Author: S.Robb

Stephen is the Music Director of the Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra and Delta Community Music School where he brings his passion for music education to life.

winter update

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Fall 2023

Another Busy Fall!

RDYO held several outreach concerns for the first time since COVID-19 shut everything down. It was fun and felt good to have the orchestra back performing for the general public again in a festive setting. 

It is always great to perform with the students as well, and share the stage with these fine young performers!   

Student achievements – January 2024

Congratulations to Frank for being chosen as a member of the National Youth Band for 2024

Congratulations to Ivan for achieving First-class honors on his RCM Level 7 clarinet exam!

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Summer update

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Urban Bandscape in Performance
Heart of the City Festival – October 2022

Summer Performances 2023

After a slow spring things are heating up.  Summer Gigs.

July 14 – Performing with Emmett Hatlied at L”Aromas in Tsawwassen – 6 – 8 pm

July 23  –  Performing keys and tenor with Urban Bandscape – Fort Langley Jazz Festival – 2 pm

August 12 – Jazz at Southlands – South Delta Jazz Festival – 5 – 8 pm

August 19 – Jazz at Southlands – with Urban Bandcape – 2 pm

August 27 – House Concert – Kris Jay Quartet

Student Achieivements

Congratulations to my students for all their achievements.

Frank X – Vancouver Kiwanis Festival – Charlton & Helen Young Scholarship – clarinet, recommended to participate in BC Provincial finals  (May 2023)

Spencer L – Premier of Cloudburst for Wind Ensemble with RDYO WInds – May 2023

Frank X – Participant in the  2023 National Youth Band of Canada. (May 2023)

Frank X – appointed principal clarinet Vancouver Kiwanis Festival WInds (June 2023)

Emily D – RCM Grade 7 exam alto sax – honours (June 2023)

Anka S – DCMS scholarship award ( June 2023)

Frank X – DCMS scholarship award (June 2023)

Dabhim Y – DCMS scholarship award (June 2023)

 

New Creative project

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Vancouver Inter-arts collective

It has been a number of years since I have entered into the world of free improv.  This is not a free concert, but a performance where the text and context of what we will perform are not predetermined. The music is created spontaneously. 

“Conversations” will be the interaction of various sounds scapes created by musicians interacting and conversing with other art mediums, the photo shows some of the artwork that has been created during our “rehearsals” as interpretive dance, interpretive painting, and interpretive music make up the whole of this “conversation”.   So we have a spontaneous composition. Some very interesting moments are created in this process.  

So is it “art as language”?  Are we having a real conversation?  Yes, but purely in terms of our various art forms.  

I will be performing on clarinet with electronics processing, and EWI (electronic wind instrument) The project is the brainchild of Brad Muirhead, who has been the artist-in-residence at Moberly Arts Centre this past spring.

The performance is at Moberly Arts Centre – Friday, June 9th at 7 pm.  Information is on the events page.

 

A New Year

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heading into 2023

As we wind our way into 2023, past Christmas and Chinese New Year, it is time to reflect on the recent months.

Congratulations to RDYO for the two wonderful Concerts on December 10th at Genesis Theatre in Ladner.  Many wonderful performances, some of which you will find on our YouTube channel.

This past weekend RDYO held our Winter Workshop for the first time in three years. Thanks to our sectional coaches and Infinitus for coming out to make a wonderful day for our students.  We also returned to Camp Stillwood in October 2022 for the first time since 2019.

Congratulations to Frank X. for successfully auditioning for the 2023 National Youth Band of Canada. Well Done.

Congratulations to Anka S. for being invited to perform the Mozart Clarinet Concerto with Richmond Orchestra and Chorus this February.

“RDYO Symphony at Genesis Theatre, December 10th. .”

 

2022 South Delta Jazz Festival

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Our 2022 edition of the South Delta Jazz Festival has drawn to a close. 

We started with a short Online section which I taught this year. This was followed by week 2 with four groups in the workshop this year,  capped off with a beautiful concert on Saturday, August 13 with hundreds of people in attendance, and our student combo concert on Sunday, August 14.

