Fiddle club hosts Halifax friends
Two capital cities perform together
Stewart Burnett
Northern News Services
Monday, March 28, 2016
IQALUIT
Fiddlers in Iqaluit got a unique opportunity to visit Halifax last month and play with a local orchestra there, and their new friends are now visiting the North.
The Iqaluit Fiddle Club performs in Halifax alongside local students in February. Those Halifax students are now visiting their new friends in Nunavut. - photo courtesy of Connie Kwon |
The Iqaluit Fiddle Club welcomed a youth chamber orchestra from The Maritime Conservatory of the Performing Arts on March 24, with a joint performance scheduled at the St. Jude's Anglican Cathedral March 28.
In February, the fiddle club visited Halifax and joined in a performance with the youth chamber in the Maritime province.
"The Halifax trip was a great experience," said Abigail Atienza. "It was a great connection between traditional folk music and classical combined together. It was really cool."
The joint concert was the highlight of the trip, she said.
"The concert was amazing," said Atienza. "That was the best part. We were able to combine both of our talents together and we made a really awesome concert."
The two music groups were twinned under a project funded by Experience Canada, which offers 12- to 17-year-olds across Canada the opportunity to collaborate and travel together. More than 5,000 youth took part in Experiences Canada programs last year.
Fiddle club instructor Darlene Nuqingaq said it was a wonderful opportunity for youth to experience Canada's diversity and learn more about music traditions.
The fiddle club combined with the youth chamber in a string orchestra, and together the youth created an orchestral soundscape featuring throat songs and traditional songs from Nunavut.
Andrew Tucker, a member of the club, said playing new classical pieces in Halifax as well as music from the North was a great experience for him.
"Another highlight was just getting to meet a bunch of musicians around the same age as us from a different place in Canada, and getting to see how they live and what they do in Halifax," he said.
The Iqaluit Fiddle Club holds lessons at Joamie School for more than 60 youth in the city.
Nuqingaq said the partnership with Halifax youth encourages personal growth, community pride and a greater understanding of Canadian heritage.
