When it comes to music there is no denying Chelsea Letourneau’s passion.
“All things music related I love,” Letourneau said.
Letourneau, 14, is a member of the Nanaimo Youth Fiddlers, a relatively new music group that features talented musicians from the Nanaimo area between the ages of 12 and 15.
On Friday (May 30) Letourneau and her fellow bandmates will be performing at Costin Hall in Lantzville.
“We play folk-fiddle music from a variety of different backgrounds,” Letourneau said. “We play Eastern European, American folk-fiddle, French-Canadian, French, Irish, Swedish, lots of different backgrounds.”
The Nanaimo Youth Fiddlers were formed roughly two years ago and are a member of Cross Canada Fiddle, an organization that aims to promote and teach classical violin and fiddle to youth.
The Nanaimo Youth Fiddlers are headed by Geoff Horrocks and feature performers Quin Etheridge-Pedden, Kendall Holzwarth, Micaela Pereira, Spencer Woodward, Vivian Woodward, and Maya Florey along with Letourneau.
Letourneau, who will also be singing and playing piano at the Lantzville event, explained that over the past two years the group has improved significantly.
“We sound like a totally different group than when we started out two years ago. There have been members that have dropped out, but now we are really tight and everyone is really committed to being in the group,” Letourneau said. “We’ve had lots of fun doing different gigs and different shows. It’s been great.”
After losing a couple of members early on, the young fiddlers have since formed a tight bond with each other.
“We are all actually all very good friends in our group. We love hanging out with each other,” Letourneau said. “We see each other a lot during the week just because of fiddle and we are all really busy, but we do enjoy hanging out with each other, whether it is at shows or practices.”
Letourneau, who has been a member since the very beginning, said she’s learned a lot about how to work with other musicians.
“Being in a group isn’t about you,” she said. “You have to listen to everyone else and be as committed as everyone else.”
Letourneau wants to become a violin teacher and dreams of attending one of the many muisc school in Massachusetts, such as Berklee College of Music.
The Nanaimo Youth Fiddlers perform at 7 p.m. at Costin Hall, 7232 Lantzville Rd., on Friday (May 30).
arts@nanaimobulletin.com
