The National Arts Centre has released details of its summer 2010 music season, featuring “something for everyone – from big names to small ensembles – as well as orchestral, choral, and chamber music concerts, opera, pops, and jazz.” The program runs from June 12 to July 28 at the NAC and a number of other venues across the city. Featured artists include jazz phenom Nikki Yanovsky, opera stars Michael Schade and Isabel Bayrakdarian, pianist Stewart Goodyear, and a host of young artists from across the country. The program includes the fourth season of ‘Orchestras in the Park’, which encompasses four free outdoor classical, opera, and pop music concerts. The concerts are presented by the National Arts Centre Orchestra and the National Capital Commission at Lebreton Flats Park at 7:30 p.m. on July 22-25. Other Summer Music highlights include Canada Day celebrations, public concerts which are part of the NAC’s Summer Music Institute (SMI), public readings of new works by Canadian composers, masterclasses, and a jazz concert. All the concerts are open to the public and many of them are free. Summer Music at the National Arts Centre is under the artistic direction of Pinchas Zukerman, Music Director of the NAC Orchestra. In addition to Maestro Zukerman, guest conductors include Jean-Philippe Tremblay, Jacques Lacombe, and Edwin Outwater. The NAC program also includes highlight performances from the Summer Music Institute, which this year brings together 71 young musicians (ages 12 to 28), 10 young conductors and 11 young composers to work with an exceptional faculty led by Maestro Pinchas Zukerman; Co-Artistic Director Patinka Kopec; Maestro Kenneth Kiesler, Director, Conductors Program; and NAC Award-winning composer Gary Kulesha, Director, Composers Program. For more information, please visit the NAC’s website here.

The Orchestre symphonique de Quebec has launched its summer 2010 season as well, and it sees the full orchestra (as well as small ensembles from its membership) performing throughout its home city, at the Port of Quebec, afloat on the St. Lawrence River, and at some of the province’s major summer music festivals. The program includes parks concerts (by the full orchestra, as well as its brass quintet), a pair of programs at the Agora of the Port of Quebec, an opera-inspired program at the Festival de Lanaudière, a performance at the Inaugural Le Festival d’été de Québec à New Richmond featuring legendary chanteuse Ginette Reno, a pair of programs at Domaine Forget (including its gala opening performance), and participation in a series of Sunday evening dinner cruises throughout July and August. Conductors for the summer concerts include former OSQ resident conductor Richard Lee (now resident conductor with the Winnipeg Symphony), current resident conductor Airat Ichmouratov, Stephane Laforest, Emmanuel Vilaume, and – of course – OSQ music director Yoav Talmi. For more information about the program, please visit the OSQ’s website here.

Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra has announced its 9th annual Baroque Summer Institute and 2nd annual Baroque Summer Festival, running from May 28 to June 20. The Institute sees pre-professional and professional musicians from around the world gathering in Toronto for an advanced training program led by some of the world’s best musicians in the field of baroque performance, and the Festival includes a number of free concerts in different venues around Toronto, visits to local schools, and family-friendly workshops at the Ontario Science Centre. For more information about the Festival and the Institute, please visit the orchestra’s website here.

Late last week, Mme Sophie Galaise, Directrice generale of the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, was recognized as a “Woman of Distinction” in the field of arts and culture by the YWCA of Quebec at their annual Gala. She was cited for her track record of developing and transforming the organizations for which she has worked, the positive impact she has had in the cultural milieu, and her unique combination of business acumen and sensitivity to music and the arts – and, in particular, the numerous accomplishments of the OSQ since her arrival in 2007. Congratulations!

