Students play Place des Arts
Courtesy Penny Berg Patton
Last year, the ensemble music program run by Kateri School music teacher, Penny Berg Patton, had so much interest that there weren’t enough instruments to go around.
As happens so often, a callout to the community was abundantly answered, and soon the program’s 60 or so young musicians had instruments in their hands. One violin was even donated by Tara-Louise Montour, an Orchestre classique de Montreal (OCM) concert violinist from Kahnawake, a role model for many of the children.
On Sunday, that violin was in the hands of third grader Ridley Cross as he and 12 other local youth from the program earned a standing ovation from the audience taking in the Indigenous Mosaic concert, the opening performance of the OCM’s 86th season, at La Maison Symphonique in Place des Arts.
“It was really exciting just to know the kids have this opportunity to motivate themselves, to see what’s possible, to get a taste of it,” said Abigail Rose Jacobs, Cross’s mother.
The other performers were Ahwentsí:io Cross, Amelia Lahache, Anna Rose Marquis, Arkham-Bella Standup, Charlotte Jacco, Ella Diabo, Emilia Jacobs, Emma Lou Jacobs, Hattie Mae Lahache, Ivy Jackson, Kaia Sterling, and Paige Jacco. They performed an excerpt of Ode to Joy from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
It was Abigail’s first time seeing an orchestral concert, and she was just one of many community members in attendance for the event.
“You’re familiar with going to the movies or going to see a play. You’re familiar with that setup. But to have that exposure to the orchestra setup and what that entails, how that feels, that was very cool,” said Abigail, whose son was one of two performers to play a solo.
She is pleased her son has the opportunity to express himself in a field he might not have had access to without Berg Patton’s program.
“It’s very inspiring and motivating,” she said. “It opens that whole other door, the exposure to the arts, and just seeing what the possibilities are for him.”
Her son isn’t into sports, she said, but he loves music.
“He’ll hear a song and then he’ll go figure it out,” she said. “He’ll go on the violin, he plays piano, and within five minutes he’s like, ‘I figured it out!’
“As long as that’s something that I can feed and show him the possibilities of the other areas to explore and have fun with and diversify, then that’s what we want for them,” Abigail added. “That’s what I think everybody wants for their kids.”
Montour’s performance at the same concert was breathtaking, Abigail said. She was thrilled to hear references to a Haudenosaunee social song in the music. “To hear that familiarity, to hear a social song, but you’re in a concert hall with an orchestra and she’s playing that, it was very cool,” Abigail said.
The students played following the intermission, and Berg Patton performed along with the group from her Encore!Sistema program, even though she is not a violinist herself. Ode to Joy was chosen because the students were familiar with it as last year’s performance piece.
“Walking off the stage after, I was holding back tears. It was literally the opportunity of a lifetime for teaching,” Berg Patton said. “I’ve been teaching for 26 years, and I’ve never experienced anything like that.”
Her students beamed with pride as they returned backstage from the glow of the big, bright lights of the concert hall.
“They were all very excited and filled with that adrenaline you get from performing, and I think they’re all hooked,” said Berg Patton.
It wouldn’t have been possible without Montour, familiar with the youth from having visited the program, who proposed the idea and cleared it with her orchestra.
“I was thrilled. I was so happy about it. These children, I love them. I think they’re fantastic,” said Montour, noting their enthusiasm, curiosity, and commitment.
The group was even directed by the OCM’s actual conductor, Andrei Feher.
“I’m hoping this is something that will stay with these children for a long time and just give them goals and inspiration to continue to improve their playing and see new things, to see what is out there,” Montour said.
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“It was a concert honouring truth and reconciliation. This was a very, very positive event, and very moving. I hope that we continue and do more like this and involve the next generation because they did beautifully. I’m so proud of them,” she added.
The new season of Encore!Sistema begins October 20, and with Place des Arts behind them for now, Berg Patton looks forward to hopefully one day soon bringing her students to the stage of the new Kahnawake Cultural Arts Center.
Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
