As Alain Trudel prepares the highly acclaimed National Youth Orchestra of Canada for its 2012 summer visit to the United States, he speaks frankly about honor, achievement and humility, these being as much the stepping stones to a professional career as musical acumen.
“For us, it’s a real honor to be able to play [at Strathmore] and to share the talent from our country with our neighbors,” said Trudel. He will be conducting 95 students, ages 16 through 28, in a program that includes the first movement of Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.
A summer training period at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada, is followed by concerts in Niagara Falls, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. This year, the NYOC gives its final performance of the summer season at Strathmore.
“The coaches in our program are the top players in the country.” Trudel continued. “We start off with a chamber music session so they learn to play in smaller groups. Then I get to work with them [as a full orchestra] for two weeks, and then we tour. This is a very intensive program.”
| Onstage |
| National Youth Orchestra of Canada |
| » Where: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| » When: 7 p.m. Thursday |
| » Info: Free; 301-581-5100; strathmore.org |
Indeed. As the program has matured in the 50 years since its inception, the NYOC has become Canada’s pre-eminent training body, dedicated to perfecting the skills and talents of its students. Forty-plus percent of professional orchestral musicians in Canada are NYOC alumni.
Auditions take place each year, and nothing is a given. More than 600 students throughout Canada vie for approximately 90 positions.
“In our field of work, the worst thing you can have, that can kill any chance that you have in your career, is a sense of entitlement,” Trudel explained. “That being said, there are some students that end up in the orchestra three or four years because they win the audition every year. You have to win your spot in the orchestra each time.”
Every year one person in the orchestra is chosen (also by audition) to perform the concerto. This time around, Cameron Crozman, who began studying cello when he was 7 years old, will solo on the Dvorak concerto.
Emotions will run high at Strathmore as the young musicians play for the last time as this season’s group of performers.
“This will be very special for them,” Trudel noted. “We can’t wait.”
