Will I promise to start another topic soon?
Yes I will, but I have to get through Sunday first. It was Mother’s Day in case you missed it. I’m lucky I still have my Mom — she’s into her 101st year, but you know that. So obviously this isn’t about my Mom.

No, though Sunday did start with a little prayer of thanksgiving for all Mom has meant to me, along also with a little prayer that God grants her the request that she makes each night. Then I went to church — well, actually church came to me. I logged in to www.zionpres.org and listened to my favourite minister these days, Doug Rollwage (Zion Presbyterian, Charlottetown PEI and currently moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada), preach his Palm Sunday / Passion Sunday sermon. I like his broadcasts — they start with a hymn or anthem (and if it is a hymn I get out my Book of Praise and sing along if he gives the hymn number — the advantage of singing in my study is that no one is offended or scared off) then the scriptures and a musical interlude before the sermon. After the sermon, another hymn and then the benediction. The combination of good, solid yet energized Presbyterian music and a well-researched and incredibly preached sermon always improves my day and week. Not sure why I’ve got behind (although I did listen to his Easter service on Easter morning). He leaves them on the website for a few weeks so if you want a wonderful insightful sermon on Passion Sunday, you can look it up too. It is a great sermon and the hymns were well chosen.

After this spiritually uplifting moment and brunch, I headed off to hear the Okanagan Symphony Youth Orchestra. Dennis Colpitts and Rosemary Thomson co-conduct this ensemble of young talent and do they ever do a great job. There was a lovely letter in the paper inviting people to come out but sadly, other than some parents and diehard symphony supporters, the concert venue was only half-full. Not sure I would have been very inspired had it been me either conducting or playing and I have serious criticisms of older people who denigrate our young and then don’t come out to see what some of them actually are doing to make the world better — but that is a rant for another day. Trust me when I say that the youth showed no signs of let-up over the less-than-full house.

This concert was magnificent. To make sure that all the orchestra gets its time in the spotlight Dennis (who himself is a very good trumpeter) has been opening this concerts with a fanfare. This time it was Richard Kram’s “Fanfare for Brass and Percussion”. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it before, but I’d certainly sit through it again. The kids were superb, hitting the notes with precision and the percussion moments with real vigor. My brain was really awake by the end of the piece.

Then they featured two of the youth themselves. First up was Jasmin Schweitzer who maybe was four feet tall — I mean, his violin was almost as big as he was. He smiled, bowed, looked at the conductor, and then they launched into Beethoven’s Romance in F. By the time he was finished I could have listened to Romance in A, B, C, D, & E too. His command of the violin was amazing and the way that the orchestra played off him was equally stunning. It was delightful. And then a young girl brought him a bouquet of flowers and for a moment a smile came over his face — I think he wasn’t sure what to do since he had his bow in one hand and his precious violin in the other. But he managed, again with another bow (change the pronunciation here to get what I mean!!).

Then another student was introduced. He was as tall as the first kid was short. And he was stately. While the other fellow still has time with the Orchestra, Wynn Nordlund was performing in his last concert series with the group. This summer he is off to Pepperdine University to do a double major in Music Composition and Mathematics. Now I knew a little about Wynn. He was Rotary’s “student of the month” a couple of months ago and his father is an incredible pianist. But nothing prepared me for what happened next. He introduced the piece he was about to play as its debut: Student Composition Piano Concerto in E minor, 1st mvt. “Allegro risuloto ma non troppo”. (I can’t translate the Italian, I didn’t even do that well in Latin!!) He is still working on Movements 2 & 3 (which I assume he will do when he gets to Pepperdine — I sure hope so). This piece used all the orchestra at different times to back up his piano playing that is already the equal of his father as well as a wonderful renaissance man I know who is also a very good pianist. Wynn’s fingers never stopped. His command of the keyboard was stunning. His posture was firm (he refrained from flopping all around like some young people like to do to show their emotional attachment to the piano — he let the music do the talking). And the piece was not short. By the time it was finished I would have thought the orchestra, Wynn and the conductor would have needed a large cold glass of water just to get their composure back. I am sure that someday, somewhere I will pay a large sum of money to get a seat in a great concert hall to hear this young man play again — he is that good. The crowd was on its feet the instant he finished and this time I was with them — a standing ovation was the least we could do for this person who may be the second coming of Bernstein and Rachmaninoff…

It still wasn’t break time though — the orchestra then launched into Marquez’ Danzon. It was amazing because it also requires a lot of energy and participation from almost everyone. When it was finally over, the only disappointment I had was that there was no cold white wine to drink in the lobby. I needed a re-charge…

The second half of the concert was elegantly introduced and explained by Rosemary. She is so good at this. During the regular season she has an half-hour chat before each concert (in an anteroom an hour before the event) and it is almost like a grad class in classical music, except that she speaks in layman’s language. At this concert she did it from the stage and pointed out various things that we should be watching for — good move, as it gave me a chance to focus more on individual sections at different times. She also explained why they make the kids work on a full symphony — to get them to realize just what they are capable of doing. She and Dennis want each member to gain sufficient self-confidence that they will move forward with their music in some fashion or another, even if it is not a career move. By the way, just before they started the music they had all the graduating musicians stand up — they have a recruiting job to do, but the good news is that most are going on to study music somewhere. One of the bassists even won a OSYO sponsored scholarship to study Music Education at UVIC (if she gets her students to have the passion she does, she will have a great music program at whatever school she eventually ends up at).

Anyway, before I forget I should mention that the symphony they preformed was Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.2 in C minor OP. 17 — often known as “The Ukrainian Symphony”. They did a masterful job on this work. There are many changes, shifts and differences in colours, tonality and pace throughout this composition and different parts of the orchestra were highlighted at different times. I like Tchaikovsky to begin with, so perhaps I was a bit more in tune with their playing — but I thought it was a really special way for them to end the concert and the season. And my brain as well as my soul was in a very fine place. They may be young, but they are talented youth; they not only know their notes, they know why they are playing them and how to communicate with their audience. It was a great day!!

g.w.