SENATORS’ STATEMENTS — New Brunswick Youth Orchestra

Colleagues, it is my great honour to bring to your attention an organization that is near and dear to my heart. The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, the NBYO, is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

As part of its celebratory tour, the NBYO will be making a stop here in Ottawa on July 4 at the National Arts Centre.

The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, or NBYO, will be tackling one of the most challenging classical repertoires in history: Symphony No. 1 by Gustav Mahler. Those who know me know I never tire of promoting the tremendous success story that is the NBYO. Serving over 1,200 children and youth each year, the NBYO is the largest employer of artists in Atlantic Canada, the largest youth musical program in Canada and a leader internationally in the space of music for social impact.

The NBYO has earned too many accolades over the years to list them all, but here are a few of them. In 2008, the NBYO won an East Coast Music Award for classical recording of the year. In 2011, it won first place in the symphony orchestra category at the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria.

In 2017, the NBYO commissioned Howard Shore, winner of multiple Oscars and Golden Globes and The Lord of the Rings composer, to compose music to celebrate Canada 150. The world premiere of that music was performed in Moncton before an audience of 7,500 people.

Recently, the NBYO performed a gala concert for Her Royal Highness Princess Anne and another with New York Times bestselling author of The Da Vinci Code — and musician and composer — Dan Brown.

But there’s so much more to this story. Beyond its many musical accomplishments, the NBYO has also been an unparalleled social innovator.

In 2009, the NBYO launched Sistema New Brunswick — or Sistema NB — a free daily after-school program that uses music and the orchestra as a means for creating social change for children who otherwise would not have this opportunity. Today, Sistema NB engages more than 1,100 children for three hours daily, five days per week, in 11 orchestra centres throughout the province. It is the largest program of its kind in Canada. Here’s the best part: Over 90% of the musicians who currently make up the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra are graduates of Sistema NB.

As the NBYO celebrates this milestone year, it continues to have a tremendous impact on thousands of young people across the province.

We wish you many more anniversaries and continued success in uplifting more lives.

Thank you. Meegwetch.