In a lively concert, a renowned folk musician and symphony orchestra will show exactly what an orchestra is and how it works.
‘My Symphony’ makes its return to Nanaimo’s Port Theatre on Jan. 27 at 3 p.m., presented by Rick Scott, the Vancouver Island Symphony and the VIS Noteworthy Kids Choir directed by Patricia Plumley. Songs are written by Scott and Valley Hennell, and orchestrated by Nico Rhodes.
The concert premiered in 2014 and since has held 12 shows at the Port Theatre.
Scott, three-time Juno nominee and winner of Parents’ Choice, NAPPA Gold and Canadian Folk Music Awards, said this month’s performance is the first since the COVID pandemic started in 2020 and that he’s excited to work with the symphony’s new conductor Cosette Justo Valdés.
A core element of the show, Scott said, is to make the audience realize that music is accessible for them to make – not just listen to. With plenty of audience participation, including sing-alongs and call and response, the concert is not just the musicians’ symphony, but everyone’s symphony.
“We’ve got some of the finest musicians in the world in this orchestra – they’re amazing, talented musicians. And they’ll agree with me that everybody can have a piece of music, you don’t have to be a performer, you don’t have to be a star. It’s good to express yourself with music,” Scott said. “And don’t tell anybody, but it’s really fun.”
Scott joins the orchestra with his red plastic trombone and Appalachian mountain dulcimer. As a relatively uncommon instrument in Canada, to this day, wherever Scott may be in the country, someone will ask “What’s that?”
“The thing I love about it, of all the instruments that I’ve had wonderful experiences with, the dulcimer is the simplest, the most expressive. I feel like a kid when I’m playing it because it’s like having this magic box and it only has four strings and those four strings are only tuned to two notes, and I can go anywhere with it,” he said.
Scott also builds the instrument and has a permanent collection of four “go-tos” that he can depend on.
The master luthier who taught Scott how to build dulcimers, James Richard Stone, told him that he was the only person he taught how to build in his style. Before his death, Stone gifted Scott the last dulcimer he ever made, which is the same one he’ll be bringing to the Port Theatre concert.
For Scott, the dynamic nature of a performer is like no other that he can compare to – scenarios and stories are always changing. He’s found that music, however, has always been one of the best communicators and barrier-breakers.
“I’ve played in 10 different countries and I know that music doesn’t need a passport. Music speaks every language. I’ve been in countries where I couldn’t speak a lick of the native language – if I took out an instrument and played it, suddenly I was ‘in’ and part of their world,” he said.
More information on the ‘My Symphony’ concert can be found at www.rickscott.ca.
Tickets for the Jan. 27 show in Nanaimo can be purchased at www.porttheatre.com.
READ MORE: Nanaimo’s Rick Scott inducted into B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame