MUSICAL GAMBLE
Switch leads to festival win
For 17-year-old Isabella Perron, it was a gamble that paid off handsomely.
Perron has been playing the violin since she was three years old and her virtuoso performances have won her awards and commendations on both sides of the Atlantic.
She took first place in the String category of the National Music Festival in 2014, has been a guest soloist with orchestras in Eastern Canada and the United States and was the recipient of the first prize in the International Competition Concertino Praga in 2016.
Two months before this year’s Calgary Performing Arts Festival, formerly the Kiwanis Festival, Perron announced to her teacher William Van der Sloot that she had decided to make the viola her instrument of choice for the 2017 competitions.
“My decision took everyone by surprise and no one was expecting me to be able to do it.
“My parents and sisters have always been supportive and encouraging, but even they had their doubts, and one month before the competition my teacher was still not sure I was going to be able to pull it off,” says Perron. Pull it off she did. On May 7, Perron was named the Most Outstanding Performer of the 2017 Calgary Performing Arts Festival that boasted the participation of more than 10,000 young people in 18 different categories.
She’ll have her name engraved on the coveted silver Rose Bowl alongside the other 48 past winners and will receive a $5,000 scholarship from the Kiwanis Clubs of Calgary.
Perron recalls standing with several of her friends waiting for the Rose Bowl announcement.
“They wanted to bet me $20 that I was going to win. I told them I wouldn’t bet because they’d just be throwing their money away. I was essentially betting against myself.”
When her name was announced, Perron says she let out a very large gasp and then was speechless.
She says she considers competitions lotteries and this is one lottery she’s thrilled to have won.
Perron comes from a musical family. Her mother and oldest sister are cellists while her father and second sister are violinists.
She recalls fondly how, when her sisters who are a decade older were at university, they’d organize chamber music parties.
“Their friends would come over and they would play all evening. Best of all, they’d let me play with them. It was magical.”
Perron says musicians are much like athletes.
“We have to take care of our bodies. We have to be in good condition, especially when, as I did, we switch instruments,” she says.
“The viola is a much larger instrument and it took some serious adjusting to feel comfortable with it. Now my violin feels like a toy.”
Perron also began taking ballet when she was three and is still dancing. She feels this helps her keep in shape.
She started taking piano lessons when she was five.
“I like to joke that I felt old when I started piano.”
It was at this time that the family moved to Montreal, and Perron remembers how she was determined to bring her piano skills up to par with her violin and ballet, so she practised as much as possible.
“It was when I started piano that I started composing little symphonies in my head. I’d go out into the yard and sing at the top of my lungs. One day a neighbour asked my mom which of her daughters was an opera singer. That lead to singing lessons and I still study singing.”
Perron says one of the greatest blessings of being a master musician is the opportunity to travel that it brings with it.
“I want to spend as much time as possible in Europe. There is something so special about walking down those old streets. It’s like bathing in the arts and it inspires me,” she says, adding that she wants to travel through Germany and Amsterdam as soon as possible.
When she won the International Competition Concertino Praga, part of the prize was a two-week tour of the Czech Republic.
“We went to all these little villages and I got to play in castles and historical buildings. It was truly thrilling.”
Perron attends Bishop Carroll High School. Because of her extensive travel and numerous competitions and engagements, she still has several courses to complete next year.
“I’m in no hurry really, because I don’t know what I want to study or pursue. I am so fortunate because there are so many options open to me. I want to compose, so I keep pushing that option closer to the top of my list.”
The viola is a much larger instrument and it took some serious adjusting to feel comfortable with it. Now my violin feels like a toy.