Multi-Media Symphony Concert Commemorates Vimy Ridge.
(New Brunswick) Canada Comes of Age, the next full-symphony concert by Symphony New Brunswick (SNB), will be a concert like no other. It will incorporate letters from the front sent home by soldiers during the World Wars read by Theatre New Brunswick (TNB) actors, lovely songs made famous by Dame Vera Lynn during the War, heavenly music from the Symphony, and much more. You must see it to experience it.
Maestro Michael Newnham and SNB will deliver an evening of songs and musical selections to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and Canada’s role in the two great wars of the twentieth century. The program showcases contralto Heather Flemming of Rothesay, who will perform several popular World War II era songs especially arranged for Symphony New Brunswick by Moncton composer Andrew Creeggan.
TNB’s Artistic Director Thomas Morgan Jones says of the exciting collaboration: “Theatre New Brunswick is honoured to be a part of the upcoming Canada Comes of Age program at Symphony New Brunswick. Between symphony pieces, actors will read war poetry and letters from soldiers to their loved ones. Each of the letters will be local to the performance host city. There will also be a short play focused on a husband and wife, and how their relationship has changed and evolved since he has returned from the war. Finally, Theatre New Brunswick has commissioned a new atmospheric film to play over The Lark Ascending to capture the beauty of New Brunswick as a way of contemplating how home feels different, perhaps even more vivid, when we’ve been away.”
Another big highlight of the evening will be Heather Flemming’s rendition of several of the songs made popular by Vera Lynn during World War II. The White Cliffs of Dover, We’ll Meet Again, and many others will be interspersed with dramatic readings by the actors of TNB. These will feature the poetry of famed World War I British poet Wilfred Owen, killed in France in the closing week of the Great War.
The Symphony will perform The Lark Ascending (a piece that has long been associated with the eternal quest for peace by British composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams), with Concertmaster David Adams performing the haunting solo violin part.
Other moving orchestral pieces include The Banks of Green Willow by George Butterworth, a British soldier who died on the field in France in 1916, and Flanders Fields Reflections by the Canadian composer John Burge. A poignant take on Flanders Field for strings, this work was awarded a Juno Award for Classical Composition in 2009.
It will be a truly memorable evening.
Concert times and venues:
April 24 in Moncton at the Capitol Theatre at 7:30 pm | Buy Tickets
April 25 in Fredericton at the Playhouse at 7:30 pm | Buy Tickets
April 26 in Saint John at the Imperial Theatre at 7:30 pm | Buy Tickets
Symphony NB Media Release
