Orchestras Canada

Last week, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra learned that it had been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, as one of six North American orchestras performing at the 2014 Spring for Music Festival. The WSO will give its first performance in Carnegie Hall since 1979 on May 8, 2014.

S4M began in 2011, and is designed as a celebration of the quality and creativity of North American orchestras. Orchestras are invited to participate on the basis of the imagination and boldness of their proposed programs, as judged by an expert panel of evaluators. The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal closed out the 2011 festival, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will be featured in 2012.

The WSO will perform three works that have also been featured at its annual New Music Festival: Derek Charke’s 13 Inuit Throat Song Games featuring throat singer Tanya Tagaq, WSO Composer-in-Residence Vincent Ho’s The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie as well as R. Murray Schafer’s Symphony No. 1. And, of course, WSO music director Alexander Mickelthwate will conduct.

For more information, please visit springformusic.com.

Every year, we get media releases about holiday concerts, and every year, we applaud the intrepid programmers who come up with fresh approaches to seasonal classics, skilfully balancing novelty with tradition.

Herewith, an idiosyncratic list of concerts and events that have caught our eye!

December 11, Symphony on the Bay presents a family Christmas, Hannukah and New Year’s concert at Burlington ON’s Royal Botanical Gardens, featuring the winners of its Young Artists’ Competition, waltzes and a sing-along. James McKay conducts.

December 9 and 10, the Orchestre symphonique de Saguenay-Lac St. Jean presents one performance each in Jonquière and Roberval, featuring star baritone Gino Quilico and rising star Marie-Pier Simard-Gagnon, along with the massed Symphony Chorus and the vocal ensemble from the Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay. Maestro Jacques Clement conducts.

December 11, the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, led by Music Director Jacques Lacombe, presents a holiday program with pianist Andre Gagnon and the 84 members of l’Orphéon de Trois-Rivières. The program is comprised of material originally recorded for CD by Gagnon and the orchestra last year and now available on the disc Dans le silence de la nuit.

Also on December 11, the National Arts Centre Orchestra Players’ Association presents its 22nd annual Christmas FanFair Concert and Carol Sing-Along in support of the Ottawa Food Bank and the Snowsuit Fund. It’s a free concert, and it takes place in the main foyer of the National Arts Centre at 12 noon. The concert is led by NAC violist (and conductor of the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra) David Thies-Thompson, and special guests include guest conductor Laureen Harper (yes, the Laureen Harper), mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah, and violist Paul Casey, winner of the Harold Crabtree Foundation Award in the 2011 National Arts Centre Bursary Competition. Last year the National Arts Centre Orchestra Player’s Association donated more than $30,000 to the Ottawa Food Bank and the Snowsuit Fund through fundraising efforts over the holidays.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra celebrates the musical accomplishments of its own community in this year’s Messiah performances (December 16 and 17) by featuring four outstanding Edmonton natives in the solo roles: Linda Perillo, Frances Jellard, John Tessier and Nathan Berg. I Coristi Chamber Choir, Òran and the U of A Madrigal Singers unite to form the chorus, and ESO music director Bill Eddins leads from the harpsichord.

ADMINISTRATIVE/ADMINISTRATIFS

Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Associate Director of Artistic Operations
Application deadline/Date limite : October 14 octobre 2011

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Media and Artistic Operations Coordinator
Application deadline/Date limite : N/A

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Under the Sky festivel celebrates its 17th year with a long weekend of concerts and events at Edmonton’s Hawrelak Park on Labour Day weekend – September 2-5.

The 6-concert event includes familiar classics, Broadway and film scores, authentic Canadian legend Ian Tyson, and a family program (performed without orchestra) by the reliably zany Al Simmons. Guest conductor Bob Bernhardt returns for the sixth straight year to lead the Edmonton Symphony throughout the festival. Specially-priced festival passes are available, and grass seating for children is free!

For more information about the event, please visit www.edmontonsymphony.com/symphony-under-the-sky

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced details of its 60th anniversary season, its seventh under the leadership of music director Bill Eddins. A typically busy season for the ESO, it features a wide array of classical, pops, family, light classical, holiday and special event programming, and is as creative in presentation format as it is in choice of artists and repertoire. A special highlight? The orchestra’s first-ever performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as part of the second annual Spring For Music Festival in May 2012. For this event – a curated celebration of creative orchestral programming – the ESO and Bill Eddins will perform a program entirely made up of ESO-commissioned works: John Estacio’s Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Cello, written for the ESO’s inaugural performance at the Winspear Centre in 1997; Allan Gilliland’s Dreaming of the Masters III composed for trumpet virtuoso Jens Lindemann; and a new work by the ESO’s new Composer in Residence Robert Rival. Soloists for the program include Lindemann, pianist Angela Cheng, violinist Juliette Kang, and cellist Denise Djokic. For more information, please visitwww.edmontonsymphony.com.

