VICTORIA FILM FESTIVAL
World première of That Higher Level
What: That Higher Level Where: The Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas St. When: Saturday, 6:15 p.m. Tickets: $12.38 at victoriafilmfestival.com or in person at the Victoria Film Festival office (1215 Blanshard St.)
As the National Youth Orchestra of Canada played its final notes at the end of a one-month tour of the country, the makers of a documentary about the teens and twentysomethings had a decision to make: Focus on the tears being shed by the 100 students as their 12-city cross-Canada tour came to a close, or end with the last note.
Writer-director John Bolton, who had followed the orchestra from its month-long training program in Waterloo, Ont., through to the tour’s end, chose to go with the latter.
Some of the musicians flew home immediately following their final performance at Vancouver’s Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, which meant the incredibly tight-knit group was forced to part ways abruptly.
Bolton chose to end the film in the same manner, with the students playing the final movements of composer Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration — a fitting piece of music, given the circumstances — before fading to black.
“After the last concert, we shot a lot of footage,” Bolton said. “A lot of crying, a lot of laughing, a lot of emotions. But we decided not to use it, and to end on a high note. We didn’t want to focus on the breakup; we wanted to focus on the last notes they played together.”
Natasha Galitzine, a 24-year-old violist from Victoria who was a member of the NYO during the film, says the end was emotional.
“For me, it was the most emotionally impactful thing I have ever been a part of. I remember pretty clearly the last few minutes [of the film]. I was looking around at everyone, thinking about the memories and our time spent together.”
Bolton was also caught up in the swirl of emotions. He had spent eight weeks with the students and faculty during the making of That Higher Level — which has its world première Saturday at the Vic Theatre as part of the Victoria Film Festival — and got to know several of them well.
The film features interviews with 14 students, including Galitzine.
That Higher Level chronicles the two-month process as students — some as young as 16 — spend their summer studying with the NYO.
The entire process was captured on film for the first time by the Victoria-born, Vancouver-bred Bolton and his crew, who were hired by the National Film Board to profile students as they studied classical music on a grand stage.
At times, Bolton said he felt like a nature photographer on assignment. “We were really just trying to capture the students in their element.”
But with 100 students and no shortage of storylines, the director had to keep an keen eye on his narrative.
“That was the biggest challenge,” Bolton said. “How do you make a film about 100 people learning and playing in a dozen cities? What do you focus on?”
The easy part for filmmakers was capturing the musicians and their instructors as they rehearsed for the cross-Canada tour.
Once the tour began, however, schedules were limited, especially when the NYO flew to Whitehorse, Yukon, for a performance.
“The travelling aspect was very tiring,” said Galitzine, who had added responsibility as the orchestra’s principal violist.
“It was the most in-depth thing I have ever been a part of.”
Galitzine has lived in the U.S. since graduating from Oak Bay high school in 2012, and will graduate in May from Houston’s Rice University with her master’s degree in music performance.
While she doesn’t expect to have many experiences that will match the intensity of That Higher Level, having her every move captured by cameras wasn’t as strange as it sounds.
“We got used to having them there,” she said with a laugh. “It was almost weird when they weren’t.”
Bolton, who played viola through university, knows the commitment that is required for musicians to reach the top of their field in Canada, so he instructed his team to stay back when necessary.
The opportunity to play with the NYO will have a lasting impact on the careers of many who appeared on camera, and he didn’t want the filmmaking process to get in the way of their learning.
“I’d like to think the cameras were the least of their concerns. We didn’t want to put more pressure on them or interfere.
“But you don’t get to NYO Canada if you’re not already at a certain level of experience or maturity. They are used to having eyes on them.
“There’s no way we were putting more pressure on them than the faculty and those conducting were. These were some of the least self-conscious subjects I’ve ever filmed.”