Youth orchestra jazzed up for fundraiser

BY ALBERT KRAMBERGER

editor@transcontinental.ca

A classical music-jazz showcase will help raise funds so members of West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra can take a summer trip to perform in some historical European cities.

Jazzissimo!, a two-hour fundraising concert, takes place Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Pierrefonds Comprehensive High School auditorium. The concert features renowned jazz singer Ranee Lee, Generations Big Band led by George Doxas and, of course, the West Island Youth Symphony Orchestra (WIYSO), playing a program combining jazz and classical music.

"The concert will be in two halves, the orchestra plays first and then Ranee Lee plays with the big band and later with the orchestra," said Isabelle Delage, a Dorval mother of a cellist and a percussionist in the orchestra and head of WIYSO's board of directors. "The orchestra will play some well-known classical pieces and one modern piece written by our director Stewart Grant."

"The whole idea was to bring together classical music and jazz," Grant said. "My own composition (to be performed by the orchestra) is very jazz influenced."

The youth orchestra has 55 members, currently ranging in age from about 13 to 24. Their three-week summer trip in June-July will take them to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg and then to Florence.

"We'll visit some famous places that are significant cultural capitals," Grant said. "But we're also going to share our music with them."

The orchestra will play in a couple of festivals on their trip, taking them to places such as the Salzburg Cathedral (where Mozart himself played).

"Our orchestra will get a sense of where the music (they perform) comes from, places that consider them national treasures," Grant said.

They have already raised about $16,000 of their $25,000 goal to offset costs of the trip but Sunday's concert will be the most important single fundraising event, Delage said.

Prior to the concert, former astronaut Marc Garneau will be a guest speaker.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for seniors and students. For tickets to Jazzissimo, call Isabelle Delage at 514-633-1128 or e-mail info@osjwi.qc.ca.