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After rehearsing an orchestra piece for the third time in a row, 15-year-old viola player Daniel Milliea joked that the acoustics in Bonar Law High School’s music room are no match for those in the famous hall he’ll be playing in next month.
He’s not wrong. No cramped classroom could ever compare to New York’s Carnegie Hall.
“It’s nerve-racking, my palms get sweaty,” he said, holding his instrument which is slightly larger than a violin.
Earlier this year, Milliea, a member of Elsipogtog First Nation, placed third in international talent competition American Protégé.
He’s been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall on Dec. 20 alongside some of the best musicians from 10 countries.
“It’s like the Olympics,” Swan Serna, Milliea’s long-time music instructor, said. “It’s the place where the Beatles play, Tchaikovsky … big names.”
“I feel like I’m prepared but I can go beyond that,” Milliea said, adjusting his posture to rehearse the piece one more time before the bell to his next class rings.
Daniel Milliea, a 15-year-old musician from Elsipogtog First Nation, will perform at Carnegie Hall in New York on Dec. 20 with his longtime Sistema teacher, Swan Serna.
Milliea practices for three hours a day. Serna has been teaching him how to “attack the string” of an instrument he says Milliea was born to play.
As director of Sistema’s Elsipogtog Centre, Serna noticed Milliea when he began the youth orchestra program in the first grade. He noted his sweet demeanor, his attentiveness and his ability to “search for a nice sound.”
The viola’s sound is lower than the violin, and is not as eccentric, Swan said. Yet, it evokes profound feelings.
“I think that the instrument [is] just suited perfectly for him and all of his personality and his character,” Serna said.
“He is made for this.”
‘We’re going to play the same day’
When Serna encouraged Milliea to enter the talent competition, he realized that if he made it through, he would need someone to travel with him to New York and guide him through the feat.
So, Serna entered the contest himself — and qualified.
“We’re going to play the same day,” he said. “A Sistema teacher and his student. It’s just a little bit crazy.”
Serna, who is originally from Mexico, has been part of the program in the region for 13 years.
He will play an original piece he composed for the violin while Milliea will play the second movement of Telemann’s Viola Concerto.
Milliea said he hasn’t processed the fact that he’ll be stepping on such a big stage soon — and it’s not the only thing he wants to achieve.
“Teaching my other generations of Indigenous people, I think that will make me accomplished for what path I’m going down right now,” he said, adding that he wants to become a conductor one day.
Serna says Milliea has opened his eyes to things outside of music in the years they’ve spent practicing one-on-one.
One day, Milliea asked Serna if he could arrive late to a lesson because he felt he needed to pray.
“I said, ‘Woah … absolutely,’” Serna recounted. “That was a very strong teaching for me. The spirituality that he has and the opportunity to put that in your endeavors and music. It was really powerful for me.”
Milliea isn’t nervous about the big day yet. But if he does get butterflies when he steps on stage, he said he’ll use a breathing technique his mom taught him.
More than anything, he wants to take any opportunity he can to represent his culture.
“I think it’s important because many other people are going through a lot, especially my community,” he said.
“And seeing me going to Carnegie Hall will probably put warmth into their hearts.”
