Frank PEEBLES Citizen staff
The National Youth Orchestra saved Gabrielle Jacob's seat.
The 17-year-old Prince George violin phenom was a member of the NYO last year, and she has been confirmed this coming summer for a return position in the internationally respected symphonic group.
Jacob is on a hot streak, in recent months. Not long ago she took her Royal Conservatory of Music ARTC exams, the highest grade in the premier nationwide music program, and she achieved First Class Honours with Distinction. She is also coming out of a successful 2015 edition of the Prince George & District Music Festival two weeks ago where she won her way into the provincial festival. And she will be on stage this weekend with the Prince George Symphony Orchestra.
Although she was already a high achiever in order to earn a spot with the coveted NYO the first time, she credits last year's experience with the national orchestra of peers and its staff of elite mentors as one reason she is on a wave of success now.
"Last year I felt I learned so much as an orchestral player. The staff really taught us so much, just the teamwork involved, the preparation work that is required to perform those concerts. It was eye opening."
Going into this year's edition, she will be looked upon as one of the leaders even though some of the players will be older. There is no better commodity in the performance field than hands-on experience.
"I will know more what to expect, what the processes are to prepare for the tour, and I think being more prepared in that aspect will help me improve even more - help me focus even more on what the instructors are trying to incorporate into our playing," she said.
For those new to the orchestra, or who don't know its 50-plus-year history, it is a summer program that is part master-class in a group setting and part national tour. It auditions for the best musicians of each orchestral instrument, aged 16 to 28. They gather each mid-June at Wilfred Laurier University in Ontario where they spend more than a month to refine their playing and gel as an ensemble. This has been such a successful endeavour that a recording of their efforts was nominated for a 2010 Juno Award.
In late July, the group sets off for a trek across Canada playing at several urban centres along the way. (Prince George was one of their stops in 2005.)
As such, the NYO is called "Canada's orchestral finishing school" placing more alumni into professional music jobs than any other Canadian organization.
Jacob's initiation into violin was both a school and a home setting. Her mom, Carolyn, is one of the city's best known violin instructors and a longtime member of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. Her eldest daughter had it around her as a common element of daily life, and picked it up naturally (along with a lot of hard work and exhaustive practice). Jacob's two younger siblings are also fluent musicians, although both are pursuing different instruments.
After her initial instruction from mom, Jacob moved on to other teachers in the city as well: Gordon Lucas and Jose Delgado-Guevara. She also enrolled with Lower Mainland master instructor Nancy Dinovo.
"I was going down to see her monthly for awhile there," Jacob said. "She has been a really fantastic mentor for me, helping me prepare for auditions and the ARTC exam, and she has such a wealth of knowledge, I'm very thankful for all of her help."
Her longtime piano accompanist Maureen Nielsen also gets high praise from Jacob for helping her music career.
Jacob is graduating from Duchess Park secondary school this year and has an eye on the Northern Medical Program once she completes her undergraduate studies at UNBC.
She sees no end to her musical avocation, though, and can't wait for the personal and professional development she anticipates from the provincial performing arts festival coming up in May (she has attended yearly since the age of 10) and returning to the National Youth Orchestra.
Since performing with the NYO last year at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, she has dreamed of being in that spectacular building once again, as a particular highlight of anticipation.
First, though, she blends into the Baroque Spring, this weekend's show with the PGSO.
It is a one-show event, Saturday night at Vanier Hall, featuring guest soprano Jessica Wise and featuring one of Jacob's best friends, Smithers violinist Kiri Daust, performing a solo rendition of Vivaldi's Spring, the prize for winning the PGSO-Integris Youth Concerto Competition.
