Ronin Furdyk, a 10-year-old Calgarian known for his drawings of classical composers (featured on George Stroumboulopoulos’s blog), joined us this Christmas for a backstage tour. We recently caught up with him at the open rehearsal for Romantic Rachmaninoff with Pavel Kolesnikov, and learned more about his love of classical music and the CPO.

You can meet Ronin in person on Saturday, April 12 from 12-2pm at Chapters Shawnessy for his book (yes, he’s already a published author!) and poster signing. His book is called Twenty-Four Composers, and is published by Perish Publishing.

What do you enjoy about Classical music?

RF: It’s my favourite kind of music. It makes me feel good.

Why did you decide to start drawing pictures of composers?

RF: I’m always thinking about music and composers.

Who is your favourite composer and why?

RF: Beethoven. I went to “Beethoven Lives Upstairs” and learned about his life and music.

How many pictures have you drawn?

RF: 24

What do you like about the CPO?

RF: I like classical music and I like seeing the whole orchestra play together.*

*Ronin’s mom adds that in his spare time, Ronin looks for classical music apps to play with.

Do you play any instruments? Which ones?

RF: I play violin, piano, percussion, flute, clarinet, piccolo and sometimes trumpet. Piano is my favourite.

What is your favourite piece of Classical music?

RF: Ode to Joy by Beethoven and Stravinsky’s Firebird.

You can see Ronin’s art work on his Instagram account, @roninfurdyk!