mr. Lin graciously praised SB, saying It doesn’t matter how big your group is, it is only the talent that matters, and you have all the talent. We can learn a lot from you. It is clear that you practice a lot at home, and we need to learn to practice like you.
He explained that this was the first time that the CP senior and intermediate groups had practiced Hora Spring together, and that they will get better as they practice more. Then, the CP orchestra proceeded to play Hungarian Dance, and this time they produced an even bigger sound as brass and woodwind sections were added.
Happily, Hungarian Dance happens to be in the SB Intermediate Group’s repertoire. We had arrived at the CP with open minds, as we had no idea of what was going to be involved in the musical exchange
and were ready for anything. Here was an opportunity that our coaches seized immediately, for a spontaneous amalgamation of the two orchestras. The SB Intermediate Group unpacked their violins again, and inserted themselves in the violin sections of the CP orchestra, and all the young musicians, Canadian and Chinese, strings and winds, played a full, rich and joyful rendition of Hungarian Dance together.
Rosemarie congratulated all the students, saying Even though we speak English and you speak Chinese, this joint performance proves that music is the universal language!
She complimented Mr Lin and the CP orchestra. On investigating their practice regimen, she turned to SB and declared loudly (as only Rosemarie can do) Stellae Boreales DID YOU HEAR THAT? TWO HOURS REHEARSAL EVERY SUNDAY!
PR
Then SB musicians mingled with the CP orchestra for conversation, and discovered that many of the students have excellent English language skills…
I enjoyed talking to the other children, some of whom had very good English. It was fun to hear IPG play Hungarian Dance No.5 with the orchestra.
LGT
I thought the orchestra played very well for their “practice” and playing the Hungarian Dance with them was a lot of fun. It was interesting talking to the other kids about practicing and daily lifestyle.
SS-S
I thought that the orchestra played very well. Even though I found it somewhat hard to communicate with the Chinese children, it was an enriching experience.
LG
I enjoyed talking to the kids because I got some insight into how their music program works.
BW
A very interesting experience was had in exchanging words and music with the young Chinese musicians. Given how hard it was to communicate in English or Chinese, this exercise further stressed the universal nature of the language that is music.
AD
It was a little awkward at first but once we’d played our pieces it was fine. I talked to tow giggly kids, one embarrassed, one talkative and one who didn’t speak much English. Over all it was a wonderful experience.
AT
It felt a bit weird at first but it got better. It was fun playing the Butterfly Concerto for them because I could tell they enjoyed it.
DS-P
It was a fun experience to play for them and having them play for us. I also enjoyed getting to know them; one of them asked me for my email.
CS-D
Being able to interact both musically and socially with Chinese musicians our age was very enriching! It was really interesting to see the IPG perform Hungarian Dance with the orchestra and I could tell that the children enjoyed the experience very much. CD. But most importantly it was the musical exchange that brought a smile to all our faces.
SS
I wasn’t too sure how to approach the students but I decided to go towards the cellists. I found it surprising how some spoke very good English and others barely any.
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