Lauren Baron
BRANT NEWS

The violin is life for 15-year-old Emma Morrison.

The Brantford Collegiate Institute student attends the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto three times a week for classes and lessons with the Young Artists Performance Academy. During the week, she takes classes at BCI in the morning and spends the rest of her day practicing music.

“It’s a great way to express myself,” Morrison said. “(The violin) never stops interesting me. I want to set myself up to audition for different schools and play my best.”

Morrison is one of three youth soloists and one chorus chosen to be part of the prestigious Young Artists Recital, being held by the Brantford Music Club on Friday, Feb. 17, at the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts beginning at 7:30 p.m.

“Some of these kids practice five hours a day and they live and breathe their music,” said Lynn Haylock, president of the Brantford Music Club. “It’s important to give them exposure to recognize what they are doing and recognize their hard work.”

Morrison will perform pieces by Johann Sebastian Bach, Pablo de Sarasate and Felix Mendelssohn.

“I tried to pick three contrasting pieces and I also wanted to pick ones I was comfortable with and ones that would please the crowd,” Morrison said. “They really suit my style of performing and types of music I like to play.”

This year’s performance includes the Harmony Squared barbershop chorus. Under the direction of former Young Artists performer Shawn Oakes, the chorus includes students from BCI and Assumption College performing barbershop classics like Coney Island Baby and The Longest Time.

Woodwind instrumentalist Aaron Haydon, 19, will perform a Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart concerto, a sonata by Bach and a vocalise for flute and piano by Gary Schocker.

Also on the program is Grade 12 Assumption College student Ellen Vollebregt. The pianist will perform works by Frédéric Chopin and George Gershwin.

“We are trying to highlight and showcase these young artists and give them the opportunity to perform on the stage of the Sanderson Centre because most of them don’t get that much experience,” Haylock said. “Playing at the Sanderson Centre, in a huge theatre like that, gives them confidence and hones their skills a little to see what it’s like performing in front of a larger crowd.”

The Young Artists Recital has taken place every February since the 1940s, Haylock said. Artists are chosen to perform based on recommendations from local music teachers and from standout performers at the annual Brantford Kiwanis Music Festival.

For Morrison, being chosen to perform was an honour and a dream come true.

“I grew up going to the Young Artists Recital and I was always so excited about it every year,” Morrison said. “It was always a really big deal to see who the artists of the year were. It’s a really big honour to be chosen. It has always been my goal and my dream since I was little.”

Tickets to the Young Artists Recital cost $17 for adults and $6 for students. Tickets can be purchased at the Sanderson Centre box office at 88 Dalhousie St., by phone at 519-758-8090 or online at www.sandersoncentre.ca. Tickets purchased at the door are cash-only.