- Images from upper left, clockwise:
Wikwemikong Nursing Home – Elder Drum Circle and singer Gloria performed for us.
The quartet takes a snazzy pose at TLC Home for Seniors in Little Current
Thea May at St. Joseph’s Manor, Elliot Lake
Matthew Assiniwe told stories about and played one of his grandfather’s flutes at Wikwemikong.
The artists performing Shawn Mendes at Chartwell Westmount on William in Sudbury
Concerts in Care Ontario’s first two provincial tours were terrific! They featured string quartets from both the Sudbury Symphony and the North Bay Symphony, with special guest indigenous singer/songwriter Thea May. They performed for more than 700 seniors who otherwise would not have access to these top-notch musicians or concerts of this kind at all.
The Sudbury String Quartet (SSQ) with Thea May performed 8 concerts in 4 communities, while the North Bay Symphony String Quartet (NBSQ) performed in 9 concerts in 4 communities.
TOUR #1 – The Magic of Manitoulin
The Sudbury String Quartet created a program based on storytelling, with an eclectic mix of Borodin, Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash, Piazzolla, Zubek, Thea May, and Shawn Mendes. Thea sang all of her songs with string quartet arrangements, except the song she wrote for her grandfather.
This first tour started with a special encounter on Manitoulin Island, where the SSQ shared their story-based program with residents of the Wikwemikong Nursing Home, Manitoulin Centennial Manor, and TLC Home for Seniors. In return, the Wikwemikong residents performed for us, featuring their 5-member elder drum circle, their resident singer, Gloria, and Program Manager Matthew Assiniwe. Matthew shared the story of his grandfather’s flutes, the importance of identifying and sharing your gifts, and demonstrated the haunting sound of one of those flutes. It was a powerful and magical exchange that may have acted as a catalyst. Matthew wrote us the next week to say that 14 residents had attended the next drum circle, with everyone playing a shaker or drum. He described it as “a beautiful moment.”
In Elliot Lake, the SSQ performed for Huron Lodge, St. Joseph’s Manor, and Hillside Park Retirement; in Sudbury, for Chartwell Westmount on William and Regent Manor Residence. At one of the homes, a front seat was saved for a new resident, and her peers made sure she had a friend to sit with. The next day, we had an email from her daughter telling us that her mother had cried when she told her about the experience:
“I was having difficulty adjusting to my new living situation, but after the concert, I felt like I was part of life again.”
TOUR #2 – Making Music down Highway 17
As principal players in the North Bay Symphony, the quartet members often play together, but not so often without the rest of the orchestra around them. However, they had performed Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2, “Fifths” in May, so they used the movements from that as the core of their engaging and accessible tour program, adding a little Mozart, Nino Rota’s music from “Romeo and Juliette”, and a familiar tango.
They also had heartfelt and enthusiastic responses from the homes and hospitals where they shared their music and stories, connecting musically and socially with the seniors and health care staff.
A patient in Mattawa Hospital was so happy: “Oh, this is the best day of my life! This is simply amazing. The music reminds me of my grandfather back in Finland.”
More than 400 elderly residents and patients heard concerts that they cannot access in any other way, right in the spaces where they are living. The NBSQ has not toured before, and so this collaboration also sowed seeds for future concerts and future connections.
The musicians loved performing for such enthusiastic and underserved audiences of our older population as much as the seniors loved the music and connection with the musicians.
We thank our Seniors’ Programming Advisory Network (SPAN) for urging us to reach out to seniors in rural communities, and a special thank you to the Canada Council for the Arts for generously funding these tour.
ARTISTS:
Tour #1: Thea May, singer/songwriter; Sudbury String Quartet: Beth Ilana Schneider-Gould and Melissa Schaak, violins, Geoff McCausland, viola, Dobrochna Zubek, cello.
Tour #2: North Bay Symphony String Quartet: Calvin Cheng, violin, Jennifer Hedican, violin
Joanna Millson (Tuesday), viola/ Carol Zimbalatti (Wednesday & Thursday), viola
Jordan Wyshniowsky, cello
