Joseph Elworthy is not being a music snob when he asks to sit farther away from the source of a Willie Nelson tune flowing through a coffee shop across from the Orpheum Theatre.
A cellist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the executive director of the Vancouver Music Academy, Elworthy believes in the power of music.
Comparing classical music to a slowly consumed meal you want to saviour, he knows that sometimes its fun to give into our cravings for musics equivalent of fast food. But right now, he wants to talk about music, not be distracted by it.
Music expresses the inexpressible and allows the listener to insert their own narrative, he says, warming up to a subject thats near and dear to his heart. Thats why, as important as it is to learn good technique, VAM wants to help foster more than accomplished musicians. Its programming includes classes about the cultural contexts of music and encourages students to love learning about everything, not just how to play the perfect C#.
Our mandate is to produce people who will contribute to society in a meaningful way, says Elworthy, one of VAMs first students and the father of two children currently enrolled there.
With this years grads about to continue their education musical or otherwise at places such as Harvard, Princeton and Stanford, its certainly reaching that goal.
However, this comprehensive approach to music education has also caught the eye of a group of people involved in an exciting project in Hong Kong.
VAM is part of a partnership thats been granted permission to transform a majestic 25,000 sq.ft. mansion into a music school modeled on VAMs approach of nurturing well-rounded, fascinating students.
The Haw Par Mansion was built in 1935 by the Aw family of Tiger Balm fame. Heiress Sally Aw started a foundation to redevelop and restore the Chinese Renaissance-style mansion, teaming up with Bing Thom Architects, the Royal Conservatory of Music and VAM on a $22-million bid for a music academy. In April, when the Hong Kong government announced that theyd earned the honour, it was front-page news.
The scrutiny of the Hong Kong government was considerable. They went through the business plan with a fine tooth comb and it validates what weve been doing.
Theres a great demand for musical education in Hong Kong, where every child studies music and plays an instrument. However, Elworthy says, the goals of music in terms of personal development are unexplored. We plan to introduce something very different. Music for me was a passion on equal footing with sports.
The first phase is Thoms. Hes spearheading the conservation efforts; structurally the mansions in good shape; the challenge is finding the craftspeople who specialize in heritage design techniques. (The stained glass expert is from Manilla, for instance.) Then, its up to VAM and the conservatory to come up with the academys programming, which will start in an interim location next January. Its hoped that the first students will be welcomed into the mansion in 2017.
There will also be opportunities fro music exchanges for teachers and students.
Im so excited about what its going to do for VAM, says Elworthy. We have 44 years of history of producing world-class musicians and delivering excellent musical standards.
