L'Orchestre de l'Académie de Musique

One of Silke's few regrets (although there are some others) about not being in Calgary this year was not being able to play with the Calgary Youth Orchestra (CYO).  She is on the CYO mailing list, and every time she saw what they are playing, she exclaimed that it wasn't fair, and that she wanted to play that music too!  The Erik Satie conservatory orchestra is a fine level for Jerome, and exciting for him because it is a complete orchestra with woodwinds and brass, but it was not up to Silke's level.  I pulled her out of the conservatory orchestra (which entailed some small amount of drama) and we started looking for other options.   Emmanuel Emerich recommended l'orchestre de l'académie de musique.  He not only recommended it, he also talked to the conductor to arrange an audition.  Which was a good thing, because the minimum age is nominally 18.  L'académie de musique is not for professional musicians, nor even for those who are studying music at the university level.  The conductor, Jean-Philippe Sarcos, founded it to promote classical music in the younger generation, and particularly in the decision-makers of tomorrow.  The orchestra is intended for those university students who have graduated from the conservatory system (roughly equivalent to an ARCT in Canada), but are now pursuing other studies and other careers.  It provides them a chance to keep playing their instrument at a high level, and to stay connected with classical music.  In addition to the orchestra, their are choirs, with over 300 singers altogether.  The choirs welcome all levels, but provide a quite rigorous training, even for beginners.  Anyway, you want to know if Silke got in.  She did!  (Yes Jeff, with the first violins :)   She had a rehearsal tonight (Monday), three and a quarter hours.  (There are also Saturday rehearsals.)  It was midnight before she got home and got to bed.  We will see how she survives the week after that.  But she is incredibly excited about it.

l'orchestre de l'académie de musique au Cirque d'Hiver

Anyway, you can hear the orchestra, and see why Silke is so excited about it.  A few years ago they did a production of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana for French TV, which was also shown on the BBC.  Someone recorded it from TV and put it on youtube, so here it is (the sound quality is decent, except for a slight lag between the picture and the sound)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LzMtqcI-nI

(The shots of Paris in this video are fun for us.  Name the place!)

Here is their fall program: http://www.academie-de-musique.com/-actualite-2008-2009- .  (Yes, I know the link contains "2008-2009" but it does in fact link to this fall's program.)

I don't think we are going to be hearing any more regrets from Silke about not being able to play with the CYO this year.