Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, NACO Principal Youth Conductor and host
Cris Derksen, cellist
Aliénor Rougeot, climate activist and host
Get inspired with Daniel and Aliénor! On the first leg of The Great Canadian Orchestra Field Trip, experience the musical compositions of Antonio Vivaldi, Marjan Mozetich, and Jessie Montgomery.
Featuring performances by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, NAC Orchestra, and guest appearances from Cree cellist Cris Derksen and astronaut David St. Jacques, this is your chance to jump into the minds of artists throughout the ages who have been inspired by nature.
Learner’s companion guide
In the Learner’s companion to Episode 1, students are invited to engage with what it means to be inspired by nature. Learn more about the music and musicians featured in the accompanying video series, and complete activities that range from creating brand new musical instruments out of recycled materials to preparing postcards for an audience who needs to hear youth voices.
Curriculum links: Science, Geography, Social Studies, Music, and Visual Arts
Learning outcomes
Name the instruments that make up the symphony orchestra
Explain the basics of climate change to friends and family
Build your own musical instrument from recycled materials
“Finding powerful sources of motivation is necessary for my work, and often that entails reminding myself what and who I am fighting for.”
Aliénor (Allie) Rougeot is a climate justice activist, and a program manager at Environmental Defence Canada where she advocates for a just transition for workers and communities. She has been a human rights advocate since a very young age, with a focus on climate justice since high school. She co-founded the group Fridays for Future Toronto and has led numerous student climate strikes in that role. She is a public speaker and workshop facilitator, using these opportunities to raise awareness on the urgency of the climate crisis, discuss the solutions that are available to us as a society and empower others to join the fight for climate justice. She has been recognized by The Starfish in the 25 under 25 Environmentalists, and by Corporate Knights in their 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders.
ANTONIO VIVALDI The Four Seasons: Spring
In The Four Seasons, each of the four movements begins with a short poem that sets the tone for the music to follow. Each poem describes a different part of the calendar year. A reflection of the poetry, Vivaldi’s work invites listeners to experience the outdoor world in constant transition from Spring to Summer to Autumn to Winter.
CRIS DERKSEN New Heya
Juno-nominated cellist and composer, Cris Derksen’s New Heya is written for cello, voice, and electronics. The composition draws the listener in with a bed of lush and interlocking sounds. Using a combination of live instruments and electronics, Derksen beautifully weaves textures of folk and classical with Indigenous musical traditions.
JESSIE MONTGOMERY Starburst
Violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery was commissioned to write Starburst for premiere by the Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble in 2012. She equates her composition Starburst to the Sphinx Virtuosi ensemble itself—which she calls an “explosion of stars,” altering the galaxy for the better.
MARJAN MOZETICH Postcards from the Sky Postcards from the Sky is a series of short pieces for string orchestra. Filled with imagery of the sky and nature, composer Marjan Mozetich invites listeners to take in short moments—postcards of sights and sounds from above.
Juno-nominated Cris Derksen is an Internationally respected Indigenous Cellist and Composer. In a world where almost everything—people, music, cultures—gets labelled and slotted into simple categories, Cris Derksen represents a challenge. Originally from Northern Alberta, she comes from a line of chiefs from NorthTall Cree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and Indigenous ancestry with new school electronics to create genre-defying music.
As composer Derksen has a foot in many worlds, 2019 compositions include Maada’ookii Songlines – a Mass Choral piece for 250 singers Commissioned by Luminato Festival. Rebellion—a short symphony commissioned by the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. Iron Peggy – a Theatre piece commissioned by the Vancouver Children’s Festival. A new performance art piece commissioned by the National Art Gallery of Canada, Ikumagiialit. Her 2018 works include the DORA Award for Best Sound Design for Theatre 2018; Kiinalik: these sharp tools, TIFF Premier Biidaaban (the dawn comes) Short Animation Film by Amanda Strong, Ka:hawai Dance Company production of BloodTides, Kamloopa Theatre production, 2018 Banff Centre for the Arts String Quartet Residency White Mans Cattle and Wood Quintet International 5 bucks per head.
As a performer, Derksen performs nationally and internationally solo and with some of Canada’s finest, including Tanya Tagaq, Buffy Sainte Marie, Naomi Klein, and Leanne Simpson, to name a few. Recent destinations include Hong Kong, Australia, Mongolia, Sweden, and a whole lot of Canada—the place Derksen refers to as home.
