Web series from the Ellis Brothers introduces kids to classical music

This story is translated from Radio-Canada's French-language coverage of selected works from the Canada Council for the Arts Digital Originals grant. À lire en français sur le site de Radio-Canada.

In March 2020, Nicolas and Frédéric Ellis found themselves quarantined at their parents' place in Saguenay. It had been years since the two brothers, an orchestra conductor and an illustrator respectively, had spent so much time together.

"We didn't have anything to do so we decided to entertain ourselves to pass the time. That's how Brigitte the double bass and Gaston the violin were born," said Nicolas Ellis, chuckling.

In the first episode of Ellistrations, Brigitte's snoring prevents Gaston from sleeping. Through Brigitte's quest, children from age five to seven can experience the musician's playing, the effects created by a bow, and some parts from Beethoven's 5th Symphony. "We wanted the children to discover the orchestra through the illustrations that would be funny. It's refreshing and unusual: not the kind of educational material that ensembles generally produce," said Nicolas Ellis.

Nicolas doesn't normally have time to devote himself to projects like this: at age 29, he is the artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre de l'Agora, which he himself founded. He also works with the Orchestre métropolitain and performs with several North American ensembles.

If music is his passion, social involvement is Nicolas Ellis' other vocation. The Orchestre de l'Agora offers music classes to children in Point St. Charles along with the Partageons l'espoir foundation, as well as collaborating with the Porteurs de musique, an organization that brings classical music into prisons, shelters and psychiatric institutions.

Thanks to Connexion Création, the Ellis brothers were able to dedicate themselves to their pandemic project, in addition to hiring two musicians who recorded themselves with their cell phones and retaining the services of a professional editor.

The goal would be to distribute the first episode to schools in the hopes of one day being able to make a version with real, live artists interpreting the musical components. "Oddly, this quarantine has allowed us to bring the music to people, even though there were more pitfalls than usual. We had to think how to find different ways to reach our public," remarks Nicolas Ellis.

Flavie the flute and Bastien the bassoon could soon be the next to star in Ellistrations, which not only educates the young but visibly provides a great deal of happiness for its creators.

This story is part of Digital Originals, an initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts. Artists were offered a $5,000 micro-grant to either adapt their existing work or create new work for the digital world during the COVID-19 pandemic. CBC Arts has partnered with Canada Council to feature a selection of these projects. This story is translated from Radio-Canada's French-language Digital Originals coverage. You can see more of these projects here.