NBYO, RADIO RADIO TO PERFORM TOGETHER
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF -- 15 February, 2012
The music director of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra says concert fans are in for a double dose of musical delight this Saturday night when the NBYO teams with hip-hop group Radio Radio at Moncton’s Wesleyan Celebration Centre.
“It’s really a nice way to engage a larger audience and to give these artists a chance to work with a larger ensemble,” Delgado says.
He says such collaborations will expose the audience to different types of music, regardless of whether they’ve come out to hear the orchestra or the contemporary artists.
Delgado is quick to point out this sort of collaboration is “new for the NBYO but it’s not in the music world,” mentioning, for instance, the pairing between Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony which is now widely considered a classic example of symphony symbiosis.
The orchestra has played in the past with Matt Andersen and with James Hill, so the pairing with Radio Radio is a natural extension of that.
The concert, entitled Radio Radio Orchestre Orchestra, will showcase the orchestra’s new repertoire for 2012 and bring the electro-tinted rap, funk and pop of Radio Radio on stage for what should be a bold musical performance.
For those Radio Radio fans planning to attend the show Saturday night, the NBYO’s conductor promises they will recognize much in the symphony’s repertoire as well, with popular arrangements like the William Tell Overture on the playlist.
The concert is the first Moncton performance of the NBYO since their win at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival and Competition in Vienna, Austria this past summer.
Radio Radio, meanwhile, have just finished a major tour.
Formed in 2007, Radio Radio is an Acadian hip-hop group consisting of Alexandre Arthur Bilodeau, Jacques Alphonse Doucet from Clare, Nova Scotia and Gabriel Louis Bernard Malenfant from Moncton. They released their first EP entitled Télé-Télé in 2007. In April 2008, the band released their first full-length album Cliché Hot on Bonsound. In 2010, Radio Radio released Belmundo Regal, which was on the short list for the 2010 Polaris Music Prize.
The band has toured extensively across Canada as well as performing at festivals and events in Austin, Louisiana, Belgium, London, New York and Paris.
The internationally acclaimed New Brunswick Youth Orchestra continues to build upon an accomplished record of success, including performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, Auditorium Paganini in Parma, Italy, and the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, China.
Winner of the 2008 ECMA for Classical Recording of the Year, the orchestra provides young musicians across New Brunswick the opportunity to build their musicianship by learning and performing orchestral music.
Last July, the NBYO competed with orchestras from around the globe in the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.
They won first place in the orchestra category — the only Canadian orchestra to ever win the distinction, and received the highest ranking of “outstanding performance” from the international panel of judges.
As for Delgado, he has been selected as one of only five young conductors from across Canada to take part in the Canadian Conductors Workshop.
Led by internationally renowned conductor and mentor Kenneth Kiesler, the workshop serves as a stepping stone in the ongoing development of talented Canadian conductors. Through the workshop five conductors will apprentice with Maestro Kiesler and the National Arts Centre Orchestra from Feb. 25-29.
Then, for the next three days, the conductors take the podium for six rehearsals with none other than the National Arts Centre Orchestra at their fingertips—a rare and incredibly potent learning opportunity.
Delgado received his musical education in the world-renowned El Sistema program (National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela) in his hometown of Caracas, a program which he has helped bring to New Brunswick..
Tickets for the NBYO concert are priced at $28.50 plus service fees for adults and $20 plus service fees for seniors and students. Tickets are currently online at www.ticketwindow.ca or by calling 1-877-700-3130. Tickets can also be purchased at the Moncton Wesleyan Celebration Centre Box Office, Frank’s Music and Steve’s Diner.