Principal Youth Conductor and Creative Partner
Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser
A passionate communicator, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser brings clarity and meaning to the concert hall, fostering deep connections between audiences and performers. He is concurrently the Principal Youth Conductor and Creative Partner of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Principal Education Conductor and Community Ambassador of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Artist in Residence and Community Ambassador of Symphony Nova Scotia, and Resident Conductor of Engagement and Education of the San Francisco Symphony.
Daniel served as Assistant Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and Associate Conductor of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and was Cover Conductor with the Washington National Opera in 2020.
Daniel is the host of Canadian Broadcasting Company’s (CBC’s) nationally broadcast weekly radio show Centrestage.
He was also the subject of an award-winning, full-length CBC documentary called Disruptor Conductor, focussing on his concerts for neurodiverse, prison, African diaspora, and LGBTQ2S+ populations.
Daniel earned his Bachelor degrees in Music Performance and Education from the University of Calgary, and his Master of Philosophy in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England.
Aliénor (Allie) Rougeot is a climate justice activist, and a program manager at Environmental Defence Canada where she advocates for a just transition for workers and communities. She has been a human rights advocate since a very young age, with a focus on climate justice since high school. She co-founded the group Fridays for Future Toronto and has led numerous student climate strikes in that role. She is a public speaker and workshop facilitator, using these opportunities to raise awareness on the urgency of the climate crisis, discuss the solutions that are available to us as a society and empower others to join the fight for climate justice. She has been recognized by The Starfish in the 25 under 25 Environmentalists, and by Corporate Knights in their 30 Under 30 Sustainability Leaders.
One of Canada’s most respected arts organizations, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) has played a vital role in the city’s cultural life for 100 years. Music Director Gustavo Gimeno brings an expansive artistic vision, intellectual curiosity, and sense of adventure to programming the 93-musician Orchestra. This season, through Centennial commissions from emerging composers, marquee events, and an incredible lineup of world-renowned guest artists, the TSO continues to celebrate a century of music-making, paying homage to the Orchestra’s illustrious past while ushering in a dynamic future.
The TSO is committed to serving local and national communities through vibrant performances, extensive educational activities, and community-access and wellness initiatives intended to reach more age groups, people with different abilities, and diverse communities in Toronto. These include open houses and free concerts at the TSO’s home, Roy Thomson Hall; Relaxed Performances designed to be more welcoming for neurodiverse patrons; and a partnership with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health that supports First Nations, Inuit, and Métis patients through musical storytelling and composition.
With a notable recording history—including, most recently, five acclaimed recordings on the prestigious Chandos label—complementing international touring engagements in the U.S., Europe, Israel, and Asia, the TSO is a musical ambassador for Canada and remains synonymous with musical versatility, growth, and artistic distinction.
Since its debut in 1969, the National Arts Centre (NAC) Orchestra has been praised for the passion and clarity of its performances, its visionary educational programs, and its prominent role in nurturing Canadian creativity. Under the leadership of Music Director Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra reflects the fabric and values of Canada, reaching and representing the diverse communities we live in with daring programming, powerful storytelling, inspiring artistry, and innovative partnerships.
Alexander Shelley began his tenure as Music Director in 2015, following Pinchas Zukerman’s 16 seasons at the helm. Principal Associate Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and former Chief Conductor of the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2009–2017), he has been in demand around the world, conducting the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Stockholm Philharmonic, among others, and maintains a regular relationship with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie and the German National Youth Orchestra.
Each season, the NAC Orchestra features world-class artists such as the newly appointed Artist-in-Residence James Ehnes, Angela Hewitt, Joshua Bell, Xian Zhang, Gabriela Montero, Stewart Goodyear, Jan Lisiecki, and Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds. As one of the most accessible, inclusive, and collaborative orchestras in the world, the NAC Orchestra uses music as a universal language to communicate the deepest of human emotions and connect people through shared experiences.
Founded in 1919, the GRAMMY and JUNO–award winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents passionate, high-quality performances of classical, popular, and culturally diverse music, creating meaningful engagement with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. On tour the VSO has performed in the United States, China, Korea, and across Canada.
Led by Music Director Otto Tausk since 2018, the VSO performs more than 150 concerts each year, throughout Vancouver and the province of British Columbia, reaching over 270,000 people annually, and is one of the few orchestras in the world to have its own music school.