The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra has announced its 2011-12 season, a busy nine-concert season at Winnipeg’s Westminster United Church under the leadership of music director Anne Manson. Season highlights include the introduction of new composer-in-residence Serge Arcuri, an all-Philip Glass program (to be subsequently recorded for the Orange Mountain Music label), special guests from Spain, new works by Stewart Goodyear, Michael Oesterle and Serge Arcuri, as well as a rich array of works from the chamber orchestra canon, from Bach through Sibelius. The intrepid group continues its strong commitment to community engagement and education programs throughout. For more information, please visit www.manitobachamberorchestra.org.

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, led by music director Jacques Lacombe, has dedicated its 2011-12 season to the memory of celebrated Trois-Rivieres native and composer Jacques Hétu. The nine concert season features such outstanding soloists as violinist Alexandre da Costa, guitarist Sébastien Deshaies, pianists André Gagnon, Marc-André Hamelin, and André Laplante, and singer Fabiola Toupin, and will also welcome guest conductors Gilles Bellemare et Gemma New. Programming of note? Mahler’s Symphony #9, Marc-André Hamelin’s take on Busoni, Orff’s ever-green Carmina Burana, Christmas-themed works by André Gagnon – and more. For details, please visitwww.ostr.ca.

The Orchestre Métropolitain will present 29 performances of 10 different programs in 11 different locations during a busy 2011-12 season, under the leadership of music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Featured soloists include Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel, Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki, cellist and Montréal native Stephen Tétreault, Ontarian conductor Julian Kuerti, American soprano Angela Meade, the Quasar saxophone ensemble, the Montreal-based group Quartango, and percussionist Marie-Josée Simard – and repertoire riches include a weekend devoted to the complete symphonies of Brahms as well as his Violin Concerto, the continuation of the orchestra’s traversal of Haydn’s London symphonies and the conclusion of its Mahler cycle, with the presentation of the Adagio from Tenth Symphony. A new after-work chamber music series will also be presented at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s new Bourgie concert hall. www.orchestremetropolitain.com

We were delighted to read the following paragraph in a recent media release about this weekend’s concerts by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra:

Earth Hour at the Edmonton Symphony’s Masters Series Concerts
At 8:30pm on March 26, lights will switch off around the globe for Earth Hour. Earth Hour is raising awareness on climate change and sustainability, and is organized by World Wildlife Fund. Both Masters concerts will be Bullfrog Powered with 100% green electricity in honour of Earth Hour. This means that Bullfrog Power will inject Alberta-made wind power onto the Alberta grid to match the amount of electricity used by tonight’s concert. All of the electricity injected will be sourced from wind facilities that have been certified as low impact by Environment Canada. Choosing green, carbon-free power is an easy way for homes, businesses and organizations to help fight climate change and create a healthier environment for future generations. Visit bullfrogpower.com for more information.

This week, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has welcomed over 10,000 students in grades 4, 5 and 6 to the Francis Winspear Centre for an hour-long concert entitled The Sounds of Story – a program that features not only the ESO, but also young local pianists and the Kokopelli Choir. The program has been designed to unveil the relationship between story and music by using literature from the Alberta Education Curriculum and beloved pieces of music. It sounds fun! Students will learn about musical punctuation in a Bach Chorale, study the influence of foreign culture and music language in Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye, identify themes as contrasting characters in Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, and trace the structure of a musical “story” in Haydn’s Symphony No. 100. As well, Edmonton composer Allan Gilliland will make a special appearance to talk about how he was inspired to write the piece Loch na Beiste by the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. One gifted student will hear their own Sounds of Story poem read aloud to their peers by Mr. Gilliland during the performance of his work.

www.edmontonsymphony.com

Every year at about this time, we brace ourselves for all the media releases about Canadian orchestras’ holiday programming. How best, we wonder, to generate all the enthusiasm that’s due for all of the upcoming Nutcracker and Messiah performances?

This year, we’ve got all that – and much, much more. Here’s a coast to coast round up of the holiday events that we’ve heard about so far.

Vancouver
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents a remarkable 18 performances of three different holiday-themed programs this year. In the lead? Thirteen performances of the VSO’s Traditional Christmas program, led by Music Director Bramwell Tovey, and featuring the UBC Opera Ensemble, Enchor and narrator Christopher Gaze. This program travels to six different communities in Metro Vancouver, including Burnaby, South Delta, Surrey, North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Downtown Vancouver. Before Christmas, The orchestra also gives 3 performances of Vivaldi’s complete Four Seasons, featuring concertmaster Dale Barltrop, and presents a pair of Holiday Hooray! programs (without orchestra) in its Tiny Tots series. vancouversymphony.ca

