Orchestras Canada

The Ottawa Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Peter Feldman as its new General Manager, succeeding Bryan Croft. Peter was the founding executive director of CAPACOA, the Canadian arts presenting association.

The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra has announced the appointment of Kelly Rooney as its new Development Manager. A Thunder Bay native, Kelly is a graduate of Confederation College’s Arts Administration program. Since graduating, she has spent the last 20 year’s travelling the world, working and volunteering with a variety of arts, health promotion and social service organizations. “I’m happy to be back in my hometown, surrounded by family, and working in the arts again”, says Ms. Rooney.

Bill Skolnik, CEO of the Canadian Federation of Musicians and the Vice President from Canada for the American Federation of Musicians, has announced that he’ll be leaving his position with the CFM/AFM to serve as CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada.

The Centre in the Square, long-time performance home of the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony, has hired Sandra Bender to be its next CEO. She succeeds Jamie Grant, who is now running the Long Center for the Arts in Austin TX.

It was a sad week for Canadian music, as we recognize and mourn the passing of two pivotal figures in the development of a cosmopolitan Canadian musical culture: Helmut Kallmann and Istvan Anhalt. Both came to Canada as a result of World War II, and both made an indelible impact on our country.

Dr. Kallman was widely recognized as Canadian music’s foremost historian, and is perhaps best-known for his pivotal role in editing both editions of the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. From 1950-1970, he worked at (and ultimately supervised) the CBC’s music library; from 1970 to 1987 he headed the Music Division of the National Library of Canada.

Dr. Anhalt was a long-time resident of Kingston ON, where he moved in 1971 to take up the position of Head of the Music Department at Queen’s University. As his obituary noted, “many of his major compositions – four operas, seven symphonies and numerous other works were written during the Kingston years, notably the four symphonic works inspired by commissions from Glen Fast, the conductor of the KSO, whose confidence in him brought about the creation of some of his most beautiful works.”

Taron Cochrane, Creative Marketing & Promotions Manager at the Regina Symphony Orchestra, is responsible for the RSO’s highly engaging social media presence – and he was recently featured in a podcast entitled “Nothing’s impossible for the Regina Symphony”. You can listen to Taron’s thoughts here.

Bryan Croft, who has served as general manager of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra for the last eight years, is moving on. In February, Bryan will begin work as managing director of the Toronto-based Artists’ Health Centre Foundation – and will also be stepping down from the Orchestras Canada board. We wish Bryan all the best in his new position.

On Tuesday, June 22, Orchestras Canada’s chair Ann Lewis-Luppino (President and CEO of the Calgary Philharmonic) presided over our Annual General Meeting for the 2009-10 fiscal year during our national meetings in Winnipeg.

Members heard reports and updates from a number of people – and here are some highlights!

The Money
Treasurer Cathryn Gregor (Chief Operating Officer of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra) reported that OC is in good shape financially, ending the year with a surplus of $9624 on an expense budget of $343,747.

The People
Vice Chair and Chair of the Nominating Committee Thérèse Boutin (Directrice générale of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières) reported on the work of this centrally important committee and presented a slate for the 2010-11 season, which was approved. She thanked outgoing board member Tricia Baldwin (Managing Director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra) for her contributions to the organization during her term on the board, and welcomed Bryan Croft (General Manager of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra) to the board for his first term.

The Annual Report and audited financial statements for the year are posted here.