National Youth Band of Canada set to impress

St. Albert and Sturgeon County are fortunate to have rich musical school programs with many aspiring young musicians.

But there’s a certain polish to the National Youth Band of Canada that takes music to another level.

Since 1994 the prestigious national band travels to a different city hosting school concerts. This year the band settles in Edmonton for a week of concerts that also includes a visit to Sturgeon Composite High.

Their visit ends with a public concert in Convocation Hall at the University of Alberta this coming Friday. They will share the stage with the St. Albert Community Band and guest ensembles from the Royal Canadian Artillery Band.

“It draws the very best 16- to 21-year-old band students from across Canada and they meet in our city for four days of rehearsal and three days of concert presentations,” says Darwin Krips, Sturgeon High’s music director and current president of the Alberta Band Association, the host committee.

The band’s 50-odd members play wind, brass and reed instruments ranging from flutes, clarinets, oboe and tuba to trumpet, string bass and possibly piano.

Alastair Kay of True North Brass will also perform with the band.

“He’s a phenomenal trombone player. He’s one of Canada’s finest and he crosses many genres. He’s a great jazz musician and a classical musician and he’s well-known among brass bands,” Krips notes.

“He’s so versatile and it’s important for students to see and play with a musician of that calibre. He shows you what the next step or the next level is. He’s quite the man.”

Krips compares Kay’s performance to watching professional hockey.

“When you see someone play at a high level, it gets you more excited to play better.”

The band has planned a very diverse program encompassing rich themes. Some charts will be familiar, others less common.

There’s The Thunder, a classic John Philip Sousa march combined with former Edmonton Symphony Orchestra composer John Estacio’s Bootlegger’s Tarantella, a scenario from the opera Filumena.

Yasuhide Ito’s Gloriosa details Japanese Christians of the Edo Period fighting to keep their ways whereas Cry of the Last Unicorn portrays a fatal encounter as hunters track the last unicorn.

“This is a great way for both the adult and youth bands to show off their stuff and enjoy an evening of band music.”