Mission violinist Hanna Williamson will be training with the National Youth Orchestra Canada this summer.
She was accepted into the program last week after completing a competitive audition process that drew close to 500 competitors. Williamson, 21, was one of 100 students selected for the professional training orchestra for emerging artists.
Williamson has been playing the violin for 15 years and is currently enrolled in her third year of the University of Ottawa’s bachelor of music program.
NYOC is Canada’s only summer institute that offers a comprehensive training program, concert tour, and recording session to participants with no tuition required. With approximately one third of Canadian professional orchestral musicians listed as alumni, the NYO is the most influential step in the career of hundreds of young musicians. This year’s session begins on June 21 and will finish in mid-August.
An integral part of the NYO experience is a cross-Canada Tour, under the baton of internationally- renowned conductors. This year, Maestro Michael Francis, recognized for his spectacular “ad hoc” appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, will lead the 2015 NYOC on the tour. They will be making stops at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Montreal’s Maison Symphonique, Vancouver’s Chan Centre, Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, Calgary’s Jack Singer Hall, and Edmonton’s Winspear Centre.
Founded in 1960, the NYOC was created by Maestro Walter Susskind and has since evolved into Canada’s foremost orchestral finishing school, providing the most comprehensive and in-depth training program available to our country’s best young classical musicians.
