Edmonton Youth Orchestra features two virtuosos

Two young musical prodigies who have been astounding audiences with their maturity and rare musical talent are special guests at Edmonton Youth Orchestra’s next concert.

Violinists Gabrielle Després, 16, and Jacques Forestier, 12, string winners of the 36th annual Northern Alberta Concerto Competition (NABC) will be featured on Sunday, March 5 at the Winspear Centre.

Forestier, a gifted violinist already prominent in international circles after having performed at Carnegie Hall in March 2015, will play Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto, 1st movement in d minor.

Forestier made his orchestral debut with the Edmonton Symphony last year and just recently in February was a featured soloist with Edmonton Baroque Ensemble. As a principal in the EYO’s Intermediate Orchestra Forestier is also the concertmaster and takes each challenge in stride.

“He is 12 going on 35. Last week he travelled to Calgary to meet with Pinchas Zuckerman. He plays the violin like God and is deliriously happy with what he does,” said EYO conductor Michael Massey.

The eminent St. Albert conductor describes Wieniawski’s concerto as very rich.

“Wieniawski was a fiddler like Paganini. It’s part of the German Romantic repertoire, which is what Jacques loves. It’s very lush and has two main elements – its lushness and virtuosity.”

Després instead is a student of Robert Uchida and four years ago she performed the complete Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Concordia University Orchestra.

She was featured on Radio-Canada’s Virtuose and has been accepted as a finalist to the bi-annual Shean Competition for Strings. DesprĂ©s is slated to play Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in d minor Op. 47.

“It’s very lush, very expressive in a darker way. It’s beautifully lyrical and romantic. I love that concerto. It’s so appealing, so energizing, so many contrasts,” Massey noted.

He is equally demonstrative in praising DesprĂ©s’ musical gifts and techniques.

“Gabrielle is an amazing violinist and she is equally competent on the piano. She blew me away in the competition. Everyone played well, but she was a cut above everyone else.”

The concert opens with EYO’s Intermediate Orchestra performing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, 1st movement.

“We’ve never done it before. It’s one of his smaller symphonies, light, happy and jovial. At this time Beethoven was coming to terms with his deafness. He had this amazing ability to compose a transcendent, optimistic piece in spite of the dreadful state he was in.”

The Intermediate Orchestra finishes with Dmitry Kabalevsky’s The Comedians.

“It’s good circus music. It’s great fun and the kids enjoy it.”

The Senior Orchestra delivers Malcolm Forsyth’s Juno Award winning Atayoskewin.

“It deals with the Inuit culture. It has three movements: Spirits, Dream and Dance,” said Massey, who played on the award-winning album.

“The first movement is full of mystery, very evocative of the northern lights. The second movement is very serene and the third is almost country, with a very exciting rhythm and quite different for the kids.”