Orchestras Canada

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 will be hosted on-stage at Calgary’s Grand Theatre by well-known Calgary composer Allan Bell.

What’s on the program? Well, it’s a wide-ranging survey of orchestral and chamber music from the 20th and 21st Century. Canadian works include Jacques Hetu’s Symphony No. 3, a new piano quintet by Anton Kuerti (also featured as soloist), and Spirit Trail by Allan Bell. Early and mid-20th century include offerings by Schreker, Hindemith, Penderecki and Cage. Building on the Fort Macleod International Festival’s international relationships, concerts will include a number of world premieres of new works by international composers, including Benjamin Ellin, Aurél Holló and Stephen Montague. FMIF artistic director Rivka Golani will be featured in new works for viola by the last two composers.

The annual Fort Macleod International Festival (which runs from May 27 to 31) is now in its fifth year – and it’s branching out to other communities in Southern Alberta with an aim of bringing chamber music to audiences in unique and fresh ways. Venues this year include The Galt Museum in Lethbridge (site of a world premiere of Siksika, a work inspired by Blackfoot culture by composer/conductor Benjaim Ellin), The Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, UNESCO World Heritage Site The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Fort Macleod and the Eckhardt-Grammatté Hall in Calgary.

Weather permitting, the concert at The Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump will be held outdoors where concert patrons can enjoy two masterpieces and another performance of Siksika while enjoying a spectacular view of the vast southern Alberta prairies. “The concert is a unique event for our location,” says Quinton Crow Shoe, site marketing/program coordinator of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. “Everyone here is certainly looking forward to it. We hope the visitors that are here that day will be surprised to see we are set up for a concert.”

For more information about the Festival, please visit here.

The Fort Macleod International Festival, formerly known as Windy Mountain Music, has announced details of its spring 2010 festival, running from May 27 – 31, 2010.  The Festival, under the artistic leadership of violist Rivka Golani, will include such artists as pianist Anton Kuerti, cellist Leonid Gorokhov, clarinetist Darko Brlek and the Alberta based violinist Edmond Agopian, violin/violist Barry Shiffman, and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra associate conductor Mélanie Léonard.  For more information, please visit here.

The Niagara Symphony has launched its 2010-11 season – its 63rd!  Programming includes 4 MasterWorks concerts and 4 pairs of POPS! concerts, beginning in October 2010 and ending in May 2011. This will also be the first season with the Symphony’s new Music Director, whose identity will be announced later this Spring.  Soloists include cellist Shauna Rolston, violinist Julia Wedman and hornist Austin Hitchcock.  For more information, please visit the NSA’s website here.