The waters of Thombrough Channel, between Langdale and Gambier Island, last weekend carried the strains of more than 100 student string players assembled at Camp Elphinstone in Williamsons Landing.
Violin, viola, cello and bass players travelled across the Salish Sea for the three-day Strings Institute of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO)’s School of Music, which has been held at the YMCA camp eight times since the school was established in 2011.
The school of music is one of the few institutions in the world directly affiliated with a professional orchestra. Enrolled musicians aged eight to 18 from communities around the Lower Mainland learn from a faculty of professional musicians that include members of the VSO itself.
The weekend retreat included rehearsals, coaching sessions, and bonding activities for ensembles.
“This camp is about so much more than technique,” said Carla Birston, director of strings studies. “The students emerge from camp with a rich perspective that they carry with them on whatever path they pursue in life, and will always cherish the memories of their time with the VSO School in this special environment on the Sunshine Coast.”
On Sunday afternoon, a modest audience of Sunshine Coast residents was invited to a private concert featuring the camp’s students, held at the camp’s Exploration Hall. The program opened with cellists Christopher Snodgrass and Paloma Martins performing The Sound of Silence. Both players also recently appeared at the Vancouver Kiwanis Music Festival. Two ensembles played portions of a trio and quintet by Mozart and Dvorak respectively.
Sixteen-year-old Carl Teng, who studies under VSO principal cellist Henry Shapard, coaxed Jewish folk melodies from his instrument as soloist for Max Bruch’s popular and plaintive work Kol Nidrei.
The group’s 30-member Sinfonietta ensemble closed the concert with excerpts from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. The group performs five to eight community concerts annually and has previously been guest-coached by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
“The physical location of [the institute] is just so special,” said Natasha McEwen, vice president of the VSO School of Music. “We lucked out with the perfect weather this past weekend for a camp in April. But even in years past, when it’s been either drizzly or pouring rain, the geography and that connection that can be made in making music in nature just really takes it to a whole new level.”
The schedule was unrelenting: on Saturday alone, participants played for eight hours in various rehearsals and workshops.
“In order to keep an eight-year-old’s attention for eight hours playing their violin, you’ve got to keep it fun and exciting,” explained McEewan. “So there was some new material that was thrown out to them, but it’s also [about] having that time and opportunity to delve into some repertoire and really fine-tune it with the whole ensemble.”
Although no Sunshine Coast students are presently enrolled in the VSO school, McEwan believes that will change in the future. “We’re definitely interested in expanding our reach from a pedagogical, academic, instructional perspective and hopefully welcoming in some coastal students,” she said.
The VSO School of Music operates within the symphony’s Tovey Centre for Music, which was named in 2019 for its late conductor Bramwell Tovey to honour Tovey’s commitment to music education.