Recent guest artists include Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joe Hisaishi, Daniil Trifonov, Dawn Upshaw, James Ehnes, Adrianne Pieczonka, Gidon Kremer, Renée Fleming, Yefim Bronfman, Bernadette Peters, Tan Dun, and more.
The young ginger-haired Antonio Vivaldi was driven by two things: his music and faith vocation. Growing up as a virtuoso violinist, Vivaldi’s career combined both his love of music and religious values. After going into the priesthood, Vivaldi was appointed musician-in-residence at an orphan school for girls. This job posting led to him writing many violin concertos and string chamber compositions premiered by the girls living at the school. Known for his “bright and cheerful” (Kids Corner, n.d.) compositional style, Vivaldi wrote over 500 virtuosic concertos—mostly for the violin.
Source: Great Canadian Orchestra Field Trip, Episode 2 Learner's Companion
Jessie Montgomery is an acclaimed composer, violinist, and educator. She is the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Award from the ASCAP Foundation, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and her works are performed frequently around the world by leading musicians and ensembles. Her music interweaves classical music with elements of vernacular music, improvisation, poetry, and social consciousness, making her an acute interpreter of 21st-century American sound and experience. Her profoundly felt works have been described as “turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life” (The Washington Post).
Jessie was born and raised in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1980s during a time when the neighborhood was at a major turning point in its history. Artists gravitated to the hotbed of artistic experimentation and community development. Her parents – her father a musician, her mother a theater artist and storyteller – were engaged in the activities of the neighborhood and regularly brought Jessie to rallies, performances, and parties where neighbors, activists, and artists gathered to celebrate and support the movements of the time. It is from this unique experience that Jessie has created a life that merges composing, performance, education, and advocacy.
Since 1999, Jessie has been affiliated with The Sphinx Organization, which supports young African-American and Latinx string players. She currently serves as composer-in-residence for the Sphinx Virtuosi, their Organization’s flagship professional touring ensemble. She was a two-time laureate of the annual Sphinx Competition and was awarded their highest honor, the Sphinx Medal of Excellence. She has received additional grants and awards from the ASCAP Foundation, Chamber Music America, American Composers Orchestra, the Joyce Foundation, and the Sorel Organization.
The New York Philharmonic has selected Jessie as a featured composers for their Project 19, which marks the centennial of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting equal voting rights in the United States to women. Other forthcoming works include a nonet inspired by the Great Migration, told from the perspective of Montgomery’s great-grandfather William McCauley and to be performed by Imani Winds and the Catalyst Quartet; a cello concerto for Thomas Mesa jointly commissioned by Carnegie Hall, New World Symphony, and The Sphinx Organization; and a new orchestral work for the National Symphony.
The Canadian composer, Marjan Mozetich, was born of Slovenian parentage in Gorizia, Italy in 1948 and emigrated to Canada in 1952.
He co-founded and was artistic director (1977-79) of the contemporary ensemble, ARRAYMUSIC. His works were performed by prominent new music ensembles across Canada and abroad, and have received several awards.
Stylistically he has evolved over the years from avant-garde expressionism, to minimalism, to a post-modern romanticism. Throughout, his music has remained accessible while still retaining an artistic individuality and integrity. Paradoxically, since the late 80’s he has achieved an overtly ‘traditional’ and yet distinctively modern voice: a blend of the traditional, popular and the modern which has been enthusiastically received by the musical public. His works have been performed and broadcast throughout Canada and abroad, even on Canadian Airline’s ‘in flight’ music programs.
In 1996 his lush romantic work, The Passion of Angels for 2 harps & orchestra, received its world premier with the Edmonton Symphony, and Postcards from the Sky was premiered by the Thirteen Strings in Ottawa. His violin concerto, Affairs of the Heart, received a standing ovation at the premiere with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra in 1997. When CBC Radio broadcast the concert performance of Mozetich’s 1997 violin concerto, Affairs of the Heart, the switchboards lit up from coast to coast. There were numerous reports of what those who work in radio sometimes call “the driveway experience”. This is where listeners are so captivated by what they are hearing that they remain in their cars listening to the end even though they've long since arrived home.
Mozetich has been teaching composition since 1991 at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario where he resides. One of his most recent commissions was a cello concerto for Amanda Forsyth and the NAC Orchestra.
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