Courthouse concert highlights a Youthful Groove
Daily News Staff Reporter
The latest entry in the Old Courthouse Chamber Music Series will add youthful vigour to some classic compositions and provide a few modern twists along the way.
“We’re looking at it as the next generation of chamber musicians,” Robin Suddaby, president of the Chamber Musicians of Kamloops, said Tuesday. “It’s the music of the future.”
Youthful Groove is the sixth of 10 concerts in the chamber series. What makes it unique are the 30 youth performers from senior high to university age.
The concert takes place Thursday, July 12, at 7 p.m.
Under the guidance of Daniela O’Fee, the performers will fill the courthouse gallery with a mix of compositions from classical composers like Vaughan Williams and Antonin Dvorak and classic spins on modern songs by Elton John and Paul Simon, she said.
But a real highlight will be original compositions by the performers, including the pieces Lead and Mercury by Skye Griffith of Beattie School of the Arts, said Suddaby.
O’Fee said the compositions are part of the teen’s Heavy Metal Movements, which take inspiration from the Periodic Table.
“She calls it her Periodic Table Suite,” O’Fee said. “She’s very clever.”
Pianist Alexander Ward will perform his composition Prelude No. 1 with Griffith accompanying on flute.
Also featured is the youth vocal ensemble Cantitos, which was formed by Sara Davy, a former member of the Thompson Rivers University Chorus.
Suddaby said O’Fee has spent the last six months organizing the concert, which will offer something for everyone.
“We’re trying to showcase and highlight different kinds of performances,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a very up kind of evening.”
The evening will begin with a performance of the Youthful Groove Brass Choir at 6:30 p.m., which will take place outdoors weather permitting.