A local bassoon player was named to the National Youth Orchestra of Canada’s (NYO Canada) faculty for its bassoon section.
Nadina Mackie is returning as an alumni of NYO Canada after 50 years, becoming the most widely recorded solo bassoonist in Canadian history, and the first woman to hold a tenured bassoon position in a major Canadian orchestra.
She first learned about the bassoon after hearing her junior high band teacher play at a local concert, and growing up off the grid outside of Prince George, Mackie said learning the instrument was a challenge.
“We lived in the forest and by the time we got home at night, the fires had to be lit. There was no electricity, and I was playing a plastic bassoon when I was young.”
“I would be so frustrated, because the instrument would shrink with the cold and the keys wouldn’t work. I learned over time that once it warmed up, it would play. I think inconveniences like that sort of heighten the experience. It seems like it kind of was a special moment of possibility.”
Mackie joined NYO Canada as a student when she was 18, later joining the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia on a full scholarship, and has since served as principal bassoon of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and being the founder of the Council of Canadian Bassoonists.
Now returning to NYO Canada, Mackie said she’s happy to return, and will be teaching alongside one of her former students, Julia Lockhart.
“I’ve been back to NYO over the years to come and play concerts, but this is the first time I’ve been hired to come back to teach, and it just feels like an absolute miracle to be doing it in the company with somebody who I valued so much as a student.”
“I guess it’s a full circle moment, but the circles are more like links in a chain, it just keeps going.”
For anyone looking to play instruments like the bassoon, get into orchestra, or just learn the world of music, Mackie said to listen to the instruments, and reach out to local musicians, bands, and orchestras.
NYO Canada is taking applications for the program until February 1st, and runs from June 19th to August 1st, at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus, then ending on tour through Toronto, Kingston, Sackville, Moncton, Charlottetown and Halifax.
Musicians aged 16 to 28 are able to apply, with more information here.
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