It’s no wonder that audiences flock to the Sunshine Coast Community Orchestra (SCCOA) Christmas concert every year. On Dec. 11 the Sechelt Band Hall was packed with expectant music fans, and the four groups did not disappoint.
The Youth Orchestra conducted by Kathleen Hovey is showing great growth in their performance skills. They played the popular Ukrainian Bell Carol, among other selections.
The Coast Chamber Strings, conducted by Sarah Poon, blew up a chilly mood piece, Boreas: The Cold North Wind, and also an instrumental version of O Magnum Mysterium.
The larger Coast Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the Community Orchestra’s artistic director Edette Gagne, followed with the very recognizable and compelling music from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. They culminated in a rousing finale on Waltz of the Flowers.
The Suncoast Concert Band was on show at this occasion. John Frederickson, one of the Concert Band’s arrangers of music and a stellar trumpeter, pointed out two of the youngest performers in the trumpet section, Scout Stipec and Sophie Conyers, Grade 12 students from Elphinstone Secondary who were earning his praise. But all eyes were on the Band’s new conductor, Tak Maeda, who has been working with them since September following Janice Brunson’s retirement. This was the first time Sunshine Coast audiences had a chance to see the lively leader in action.
A graduate of the Osaka College of Music, Maeda joined the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan, and performed with them for ten years. When he moved to Canada in 1990, he played trumpet with the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and was choir director as well as bandmaster of the North Vancouver Youth Band (2002/03) and the West Vancouver Pops Band (2006). He also conducts the West Vancouver Concert Band and the Sea to Sky Wind Ensemble. He firmly believes that playing music should be an enjoyable experience. Last Sunday’s performance was certainly enjoyable for the audience with the Concert Band’s selections: train riding music from The Polar Express and a rousing Feliz Navidad.
There has been a tradition at SCCOA Christmas concerts to gather all the musicians from each group together on stage at the end for one final, glorious performance of Sleigh Ride, complete with jingling bells and lots of percussion power. It’s a good demonstration of support for Gagne’s final words to the audience: “Thank you all for coming to hear live music.”
