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Touring youth orchestra performing at Shatford Centre

The Abbotsford Youth Orchestra has a Penticton stop on their tour of the B.C. Interior
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Violinist Calvin Dyck will be directing the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra in a by donation concert at the Shatford Centre on May 21. -Submitted photo

The Abbotsford Youth Orchestra is taking a spring swing through the B.C. Interior.

They’re stopping in Kelowna, Midway and Penticton, where they are performing at the Shatford Centre for the Arts on May 21 at 2:30 p.m., under the direction of Dr. Calvin Dyck.

This auditioned group was formed in 2000 to give talented youth a musical and social experience of the highest level. They have had some unique experiences including playing and dancing on a moving float in the Canada Day parade, touring all 10 provinces in Canada and performing in canoes on Cultus Lake.

In Penticton, they are presenting an eclectic program including music from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Cirque du Soleil, selections from Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and Cinema Paradiso. They will perform the famous tango Jealousy by Jacob Gade, complete with choreography and a new composition called Hemlock Valley/Sasquatch Mountain.

Some of the youth will be featured on solos: Golliwog’s Cakewalk, the Shostakovich violin duos or Meditation by Tchaikovsky. Dyck will be featured in a performance of Canticle for an Angel by Michael Conway Baker. This piece was commissioned by a mother to reach out to her estranged son and combines unique tones and chords that communicate love and yearning.

Along with directing the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, Dyck is in his seventeenth season as concertmaster for the Vancouver Island Symphony, and is also on the faculty of Strings the Thing summer camp in Penticton. He has a reputation for combining a passion for great music with a sense of fun and entertainment, and loves to involve costumes, hats and surprises for the audience.

Admission is by donation, and half of the proceeds will help support Strings the Thing, which takes place July 10 to 14; registration is now open. For more information visit shatfordcentre.com.