Last year dozen of fiddlers of all ages and skill levels took to the Port Theatre stage, many for the first time, as part of the inaugural massed Fiddelium concert.
“It really was overwhelming for some people,” said Trish Horrocks, who directs Fiddelium with her husband Geoff.
“I know there were tears for sure last year. They just didn’t really know that they were capable of putting on a show like that, so it was huge.”
She said organizing and preparing for the show was demanding on her and the ensemble, but after the curtain fell everyone wanted to get back out there.
“We thought, ‘Do we ever do this again or is it a one-off?’ And everybody in the group is like, ‘Uh, yeah, we have to do it next year,'” Horrocks said.
“So I think overall it was pretty exciting. Everybody seemed to want to do it again in a big way, so here we are.”
Fiddelium is heading back to the Port Theatre for Round 2 on Friday, May 4. Approximately 60 musicians, from three-year-olds to septuagenarians, will take part in the show.
Among the returning fiddlers are 12-year-old Ava Shaw and 10-year-old Lucy Klan. They have been playing the fiddle for six and two years respectively and are excited to perform at the Port with the rest of the group.
“Last year it was interesting, fun and nervous, too. We usually just perform at festivals,” said Klan.
“It’s amazing Trish and Geoff can get everyone organized,” Shaw added.
Nora Figueira, 10, has been playing the fiddle since she was four and she’ll be performing with the group for the first time. She said she likes the full sound that comes from the musicians playing their distinct parts. Is she ready to make her Fiddeluim debut?
“I hope so,” she said during a break in practice.
The concert will feature a variety of traditional North American and European fiddle music, as well as some pop music and, in honour of May the fourth, a mash-up style cover of the theme from Star Wars.
Horrocks said she sees the concert as a “showcase of community music making” and wants to make clear that playing in a group is an accessible endeavour. She said there are at least nine families, meaning parents and their children, playing in the show and even new members with little experience have a part to contribute to Fidellium’s “great, big, orchestra sound.”
“For us, it really has to come back to that community connectiveness. That’s key to this,” Horrocks said.
“Why does music exist if it isn’t to connect people? And it shouldn’t just be something that people with a music degree can do. It should be for everybody. So I hope that at the end of it the audience all goes home and they all look up a music teacher or a band or something and start making music together.”
For a video from rehearsal, visit www.nanaimobulletin.com.
WHAT’S ON … Fiddelium performs at the Port Theatre on Friday, May 4 at 7 p.m. All seats $15, available at the Port Theatre box office.
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