Campell Noël

Le Journal February 18, 1016

A young virtuoso under the spotlight

Happy, surprised, honoured. These are the qualifiers of young Noël Campbell to define the state of mind in which he was when he learned that his application for the Virtuoso program was adopted.

The cellist and pianist will rub shoulders with three other young talents Friday night when he takes part in the show, under the direction of Gregory Charles, at Ici Radio-Canada.

Tomorrow night, the four artists will play their own instrument. While the other three competitors will play the piano, the violin and the drums, it is through the cello that it will be possible to hear the young talent.

It was a family member who heard of the TV show, and talked to Noël and his mother. Noël subsequently decided to send his candidacy, with Julie-O songs of Mark and Summer Study 27 Popper, two different registrations. "Technically, they are quite difficult pieces, it showed my level," said Noël Campbell.

His mother, a piano and singing teacher initiated his son to the piano and violin. Later, he swapped the violin for the cello.

In addition to attending high school in Glengarry County, he also took classes at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. Then he prepared his auditions for music schools, since he had chosen this path for the future.

Should we invest a lot of time to become a virtuoso? Noël Campbell invests four hours a day, six days a week.

He participated in piano and cello competitions at the provincial level and cello with the Canada Music Competition.

Certainly, he sees his experience on the show as training and very positive for his career. He mentions some words of advice from Gregory Charles, which he intends to put into practice. "I really wanted to put myself in connection with the audience, connect with the emotions," he says.

It is with La danse des elfes de Popper that the young artist will demonstrate his talent to viewers. "This is a very fast and difficult piece," notes Noël Campbell.

Beyond his performance, he finds very interesting to show the Quebec and Canadian public the talent of young people, not only in popular music, but also classical music.