Orchestras Canada

We’re hard at work putting final touches on the program for BOTH components of Orchestras Canada’s national meetings, taking place in Montreal in late May. Component #1 is the meeting of CEOs, which runs from May 27-29; component #2 – made possible by a visionary foundation partner – is designed for education and community engagement staff of member orchestras, and takes place May 28 and 29.

The meetings are co-hosted by the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal and HEC Montreal. Program highlights include presentations by Dr. Robert Flanagan of Stanford University, Kelly Hill of Hill Strategies Research, Robert Sirman of the Canada Council for the Arts, key faculty at HEC Montreal, Stephen Huddart of the J.W. McConnell Foundation, Phillip Bravo of Carnegie Hall’s Link-Up National and International program, Dr. Ann Patteson of Queen’s University and the Royal Conservatory’s Learning Through the Arts program – and, as a particular highlight, a session with Maestro Kent Nagano, with CBC host/producer Kelly Rice. We’ll get a behind the scenes tour of the Maison symphonique with acoustician Tateo Nakajima. And there’s more!

To view the agenda for the CEOs meeting, please click here.
To view the agenda for the Education/community engagement meeting, please click here.

Two matters of some urgency:

While we’ll be taking registrations right up to a week before the meetings, the deadline for booking hotel rooms at the Hyatt Regency Montreal at our negotiated rate of $137/night is today – April 25. To get more information and to book on-line, please visit orchestrascanada.org.

Tickets for our highlight concert, the sold-out performance by the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal on Monday, May 28, are in very short supply – and we’re distributing them on a first come, first served basis to meeting registrants. Register on-line today, to avoid disappointment.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last reported on season launches – and we’re pleased to catch up on the latest:

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, under music director Jacques Lacombe, presents a nine-concert program (plus gala fundraising concert) during its 35th anniversary season. Highlights include the premiere of a new work by André Gagnon and Michel Tremblay, based on letters from Gabrielle Roy to her mother, and performed by Marie-Nicole Lemieux with the orchestra.

I Musici de Montréal released details of its first full season under the leadership of artistic director and principal conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni – 37 concerts in venues ranging from the Maison symphonique to the Salle Bourgie, featuring emerging Canadian talent, long-time artistic partners, and first-time artistic collaboration with Les Violons du Roy and the choir of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal.

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has launched its 2012-13 season – its fifth under Music Director Kent Nagano – and highlights include not only large-scale projects (opening the season with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and closing it with Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake), but also the debut of a new chamber choir (under the leadership of Andrew Megill), twelve Montreal premieres and three world premieres, including a new Haydn-inspired work by DJ Champion.

The Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra has launched its 2012-13 season, a five-concert program that, consistent with the GTPO’s policy, is led by an array of guest conductors, each of whom brings a slightly different flavour to their chosen program.

The Victoria Symphony celebrates Music Director Tania Miller’s 10th season with the orchestra with a “blockbuster array of repertoire and stars”, including performances by James Ehnes and Chantal Kreviazuk, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin, and a New Music Festival featuring the music of John Cage.

Late last week, the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec presented Maestro Kent Nagano (music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal) with the Medal of Honour of the National Assembly. The distinction is awarded to people from varied backgrounds whoare deemed to merit the recognition of all members of the National Assembly and of Québec society.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra has announced the identity of this year’s WSO Golden Baton Awards, given annually to those who have made a significant contribution to the musical life of the community through their excellence or their special support and contribution to the WSO. They are celebrated coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl (artistic achievement) and former WSO board chair (and now Auditor General for the Province of Manitoba) Carol Bellringer (community leadership).

Congratulations to clarinetist Emmy Munger and flutist Étienne Morissette, recent winners of the Orchestre des jeunes du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean’s recent Young Soloists competition. Both winners are students at the Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay and have been members of the youth orchestra for a number of years. They will be featured as soloists with the youth orchestra in 2012-13.

Best wishes to Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra clarinettist Rick Klassen, retiring this season after an amazing 39 seasons with the orchestra.

Calgary’s Rosza Foundation presents an annual award for excellence in arts management to an outstanding Alberta arts administrator – and we offer hearty congratulations to Stephen McHolm, CEO of the Honens International Piano Competition for being nominated in 2012. The award winners will be announced in June.

As living proof that there’s no rest for the wicked, we’ve been busy at Orchestras Canada in recent weeks! Here’s a quick update on a few of the things that we’ve been working on.

Youth Orchestra Task Force: Recruitment is complete, and we’re now working on scheduling the first meeting of a new task force that will study the current state and needs of Canadian youth orchestras. We are grateful to the following people for stepping forward to serve on the task force, east to west:
Ken MacLeod, New Brunswick Youth Orchestra (chair)
Louise Richard, Association des orchestres de jeunes du Quebec
John Gomez, Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy
Diana Weir, Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
Paul Dornian, Mount Royal Conservatory
Sheila Redhead, Greater Victoria Youth Orchestra

Comparative Reports for 2010-11: Do you love orchestra data? If so, we have a treat for you. With the co-operation of 65 Canadian orchestras, from small to huge, OC’s intrepid statistician, C. Stephen Smith, has completed work on this year’s Comparative Report – a compendium of contextual, financial and audience data from the 2010-11 season. While the detailed report is only available to participating orchestras, we’ve published two summary reports (by region of the country and budget size) on our website – and you can view them here.

Final touches are being put on a brand-new report by Kelly Hill of Hill Strategies Research, commissioned by Orchestras Canada with support from the Ontario Arts Endowment Fund. To complement our annual Comparative Report study, we’ve asked Kelly to report on the observable trends from six years of data from fifty consistently-participating Canadian orchestras, 2004-05 to 2009-10. Watch this space: we’ll let you know when it’s posted (in both languages, bien sûr!) on our website.

