Orchestras Canada

This Sunday and the following Tuesday (May 29 and 31), the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal bids farewell to the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Montreal’s Place des Arts with a concert performance of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, featuring an international cast of singers and bilingual super-titles, all under the leadership of OSM music director Kent Nagano. The orchestra [...]

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Earlier this week, New Brunswick Youth Orchestra/Sistema NB board chair Ken Macleod gave us a report on the first-ever national summit on Sistema, which took place in Moncton on May 14 and 15. Some 60 participants from every region of Canada and several US states took part in the gathering, which featured a keynote address [...]

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Last night, tonight and Saturday (May 26-28), the Calgary Philharmonic (in a new collaboration with the Fort Macleod International Festival) presents its third annual celebration of contemporary music, “exploring the best and most imaginative masterpieces of the 20th and 21st centuries.” All three concerts will be led by CPO resident conductor Melanie Leonard, and they [...]

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Canada’s forty-first Parliament re-convenes in Ottawa on June 2, with the Speech from the Throne to be delivered on June 3. The coming months promise to be busy ones in the nation’s capital – and here are some highlights of interest to Canadian orchestras. James Moore has been re-appointed as Minister of Canadian Heritage. Orchestras [...]

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Congratulations to bassoonist Bogdan Chetaru, and violinist Adam Despinic! Winners of Symphony Hamilton’s recent young artists’ competition, they will both be featured in the orchestra’s season closing concert at Burlington’s Royal Botanical Gardens on Sunday, 29 May at 3 p.m. Symphony Nova Scotia has announced the appointment of Shalom Bard as its next Resident Conductor, [...]

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This year’s edition of the Montreal International Music Competition, dedicated to piano, starts May 23, and the event includes master classes, family events, radio and web broadcasts on Espace Musique, CBC Radios One and Two, and around the world through the European Broadcasting Union. And, of course, there will be lots and lots of performances, [...]

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This Sunday, May 22, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra continues its Symphony at the Roundhouse series in a program led by VSO Music Director Bramwell Tovey. The concert features soprano Janice Jackson and four works by Canadian composers, including a world premiere of  Hardcore by Tim Brady, set to lyrics by Gord Downie of the Tragically [...]

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The Timmins Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2011-12 season, under the leadership of music director Matthew Jones. Designed as a celebration of the City of Timmins’ 100th anniversary, the season features a massed performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (with players recruited from the colleague orchestras across Ontario’s near north) and a landmark season closer [...]

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Late last week, the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra was awarded the Mississauga Arts Council’s prestigious MARTY Award for Best Established Performing Arts Group. The award marks the organization’s significant achievements, particularly since 2008. We’ll let MSO Board Chair Paul Weston take it from here: As a result of struggling to cope with a deficit for several [...]

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The Regina Symphony Orchestra has launched a new Education & Outreach Fund, intended to underwrite the Regina Symphony’s community education and outreach activities. While the RSO has historically had a strong commitment to education and outreach work, the new fund – kickstarted by the 2011-12 season opening concert and gala on September 17 – is [...]

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