Our first Vocal Jazz workshop followed the next week.  Nine students took part in our first year of offering the program with Jennifer Scott and Laura Harrison from Capilano University. This event was capped off by our faculty and student concert on the final day of the three-week Festival and Workshop.

Thanks to our board at Delta Community Music School, our wonderful jazz faculty, and the wonderful folks at Southlands for making this all possible. 

Looking forward to planning for next year…

 

 

Congratulations to RDYO

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Fiftieth Anniversary Season for RDYO!

September 11, 1971, was the date of the very first rehearsal of the Delta Youth Orchestra, at the Ladner Community Centre in Ladner Village, Delta BC.  i am proud to have been working with the group now for more than thirty years and to be the one to lead us through our 50th anniversary season and a return to live performances after two years of the pandemic.  2021 – 2022 is actually our 51st season if you do the math, but we have not been able to plan anything for two years because of the pandemic. Hence, we celebrated this year with a special concert at the Chan Centre of the Performing Arts in Vancouver featuring all of our divisions.

We capped the year off with a special performance again with all divisions for the VSO Day of Music, June 4th, 2022 at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Vancouver. What a special day and wonderful feeling to lead our combined orchestras through a performance of local Vancouver composer Christopher Tyler Nickel’s Horizons with some eighty of our students on stage.

Bravo to our orchestra and all the parents and volunteers who have kept our organization alive through the past two years of this pandemic. Looking forward a staying around for a few more years of music-making with this organization. 

 

 

Congratulations to students

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Congratulation to my students who took part in Music Festivals this Spring

VAYA Awards –

Anka S – VAYA International Music Festival Outstanding Senior Performer Award – Reeds and Brass:
              – Gold and Platinum awards in three categories

Kitty S – VAYA International Music Festival – Outstanding performance medal – Winds and Brass
               – Gold awards in two categories

Nicole V. – VAYA International Music Festival – Honorable mention for Outstanding Performance – Winds and Brass
                – Gold Award in her category

Josuha E – VAYA International Music Festival – Outstanding Composition Award 2022
                  – Gold and Silver awards for compositions submitted

Spencer LC – VAYA International Music Fesival
                   – Bronze Award for music composition

Vancouver Kiwanis Fesitval

Anka S –  Recommended to Provincial Finals – Woodwinds
                 – Platinum,  and Gold Awards – 3 categories

Kitty S –   Silver award 

RDYO in concert

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RDYO Live in Concert

March 5th was the day we returned to a live concert performance after two years of lockdown, virtual sessions, and recording sessions.   Our String Divisions were in concert at 3 pm, with the Symphony and Winds divisions at 7 pm. 

Bravo to the students who pulled this off, performing Beethoven’s Symphony no. 4 with eight rehearsals, 4 of which were completely online only. 

I recorded audio and video for the concert, which appears on our YouTube Channel. 

Coming up next for the orchestra will be our 50th Anniversary Concert at Chan Centre on Saturday, May 7th at 3 pm.

 

Happy New Year!

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A new year…

As we start the new year headed toward more lockdowns and a pivot back to online events, here is a recap of the end of 2021

In lieu of an in-person concert, we once again organized recording sessions for the various divisions of the RYDO. Many of our usual venues for performances remain closed. We are very grateful for the Austrian Vancouver Club allowing us to use their facility for this project. 

At the music school, we were able to hold a more traditional recital with small audiences. These performances were recorded and are available and linked to from the music school website. 

A few of the planned gigs did go ahead at the end of 2021, with reduced venue sizes, reduced ticket sales, and such. I am very grateful that these opportunities were able to go ahead. As of now with the looming shutdowns, there will be probably no new performance opportunities during the next few weeks. We shall see how things go. 

 

 

“Richmond Delta Youth Orchestra Winter Concert – recorded November 27, Dec. 4 and 11, 2021 Featuring all divisions.”