The long-anticipated final formal concert for the PGSO season featured young musicians from South America - Samuel Vargas (violin); Elizabeth Linares Montero (French horn); Ana Florencia Paulin (viola); and Nestor Jose Solorzano Mejias (oboe). The young musicians received their music training through El Sistema, a network of national youth orchestras. El Sistema began in Venezuela as a catalyst for social change. Quite literally, the concept is to provide young musicians with a sense of community and to transmit harmony through society.
The guest conductor for the evening, Jonathan Govias, has a long association with El Sistema. Currently, he serves as resident conductor for Symphony Nova Scotia. They had all travelled great distances to bring their music to the Prince George audience. He served as conductor and also communicated with the performers in Spanish.
Opening music saw the PGSO playing the beloved music from Bizet's Carmen. The Prelude began with dramatic and almost ominous notes. The orchestra presented selections of the much-loved music from Carmen's animated score--complete with joyous, prancing notes, triumphant marching and precisely-measured rhythms.
Then, it was time for the first guest soloist to approach centre stage. Elizabeth Montero's dazzling French horn played Saint-Saens' Morceau de Concert. Her beautiful, delicate playing coaxed sweet notes from an instrument acknowledged to be a challenging one to play. With the full orchestra softly playing in the background, beautiful texture came together in a tapestry of sound. The very proud guest conductor was especially pleased with this performance.
More music from the same composer, Introduction et Rondo Capriccioso, was expertly delivered by guest soloist Samuel Abraham Vargas Teixeira. His masterful playing belied his youth as he demonstrated his ability to give the violin voice. At the end of the long, complex piece, the audience responded with a spontaneous standing ovation.
The concert's second half delivered a selection of compositions from artists whose work is popular in South America--the intoxicating sounds associated with the popular music of Latin culture. With the four young musicians sitting in with the full orchestra, guest conductor Govias set the mood by announcing that the audience would be welcome to "start dancing in the aisles!"
Together, they delivered representations of the music of Mexico and South America: Huapango, Pavane, Danzon No.2, the Malambo from Estancia and Tico Tico no Fuba. Most were so lively, they saw the conductor dancing on the podium and the players moving in their seats.
To honour the young musicians, Govias introduced each. Samuel Teixeira won a competition of 5,000 applicants to become concertmaster of his orchestra. "It is an honour to work with him." About Elizabeth Montero, he said she is a member of a youth orchestra in Venezuela, indicating that this was also her first time playing in front of an audience with a full orchestra. Ana Paulin, a violist from Brazil via Argentina, is also especially gifted. He said he admired "a musician of her calibre with a sense of social responsibility." Oboist Nestor Mejias was the last of the musicians to arrive, having left Caracas the day before and travelled all day to get here.
Among the most moving pieces was the Argentine dance, Malambo. Its introduction plays like a romantic ballad which moves into dramatic sound with appropriate increase in volume and tempo, then back to the serene sound before building to an emphatic crescendo. At concert's end - the audience continued to applaud as if demanding an encore. None had been prepared - so a vote was taken about which piece to replay. Tico Tico won out. Much of the room was up and moving for that.
To end the concert, guest conductor Govias addressed the audience saying "More than 400,000 children in Venezuela are making music through this program. We need to know that we can change lives through music. Go home thinking about this, please."
Indeed, that comment prompts the thought that whenever music programs are diminished or removed in our own school district, how many potential virtuosos do we miss discovering? Gifted young people don't always have the luck to discover musical talent. Nor do all happen to be born into families who can afford to put an instrument in their hands and provide lessons. Musical training doesn't just give children something to do. It can be an important building block in creating a sense of worth, a communion with others trained in that language and form of expression, and a confidence-boosting skill to serve them for life.
There is one more chance this year to enjoy beautiful symphony music on Mother's Day - Sunday May 12 at 3 p.m. at Westwood Mennonite Church. Tickets for "Tea & Symphony" (with an elegant afternoon tea served and roses for all the mothers) can be obtained in person at the PGSO office, 2880 - 15th Avenue; by calling 562-0800, or ordering online at www.pgso.com.
