May 28, 2009 at 7:30 PM

Salle Raoul-Jobin
Palais Montcalm
995, place D’Youville, Québec

Airat Ichmouratov, conductor
Élèves de l’école secondaire de la Camaradière

The chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy is involved in projects in various communities in Québec. These include a school project the orchestra pioneered when it asked elementary and secondary school students to take part in a musical learning process lasting 6 months and leading to a concert performed alongside the orchestra’s own musicians. Les Violons du Roy organized its first schools tour in 1999, in the wake of a highly successful project in December 1996. The activity has continued to develop, becoming a reference for many different schools and music associations in Québec. From 1999 to 2006, the project continued with the formula “Les Violons du Roy retournent à l’école”. Since the orchestra returned to its home base in the Palais Montcalm in the spring of 2007, the project has been known as “Musiciens en herbe”, and the students from each participating school have an opportunity to join the musicians of Les Violons du Roy on stage for a concert in the Raoul Jobin hall. In addition to providing support for the students in a pedagogical project leading to a public concert, the musicians of Les Violons du Roy and the conductor in residence, working closely with the teachers involved, target the following objectives:

• awaken the students’ interest in music;
• demystify the work of musicians, the orchestra and its conductor;
• develop the students’ sense of belonging, and help them to become involved in their own community while developing a pool of musicians and audience members for the future;
• give something back to the schools community that triggered the musicians’ initial interest in music and nurtured it over the years;
• take action to reduce the dropout rate.

Throughout the project, the objectives are met through the following strategies:

• establish and develop an artistic program as a partnership between the conductor in residence of Les Violons du Roy and the teachers concerned, based on the learning and performance of a specific musical repertoire by the students;
• organize musical workshops shared between the conductor in residence of Les Violons du Roy and the pedagogical projects coordinator, presented to the teachers and students involved in the project;
• organize rehearsals and discussions between the musicians of Les Violons du Roy and the students;
• present concerts and public rehearsals in seniors’ homes, the students’ home schools, and their parish churches;
• encourage all the students to participate and make an active commitment to the success of the project and the achievement of the objectives.

The chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy believes firmly in the relevance and importance of stimulating an interest in music and making a musical education available to as many students as possible, and intends to continue its annual schools tour of two to four schools per year, promoting access to the project by young people from all backgrounds and especially students from disadvantaged areas. Most schools tours by Les Violons du Roy take place in greater Québec City, but they can also be organized in other regions when independent funding is available through grants or private partnerships. The “Musiciens en herbe” project is designed for schools that support the creation and development of musical projects in their academic or extra-curricular programs.

Schools and music associations with which Les Violons du Roy has presented school projects since 1996:

• École L’Accroche-Notes de Lévis, 1996
• Centre musical Uni-son de Sillery, 1996
• École primaire Notre-Dame du Canada de Vanier, 1996
• École de musique L’Arquemuse de Québec, 1996
• Écoles primaires Notre-Dame, de l’Étincelle et Trois-Saisons de l’Ancienne-Lorette, 1996
• École secondaire La Camaradière de Québec, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009
• École primaire Sainte-Odile de Québec, 1999
• École primaire de La Chaumière de Québec, 1999
• École primaire Saint-Édouard de Beauport, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008
• École primaire de la Farandole de Beauport, 2001
• École primaire À l’Orée-des-bois de Val-Bélair, 2001
• École de musique Jésus-Marie de Lévis, 2002, 2004, 2007
• École primaire Jacques-Cartier de Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier, 2002
• Maîtrise des petits chanteurs de Québec, 2002
• Orchestre de la Faculté de musique de l’Université Laval de Québec, 2003
• École primaire Les Prés Verts de Québec, 2003
• Académie du Sacré-Cœur de Sherbrooke, 2003
• Écoles secondaires Mitchell-Montcalm de Sherbrooke, 2003
• École primaire Cœur-Vaillant de Sainte-Foy, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Ensemble Accordances de Saint-Augustin, 2006
• Société musicale Claude Létourneau, 2008
• École secondaire de la Seigneurie de Beauport, 2009