Orchestras Canada

Earlier this week, the Calgary Philharmonic launched its Tchaikovsky Festival – an eight-event blend of lectures, films, chamber concerts and Tchaikovsky’s best-loved orchestral music, in venues ranging from the Leacock Theatre at Mount Royal College to the Plaza Theatre to the Jack Singer Concert Hall.   CPO Music Director Roberto Minczuk conducts all of the [...]

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The Orchestre metropolitain du Grand Montreal has just launched its 30th anniversary season:  seven rich programs, presented in a number of different venues throughout Montreal, and many featuring the group’s increasingly-busy music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin.  The season features two premieres by Denys Bouliane and Eric Champagne.  For more information, please visit here.

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This Sunday, Symphony Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra will once again join forces for a romantic blockbuster program at Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium.  The program, led by SNS Music Director Bernhard Gueller, will include  Rachmaninoff’s Symphony no. 2, Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, and Ravel’s Tzigane.  Violin soloist for the Ravel is NSYO [...]

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On March 3 and 4, the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec will give the world premiere performance of Phénix by composer Denis Gougeon, newly named as artistic advisor to the OSQ.  But that’s not all:  the program will also include a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5, reuniting the OSQ with the most outstanding music students [...]

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Orchestra London is presenting a total of five performances of The Sleeping Beauty – four for school audiences and one for a family audience – with London-area acting troupe  this week.  According to the media release, “the concerts combine a parody of the famous fairy tale with Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Suite and volunteer participation from [...]

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As we reported a couple of weeks ago in Orchestra News, Orchestras Canada is undertaking a study of the leadership and professional development needs of people working in orchestra management.  With support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, OC has hired consultants Angela Birdsell and Cathy Smalley to guide [...]

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The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards has just announced the winners for 2010, and they include two people central to orchestral life in Canada – Walter Homburger (Life Time Achievement Award) and Yannick Nezet-Seguin (National Arts Centre Award).  Here are excerpts from the citations for these two great Canadians: Orchestra manager, consultant, impresario and artist [...]

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We’ve been really impressed by the monthly newsletter of Brown Governance – not coincidentally, the same people who will be presenting the governance session at the National Orchestras Meeting in Winnipeg in June. The February issue consists of a quick yet thorough “top ten” list for Board Chairs, ranging from #1:  Remember Why You Meet: [...]

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The Saskatoon Symphony has just “gone public” with a draft version of their new strategic planning, and is soliciting broad public participation – through the wonders of Google Documents – on next steps.  Here’s what SSO Board Member Aaron Genest reports: “About 8 months ago we started a strategic planning process. The Saskatoon Symphony has [...]

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The Niagara Symphony’s Composer in the Classroom program is now celebrating its sixth season.  The program, offered by Niagara Symphony to students in Grade 5 to Grade 8 at select schools in the region, provides students with the opportunity to write their own piece of music while learning the fundamentals of music theory.  The grand [...]

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