Edmonton
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra kicks off its holiday season “boogie woogie style” on November 30, with a performance entitled The Days of Christmas, featuring pianist/vocalist Michael Kaeshammer and special guest Jill Barber. As the ESO media release says, “Having started out studying classical piano in his childhood, Michael Kaeshammer’s real passion lies in the boogie-woogie and stride piano playing styles of the likes of Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, and Pete Johnson, to name a few. Ever the crowd-pleaser, [he] will showcase his skill and creativity performing specialized arrangements of I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Mary’s Boy Child, Winter Wonderland, and Merry Christmas, Baby.” ESO resident conductor Lucas Waldin leads the program. edmontonsymphony.com

Calgary
The Calgary Philharmonic is presenting a full array of holiday programming, including performances of Handel’s Messiah, the Sing Along Messiah, a traditional Christmas program, a program with the Canadian Tenors, a Christmas program with Christian singer/songwriter Michael W. Smith, and a new year’s Salute to Vienna concert. cpo-live.com

Regina
The Regina Symphony Orchestra presents an eclectic holiday program on December 4 that features a lobby performance by the Conservatory of Music’s Amadeus Strings, selections from The Nutcracker, audience sing-alongs, a medley of music from The Polar Express, a celebrity performance of Haydn’s Toy Symphony (possibly written by Leopold Mozart), and the symphonic debut of 2010 Regina Symphony Singing Star contest winner, Paula Haubrich. RSO Music Director Victor Sawa is on the podium, and “in the spirit of the season, the RSO will be accepting donations of non-perishable food items for the Regina Foodbank at this concert.” reginasymphony.com

Toronto
On December 6 at 9 pm ET on Bravo!, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir will be featured in the premiere television broadcast of its popular annual Sing-Along Messiah, produced by 90th Parallel Productions. This historic television event was recorded live last January at Toronto’s Koerner Hall, and is produced by Gordon Henderson and Stuart Coxe and directed by Dave Russell. The broadcast complements Tafelmusik’s four live performances of Handel’s Messiah from December 15th to 18th at its home venue, Trinity-St. Paul’s Centre, and a performance of Sing-Along Messiah on Sunday December 19th at Massey Hall. tafelmusik.org

Timmins
The Timmins Symphony has had the great joy of announcing that its 2010 production of The Nutcracker Ballet (scheduled for November 27 and 28) was completely sold out two weeks ahead of the performances. Said music director Matthew Jones, “We are delighted that the Timmins has embraced this community production and that our local dancers and actors will be performing to full houses of family and friends. We thank Timmins for supporting Nutcracker this Holiday Season.” timminssymphony.com

Montreal
The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal celebrates the end of 2010 with three different programs led by Music Director Kent Nagano. The festivities kick off with a program featuring piano prodigy Jan Lisiecki (Grand Prize winner at last year’s OSM Standard Life Competition), renowned contralto Marie-Nicole Lemieux, and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9. Then, the OSM carries on with one of its longest-running Christmas traditions: Handel’s Messiah at Notre-Dame Basilica, with the OSM Chorus and singer soloists Dominique Labelle, Daniel Taylor, Michael Schade and Tyler Duncan. And finally, mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, backed by the Chœur des enfants de Montréal, will perform traditional Christmas melodies with the OSM at the Basilica. The two Christmas concerts at the Basilica will be telecast during the holiday period by Radio-Canada, this season’s official broadcaster. osm.ca

With Hallowe’en falling on a weekend this year, a remarkable number of Canadian orchestras are scheduling programs that celebrate the scary side of orchestral music – for thrill-seekers of all ages. Here’s a round-up (with our thanks to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra staffer who updates the TSO’s Facebook page for the photo!):

The Winnipeg Symphony opens its Concerts for Kids series on October 31, with celebrated children’s performer Frank Oden. Oden, a resident of Denver CO matches original poetry, humour, education and theatrical production values with a live symphonic performance. And, of course, young audience members are encouraged to dress in costume for a chance to win prizes.

Also on Sunday afternoon, Symphony Nova Scotia presents a program of “the most ghoulish classical music ever written”, led by resident conductor Martin MacDonald. The program is preceded by treats and a musical instrument petting zoo, and will also feature an onstage costume contest.

The Victoria Symphony, led by Music Director Tania Miller, will present a pair of performances October 30 and 31 of reliably spooky music: Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre, HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! (with narrator Douglas MacNaughton), and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Maestra Miller and members of the orchestra will be in costume and invite the audience to come dressed for the occasion too.

Also on October 30 and 31, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents a concert of “hair-raising” orchestral music, including The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, selections from Symphonie Fantastique, and Bach’s Toccata in D Minor. And they’re offering chocolate, post-concert!

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and conductor Jack Everly present a program called “Mysterioso” tonight (October 29) and tomorrow – and it focuses on the “magical” side of Hallowe’en, with illusionist Joseph Gabriel, the comic magic duo Les Arnold and Dazzle, quick-change artists David & Dania, singer Christina Bianco, and “hypnotic orchestral gems that will leave you spellbound!” The media release also notes that “guests are also invited to bring and display their own creatively carved pumpkins in the Winspear Centre lobby for the duration of these Halloween weekend concerts.”

(Photo from the TSO’s Young People’s Concert)