A super-group that looks ‘just like Toronto’
Music ‘the common language’ for orchestra members from around the world
They’ve come from all over the globe — China, Pakistan, Mexico, Greece — to make music in a new world.
Twelve musicians, many of them playing ancient instruments from their home countries, show off their talents Friday night as the New Canadian Global Music Orchestra in a concert at Koerner Hall.
They’ll play original compositions by each of the band members, created in collaboration with each other and band leader David Buchbinder.
Mervon Mehta, the executive director of performing arts for Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, conceived of the project as a celebration of the diversity of Canada as the country celebrates its 150th anniversary.
He got the idea during the last federal election when then-prime minister Stephen Harper used the term “old-stock Canadians,” suggesting different status among Canadians.
“I’m an immigrant,” says Mehta, who was born in Vienna and is the son of famed Indian conductor Zubin Mehta. “This is a country of im- migrants. No city has the cultural vibrancy we have, we have the talent and we have the audience.”
As a way of celebrating newcomers’ artistic gifts as well as showcasing those just starting out in their careers here, Mehta thought of creating a new super-group that would look “just like the subway . . . like Toronto.”
Rigorous auditions beginning last November whittled 100 hopefuls down to 12. Friday night’s concert is just the beginning, followed by a summer tour of Ontario and a fall residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, when they will record an album.
Mehta looked for “high talent level,” as well as the ability to play and collaborate with others.“
All have openness of heart, a willingness to dive into areas they know nothing about.”
During a recent rehearsal, Aline Morales played a Brazilian percus- sive instrument while singing a boisterous windup to her composition “lemanja” (goddess of the sea). She asked the fiddler to really play loudly, as this is the finale — “make it big,” advised Buchbinder from his podium.
Fiddler Alyssa Delbaere-Sawchuk is Métis — the only member of the group born in this country — and is a member of a family fiddling troupe which recently entertained a lunchhour concert crowd at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts during the Canadian Opera Company’s opera Louis Riel.
Hailing from Winnipeg, she has been studying music at the Royal Conservatory and performing with the Métis Fiddler Quartet. The piece she has written is titled “We Met in Tkaranto” — borrowing a Mohawk word.
In spite of language barriers and unfamiliarity with some of the instruments, the orchestra has come together as a unit, she says. “Music is our common language, we can play together.”
While the performers will be dressed in black, each may bring some piece of clothing to reflect their heritage. Matias Recharte, who plays a variety of percussion instruments including congas, timbales, cajon and drums, is from Peru — and his parents are coming from Lima to attend the concert, bringing along a traditional Peruvian vest for him.
He came to the city four years ago to further his music education and is working on his PhD in music education from the University of Toronto. His wife also came to study psychology and dance for a career in expressive art therapy; they’re now parents to a 15-month-old daughter.
Recharte has studied the music of the Indigenous people of Andes Mountains as well as Canada’s Northern Cree. His composition doesn’t have singing but rather “vocalizations” by the band and is called “Spirit of Rushing Water.”
Padideh Ahrarnejad, from Iran, is playing the tar — a six-stringed instrument used for centuries. Her husband is a percussionist. They waited seven years before being admitted to Canada — a country they sought for “stability in my life.”
In Canada less than a year, she says she’s thrilled to play with so many top-notch musicians. Her composition is “Moments of Silence.”
“It’s a good opportunity to see different cultures and play with different cultures.
“The best part for me is all of them are the best in their own country. For this to be my first experience in Canada, is the best.”