Planning for the National Orchestras Meetings in Montréal: The full program for the 2012 national orchestras meeting will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 27 and it will wrap up at 12 noon on Tuesday, May 29. Confirmed program highlights include presentations by Professor Robert Flanagan, author of the recently-published The Perilous Life of Symphony Orchestras; key staff at HEC Montreal; Kent Nagano, music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal; and Robert Sirman, director of the Canada Council for the Arts. Delegates will also be attending a SOLD OUT concert by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, led by Maestro Nagano and featuring Cirque Eloize, in a new “imagining” of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe. We are also planning a parallel program for symphony education and community engagement staff, May 28-29. For more information, click here.

This past weekend, members of the Orchestras Canada board of directors met in Toronto to kick off the development of a new strategic plan for OC. Working with Peter O’Donnell and Linda Spence of Healthy Futures Group, the OC board engaged in 1.5 days of intense discussion, attended performances by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, and re-affirmed our belief that Canadian orchestras have an intelligent and brave group of directors working on their behalf. While the plan itself will not be complete for a number of months, we can hint that the following themes will almost surely be explored in it:

Smart positioning of Canadian orchestras – with government bodies, the Canadian public and businesses and philanthropic funders
Collective action – enhancing and expanding partnerships and collaborations
Network building – providing the tools and venues to Canadian orchestras to learn together, build common cause, and better support one another

On October 24, ADISQ (the association for music and sound recording in Quebec) will hold its “other gala” – an event to honour the outstanding non-commercial recordings and performers of the year. A number of Orchestras Canada members have been nominated for the classical music awards, and we’re proud to list them here:

In the “classical recording of the year – orchestra or large ensemble”, featured nominations include recordings by Les Violons du Roy (Bonbons on ATMA Classique, led by Bernard Labadie), Orchestre metropolitain (Florent Schmitt : La Tragédie de Salomé, César Franck : Symphonie en ré, on ATMA Classique, led by Yannick Nezet-Seguin) and the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal (Beethoven: Des Dieux, des Héros et des Hommes, on Analekta, led by Kent Nagano).

In the “classical recording of the year – soloist or small ensemble”, we salute the nomination of the Quatuor Alcan, participants in the recording entitled Mathieu: Trio & Quintette; Chausson – Concert, also featuring Alain Lefèvre and David Lefèvre, on the Analekta label.

Finally, in the “classical recording of the year – vocal”, we recognize the nominations of Les Violons du Roy (Britten: Les Illuminations, featuring Karina Gauvin and led by Jean-Marie Zeitouni, on the ATMA label), and Orchestre Metropolitain (on a recording entitled Marie-Josée Lord, led by Giuseppe Pietraroia featuring the eponymous singer, on ATMA Classique).

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has announced the renewal of Kent Nagano‘s contract as Music Director of the OSM. The new agreement takes effect in the fall of 2011, runs through the 2013-2014 season, and may be renewed for two additional years. Speaking about the news, Maestro Nagano declared that “it is with great pleasure and emotion that I have accepted the OSM’s invitation to extend my contract.. It will allow further building and expansion of our great tradition into the future as well as sharing the exceptional qualities of Quebec culture with the local and international community. Over the last years, I have witnessed the importance of Arts and Culture in Quebec, discovered the exceptional sophistication and open mind of our public, felt the communal strength and shared a unique civic spirit. Today I feel privileged to renew my commitment to the Orchestra and to Montreal.”

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced that Martin Riseley, its concertmaster since 1994, has relinquished his role at the ESO in favour of a position as Head of Strings at the New Zealand School of Music. Commenting on this decision, ESO Music Director Bill Eddins said, “Martin has distinguished himself as a fantastic violinist and a tremendous leader for our orchestra, and I am very sad to see my good friend and colleague resign his post as Concertmaster.” ESO Assistant Concertmaster will serve as Interim Concertmaster for the 2010/11 season while the ESO begins its formal search, with the anticipation of an appointment for the 2011/12 season.

The Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra has announced the appointment of Diana Weir as its new Executive Director. Weir, who officially began her role in May, is a resident of Hamilton, music lover, and a strong proponent for the value of community arts. She brings experience working with both large and small not-for-profits, young people in schools and the community. Welcome, Diana!

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra has announced that New Brunswick native Joel Tranquilla has been appointed as WSO Chorusmaster. Named one of Canada’s “young rising stars” in the Montreal magazine, the Music Scene, Joel Tranquilla is a conductor, collaborative pianist, vocal coach and music educator who has worked extensively in the areas of church and theatre music. He is currently a graduate student in choral conducting at the University of Michigan where he studies with Jerry Blackstone and conducts the Orpheus Singers.

The Regina Symphony has announced that Executive Director Natasha Bood will be leaving the post she has occupied at the RSO since 2008 to return to Ontario with her family. While noting Ms Bood’s “strong leadership, business acumen and enthusiasm for this organization”, the RSO Board of Governors has announced its intention to start the process to recruit a new Executive Director without delay.

We join our friends at the Honens Competition in mourning the passing of Founding Honens Artistic Director Andrew Raeburn, who died in Calgary in August.

A new film documentary, entitled “Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal”, co-produced by the NFB, has been singled out for the best Canadian film award at this year’s International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA).  The documentary by German filmmaker Bettina Ehrhardt follows maestro Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal during the OSM’s 75th season, described as “a vintage year for at-home performances and concert tours”.  Congratulations to all!

Earlier this week, we were tickled to receive pictures of Music Director Kent Nagano and members of the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal in their debut appearance “on-stage” at their new concert hall.  Well, actually, they’re in the midst of a construction site, they’re wearing safety boots and hard hats…but work on the new building is well underway, and work is on schedule for a September 2011 grand opening!