The New Brunswick Youth Orchestra has announced the appointment of Antonio Delgado as its new Resident Conductor, effective September 2010. Maestro Delgado, himself a product of the highly regarded El Sistema of Venezuala, will play a joint role, conducting the NBYO Senior Orchestra, and also driving the growth of the Sistema movement in New Brunswick, which officially launched in Moncton earlier this year. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, he was most recently a conductor with the world famous Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela, (National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras of Venezuela). He has conducted every major orchestra in Venezuela, has worked in Ecuador and Puerto Rico and has been a guest conductor in Italy, Cuba, Guatemala, and Panama. In 2006 he was appointed the Music Director of the National Theatre “Teresa Carreño”, where he conducted major Venezuelan professional orchestras in Symphonic concerts, Ballets, and Operas. He began in the National System’s (El Sistema) “Nucleo La Rinconada”, where he studied violin and music theory.

Hearty, if belated congratulations to the Orchestras Canada members whose recordings have been nominated for Juno Awards this year!  The nominations were announced March 3, and the awards will be presented during Juno week, April 12-18 in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

In the Classical Album of the Year, Large Ensemble or soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment category, we salute OC members
Les Violons du Roy – Bartok
Louis Lortie and Orchestre symphonique de Québec - Mendelssohn – Piano Concertos 1 & 2 – Symphony No. 5
National Youth Orchestra of Canada – Selections From the 2009 National Tour
Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Orchestre Métropolitain - Bruckner Symphony No. 8

In the Classical Album of the Year:  Solo or Chamber Ensemble, we honour
I Musici de Montreal – Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Quartet No. 1

And, in the Classical Composition of the Year category, we recognize the nomination of Rob Teehan’s Dreams of Flying, recorded by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.

For more information on the Juno Awards, you can visit the website here.

A number of member orchestras have announced their 2010-11 seasons, and here is a round-up of recent launches

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony announced its 66th season recently, and its fourth under the leadership of Music Director Edwin Outwater.  Major works on the season include Holst’s The Planets, Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”, and Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony, and world premieres include a new work by composer Brian Current featuring visual artist and second-generation Sufi mevlevi whirling dervish, Mira Hunter.  As well, the orchestra also announced a new social networking site for its fans: www.Kwsocial.ca, designed to connect the orchestra to its community in a new and dynamic way.  You can learn more here.

The Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra (led by Music Director James Sommerville) has announced its 2010-11 season – a season that includes Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, along with pops and chamber programs.  For more information, you can go to their website here.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2010-11 season – its 6th under the leadership of Music Director Bill Eddins, who will conduct concerts on each of the orchestras’ many series.  Among many other highlights, the season will include the return of Late Night with Bill Eddins; The ESO Presents, a new series that invites brilliant international soloists to perform with the orchestra in the first half of the program, followed by solo recitals after intermission.  The season also includes the ESO’s annual outdoor event, Symphony Under the Sky.  For more information, you can visit the ESO’s website here.

The Orchestre symphonique de Québec has released details of its 2010-11 season, its final season under the leadership of Maestro Yoav Talmi after a highly successful 12-year tenure.  The music of Beethoven is featured extensively, with performances of all of his symphonies and major concertos.  As well, the season will feature a massive performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”.  For more information, you can visit the OSQ’s website here.

Symphony Nova Scotia has announced its 2010-11 season, designed and led by Music Director Bernhard Gueller.  Features of the season include great symphonic works, a performance of Mozart’s Requiem, and a Scandinavian festival featuring the music of Grieg and Sibelius.  Pops programming includes guest appearances by Red Green and the Barra MacNeils.  www.symphonynovascotia.ca

The National Arts Centre Orchestra has announced its 2010-11 season, its 12th under the leadership of Music Director Pinchas Zukerman.  Highlights include a Mozart-Haydn Festival, a stunning array of Canadian and international soloists, the world premiere of Malcolm Forsyth’s Ballad of the Canadian Land, and works by Peter Paul Koprowski and André Mathieu.  For more information, you can visit the orchestra’s website here.

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 at the Faculté de Musique at the Université Laval and from the Conservatoire de musique de Québec.

Both concerts will be led by OSQ music director Yoav Talmi.  For more information, please visit here.

