Editor’s note: A previous version of this article, alongside the print article, said Kerson Leong played a solo with Songs of Paradise, composed by Alexina Louie. Leong actually played a solo in the OSO’s performance of Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, by Sergei Prokofiev. The Charlatan regrets the error.
A swelling crescendo of violins, horns, and other instruments echoed throughout the sanctuary of Dominion-Chalmers United Church, marking the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra’s (OSO) new partnership with Carleton University.
The partnership kicked off on April 1 with “CU at the Symphony,” a concert by the OSO. Carleton has partnered with the local nonprofit orchestra in the hopes of creating further learning opportunities for Carleton students.
“We’re looking at the full range of artistic mentorship—business, arts, arts administration—those kinds of possibilities that we might be able to find there,” Paul Théberge, a Carleton research professor of music, said.
Currently, the OSO has a mentorship program with the University of Ottawa’s music faculty.
Théberge said there hasn’t been any formal arrangements for a similar program with Carleton just yet.
“That’s a hope that we’ll be able to have that kind of thing that UOttawa has enjoyed with the symphony for a long time,” he added.
According to Alain Trudel, music director of the OSO, the orchestra currently brings in about 30 students to work with, which is a number he said he hopes will increase from the new partnership.
“It’s a place for them where they can safely evolve and they can get better and better,” he said, “so it’s a double duty of conducting and also mentoring.”
He said the OSO is unique in having this mentorship program, as most professional orchestras don’t recruit more than a handful of students—if at all.
Thirty students is “a very high number,” but Trudel said recruiting students is “a calculated risk” as students still undergo an audition application process.
He added that experience with the OSO would give music students an edge in the world of employment.
“There’s an effervescence in the music that’s written, and that younger players—they come, and they bring that with them without even knowing it,” he said, “I’ll take all the mistakes in the world to have that because that—you can’t buy, you can’t fabricate. It has to be there.”
The night opened with remarks from Benoit-Antoine Bacon, Carleton’s president.
“Working together will further enhance arts, culture, and learning in the city,” Bacon told the audience, “enriching both its culture fabrics and the lives of all citizens.”
Part of the concert featured a performance by Canadian violin soloist Kerson Leong, playing solo in the second piece of the evening: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, by Sergei Prokofiev. The night ended with a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.
For Kien Ha, a fourth-year Carleton computer engineering student, CU at the Symphony was his first time attending a live classical music concert. He said he doesn’t listen to classical music on a regular basis, as his own personal music playlist consists of mainstream pop music.
“I loved just being able to see the musicians playing the piece itself and just the emotion and expressions that they’re going through,” he said. “I thought that was really cool. And just like, you can listen to a piece online through your headphones but just like the raw experience and the instrument separation—you can’t get anything like it, like you do live.”
Trudel said it’s a special experience for students to play in an orchestra for the first time. He said students bring a lot of energy to their performances.
“Sometimes, they have a little too much energy—we have to tone it down a bit . . . they go crazy, which is great,” he said. “I’d rather have to tone them down than to have to get them. When you’re young, you’re supposed to have too much.”
Photo by Karen-Luz Sison
