BY LILY BRYANT
We would like to welcome Lily in her first story as a CutCommon contributor.
For musicians from small towns, the first step towards a career seems clear: move to a bigger city.
It comes as no surprise that the lack of music resources in small towns can be stifling. Often, the only choice available to young musicians looking to further their careers is to leave the community that fostered their musicianship, and pursue bigger opportunities in bigger cities.
For Canberra, a place that possesses a wealth of talented pre-tertiary musicians, it is regretful that many feel they can only receive the education and experience they need away from their hometown.
This is an issue that the Canberra Sinfonia seeks to change.
Providing a crucial bridge between the amateur ensembles of Canberra and the environment of the professional orchestra, the Canberra Sinfonia is a new semi-professional orchestra created for, and by, Canberra’s brightest young musicians.
Helena Popovic is concertmaster and orchestral manager, as well as a prominent violinist within the Canberra music community. She speaks on the valuable of this new initiative in expanding youth music opportunities, and nurturing the new generation of classical musicians in the ACT.
Your new initiative, the Canberra Sinfonia, seeks to ‘fill a musical void’ for emerging musicians. In what ways did you personally experience this void during your own musical development?
I have been very fortunate and grateful to have been granted lots of professional opportunities. However, I have often noticed that others involved in these projects are either very well-established musicians or emerging artists from interstate.
We at the Canberra Sinfonia believe that there are insufficient professional opportunities for young emerging musicians in Canberra. Our model is based on that of a professional orchestra.
We are hoping to extend these professional opportunities to our own, homegrown musicians.
Is the Canberra Sinfonia the type of opportunity that would have benefitted you while you were a developing musician?
I think Canberra Sinfonia is benefitting me as a musician right now! I can’t remember the last time I was so thrilled to be part of a project like this. I was even more excited by such a positive response from my fellow musicians at our first rehearsal. We are creating a professional environment in which younger emerging players can thrive. Many of these players have been seeking that opportunity for years.
At your launch, the Canberra Sinfonia will perform Mozart’s Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201; and Schubert’s Symphony No. 5 in Bb Major, D. 485. How do you find a balance of repertoire that can challenge and excite young musicians?
We have selected a program that we think both the orchestra and the audience members can get excited about. These symphonies are not very often performed. We want to move away from the standard repertoire that tends to be recycled year after year, so this will be something new for everyone.
Further, these symphonies have purposefully been selected to complement the orchestra. We are striving for a very cohesive ensemble and believe these symphonies will showcase this at our launch.
You’ve had many opportunities performing with orchestras, but for this project have taken on the role of orchestral manager. As a young musician, how does this experience complement your prior understanding of how orchestral projects work?
It is very exciting for me to now have control over the ensemble that I play with. Often, I’ve just ‘turned up’ to ready-made ensembles. As orchestral manager, I have been able to hand-pick the musicians that I believe fit with our goals and aims for the ensemble, and who are also individuals that love and are excited about the music that we play. We are looking for verve and energy. Canberra Sinfonia will bring life to the classical music stage in Canberra.
You’ve previously performed as concertmaster for Canberra Youth Orchestra. In what ways does the Canberra Sinfonia add to the orchestral opportunities already available to the young and emerging musicians of Canberra, and ‘bridge the gap’ between amateur and professional performance?
The CYO does a fantastic job at developing young players in a symphonic orchestra environment; however, caters primarily for college students and early tertiary students. What happens after that? Many go off to pursue other careers or are forced to seek work interstate or overseas; places that provide more opportunities. At the moment, we have one professional orchestra in this city with no real link between it and the development stages of CYO. We are hoping Canberra Sinfonia will bridge that gap.
Canberra Sinfonia patron Louise Page OAM is a nationally celebrated soprano. How valuable do you think it is for young musicians to see such a renowned Australian musician support them so passionately?
We are so thankful to Louise Page for supporting our venture. She is greatly admired and is an icon in the Canberra music community. It is important to have the support of other musicians, as it gives us the confidence to know that we are doing something right. It has given our musicians even more motivation to get involved and to be committed to Canberra Sinfonia.
And finally, as an active member of the Canberra music community, what would you say to those who believe that a small city can’t support a thriving classical music scene?
We are looking to prove those people wrong!
Canberra Sinfonia will be completely funded by concertgoers, and we will show that there is a huge group of community members that support and enjoy what we do.
Helena Popovic is concertmaster and orchestral manager of the Canberra Sinfonia. See their debut performance on 21 July at Wesley Uniting Church under the baton of Leonard Weiss.
Shout the writer a coffee?
[purchase_link id=”14394″ style=”button” color=”orange” text=”Pay what you like”]
No amount is too much or little. Thanks for supporting Lily as she volunteers her time for Australian arts journalism.
Pay what you like through PayPal. 80 per cent of your contribution will go to the writer who composed this piece, and 20 per cent to our volunteer editor for getting this show on the road. (You don’t *actually* have to take them out for a coffee.) We protect your personal information.
Images supplied. Featured image of Helena by Peter Hislop.
