In support of Youth Mental Health Day, the Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra (GVYO) is presenting a performance of Jordan Noble’s Apollo, featuring over 350 students from across BC, united as the Apollo Initiative. The performance, happening tomorrow, is free, but donations are encouraged in an effort to raise funds to support youth facing mental-health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The show is produced with support from the BC Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
GVYO violinist Rebecca Reader-Lee was raised surrounded by music; Reader-Lee, who is 19, has been playing since she was three years old.
“It’s been a big part of my family,” she says. “I really wanted to do it because my sister was doing it, and I was just so amazed by music. With my mom being in the Victoria Chamber Orchestra I was really exposed to it from a young age and I really enjoyed it so much, I wanted to do it myself.”
Reader-Lee got involved in the Apollo Initiative because she believes in supporting mental-health care and enjoys the experience of creation and collaboration, especially in the throes of COVID-19 social isolation.
“The idea that we can all get together and do this good thing, even with the circumstances that we’re all in right now, it was amazing,” she says. “Just being able to be with other people again, even for a short time, even for just this little project, was really meaningful.”
She says that performing can be scary, but it’s possible to learn to channel that fear into creative output.
“Stage fright has always been a thing, and that’s something everyone has to work through, but the more you get used to performing for people, it becomes pretty natural,” she says. “You start to be able to turn that nervous or anxious energy into fuel for your performance, and you can use it to your advantage as opposed to letting it freeze you up.”
While modern music with lyrics is valuable to culture, Reader-Lee feels that classical music allows a listener to create their own narrative and become emotionally involved in the material.
“There’s something about classical music, especially instrumental music, where things aren’t explicitly said, and there isn’t any actual set story. There’s a thing about it that gets me so excited where you kind of get to decide what the music is saying to people,” she says. “Even if it’s not an actual thing happening, it’s an emotion, just a feeling, and it gets people thinking in ways that maybe music with lyrics does not, because music with lyrics has a set meaning. I really appreciate both; they both have a really important role in the music world and how we express ourselves.”
Reader-Lee says that while she doesn’t mind playing alone, performing with a group creates a synergistic energy that’s a joy to experience.
“I’ve done solo performances but I’ve found that I really love to play with people; that’s kind of my main passion,” she says. “I just love the social aspects; the collaboration means a lot to me and I feel like the more people you’re playing with, every individual person is bringing what they have to the performance, and it just creates this magical thing where everyone’s working together. It’s just a really good feeling.”
The Apollo Initiative
12 pm Friday, May 7
Free
canadahelps.org/en/pages/the-apollo-initiative