The salle Louis-Fréchette of the Grand Théâtre de Québec is the place to be on April 8, when the Orchestre symphonique de Québec presents its annual gala, New York, New York, featuring internationally renowned pianist Alain Lefèvre and the music of Gershwin, Ellington and Irving Berlin. After the concert, M. Lefèvre will perform a private recital at a gala backstage party.  For more information on the event, please visit here.

From January 19 to 31, the resident companies of the Grand Théâtre de Québec will take part in a collaborative fundraising campaign for the Red Cross’s relief efforts in Haiti.  Participating organizations include the Grand Théâtre de Québec , the Club musical de Québec, the Opéra de Québec, the Théâtre du Trident and campaign organizer, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec.  How will it work?  Quite simply, patrons at events presented by the five organizations will be asked to dig deep, and donate to the Red Cross’s Haitian earthquake relief fund, with donation boxes available at each and every event presented during this period. In addition, donations may be made directly at the offices of the OSQ. 

Staff, volunteers, artists and board members of the five organizations have banded together in this effort, and have set the tone by making their own leadership gifts to the campaign.  For more information, you can visit the OSQ’s website here.

Alternatively, you can visit the website of the Canadian Red Cross here.

On January 31, the Kingston Symphony will present the world premiere of a new work for violin, viola and orchestra, featuring Kingston Symphony principal players (and long-time friends) Gisèle Dalbec, violin; and Eileen Beaudette, viola.  The new work is entitled Centre Street Scenes, and it was written for the two string players by Kingston Symphony timpanist and jazz musician Greg Runions.  kingstonsymphony.on.ca

The Orchestre symphonique de Québec, under music director Yoav Talmi, will present its first opera in concert in over fifteen years on January 20 and 21 at the Grand Théâtre de Québec .  In a performance the OSQ describes as “a new year’s gift”, the orchestra will perform Gluck’s Orpheus and Euridice with a cast comprised of Susan Platts, Karina Gauvin and Ilana Davidson, along with the OSQ Chorus, prepared by David Rompré.  osq.qc.ca

February 4-6, the National Arts Centre Orchestra will present its first ever full concert performance of a musical, when the orchestra (led by Principal Pops conductor Jack Everly) performs the complete Guys and Dolls.  The “show” stars Kristen Plumley, Gary Beach and Megan Lawrence, and will be staged by David Levy.  nac-cna.ca

Late last month, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec presented its second annual Cadeaux au Château event at the Château Frontenac, this year featuring singer/cellist  Jorane and host Jacques Leblanc.  In the process, the orchestra raised a remarkable $220,000.

Honorary chair of the event was M. René Hamel, CEO of SSQ Groupe financier.  Other highlights of the evening included an appearance by the OSQ String Quartet, a special menu prepared by Château Frontenac executive chef, M. Jean Soulard, and a fabulous silent auction featuring works of art, jewellery, and unique travel experiences.

Encouraged by the success of the event, the OSQ has already announced Voix et cadeaux au Château, which will take place 12 November 2010, this time under the honorary chairmanship of René Rouleau, board chair of La Capitale Groupe financier.

On the heels of two significant seasonal surpluses, last week the Orchestre symphonique de Québec announced its first ever major fundraising campaign, with a target of $2 million.  $500,000 in gifts and pledges has already been received.

The campaign’s chair is M. Pierre Moreau; other members of the high-powered campaign cabinet are Paul Desmarais Jr, of Power Corporation, Paule Gauthier of Stein Monast, Dominique Lebel and Claude Lessard of Cossette Communications, Andrew T. Molson of RES PUBLICA consulting group, Claude Rousseau of Groupe Les Remparts de Québec, and Charles Sirois of Télésystème Ltée, along with Sophie Galaise (the orchestra’s General Director).

Special guests at the launch include Régis Labeaume, Mayor of the City of Quebec, and Christine St-Pierre, minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women for the province of Quebec.

The campaign is intended to take three years, and at its close, the orchestra will have endowment funds in place to support educational programming, sound recording, special projects and touring initiatives.

For more information about the OSQ and its plans, please visit here.