Maestro to lead band of 1,300 students

A mega-band of 1,300 Ottawa-area students will play three pieces at the Aberdeen Pavilion on Friday under the baton of National Arts Centre Orchestra musical director Alexander Shelley.

“If you’re asking how that’s going to work, I don’t know that yet,” Shelley kidded Monday.

The concert is a collaboration between the Ottawa 2017 Bureau, the NAC and Ottawa’s school boards.

At the Lansdowne Park landmark, the students under Shelley’s direction will play O Canada, the theme from Hockey Night in Canada and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

The early afternoon event won’t be open to the public, as Aberdeen will be at capacity with the crush of students, their instruments, teachers and chaperones, said Ottawa 2017 Bureau media relations manager Denise LeBlanc.

The event caps a busy week for Shelley and for his orchestra’s musicians, who are also involved with two other educational collaborations.

On Tuesday night at École secondaire publique De La Salle in Lowertown, Shelley will conduct the first joint concert involving the string orchestras of De La Salle and Canterbury High School, Ottawa’s two arts high schools, as well as NACO’s string players. Featuring works by Dvořák, Elgar, Barber and Britten, that concert begins at 7:30 p.m. and is expected to last an hour.

The concert is open to the public and there is no admission charge, although firstcome, first-serve seating will be limited.

On Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Woodroffe High School, Shelley will oversee a concert that unites the bands of five Ottawa high schools as well as members of NACO’s wind, brass and percussion sections.

The concert, not open to public, is part of the NACO Remix arts education project, launched last year and aiming to give 2,500 students hands-on exposure to music during its three-year run.