'Regina, it believes in me': Musician commutes from New Brunswick to play with Regina Symphony Orchestra

Gregory Parra first picked up a clarinet in his native country of Venezuela at nine years old. Thirty years later he flies more than halfway across Canada to keep his performing career alive. 

His passion led him to play in the Venezuelan National Orchestra and across South America. When he moved to Moncton, New Brunswick for a job teaching music, he was disappointed to find there was no local orchestra to play with. 

He decided he was willing to travel for music. After auditioning in Winnipeg, Vancouver, and New York, Parra auditioned in Regina.

Now Parra commutes from Moncton to Regina just to play.

"Regina, it believes in me. The Regina Symphony Orchestra, they believe I can bring something with quality and up to their level in the orchestra," Parra said.

Coming to Canada

Parra comes from humble musical beginnings. He trained in a building that was a butcher shop in the morning and a music school in the afternoon.

"It was crazy, it was in a small town," Parra said.

He and his wife moved to New Brunswick when a music school had openings for both clarinet and cello, his wife's instrument.

"We came here to New Brunswick to give a little bit of our heart and our country to the province."

Parra enjoyed raising his two daughters, teaching and practicing but wanted to perform.

"Performing is kind of the crown of all the effort," Parra said. 

'We're very lucky'

Parra flew to Regina in Spring 2017 and won his spot. He decided it would be too quick to move his family, thus it was either turn it down or fly in. He chose the latter.

Parra's commute starts with waking up at 4 a.m., flying to Toronto, waiting in the airport there then transferring to Saskatoon. He said he gets in around 11 p.m.

Parra flies in at least once a month. Sometimes he can plan to be in Regina for multiple concerts on one trip.

"We're very lucky that he would take these kind of extraordinary steps to join us," said Gordon Gerrard, Music Director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra.

Gerrard said he himself travels often for work and knows it's not easy or cheap. He said Parra is a great member of the orchestra community.

"He's a fantastic player," Gerrard said. "It's obvious, I mean, from the first time I met him, here is a guy who sort of you know breathes music from every part of him."

Sacrificing for the music

Parra said it's not always easy to leave his wife and his two daughters back in Moncton. At the beginning of 2018, Parra was in Regina for two months straight.

"Two months without them is heavy, is hard to not listen to them running around and fighting with them because they didn't eat their food," Parra said. "It's more like a family sacrifice."

There's also economic sacrifice. Parra said the costs of flights and necessities add up. The plane tickets alone are around $800 each time.

"It's just by the grace of God that we are not into any debt," he said.

Parra said he it would have been too fast to move his family to Regina right away. He isn't sure if they'll move permanently.

"I can't really say what is going to happen. You know, all through my life I see all the grace from God, the hands of the Holy Spirit just taking me here or there," Parra said.

"Moving here, totally in my plans. In God's plans, I don't know."