On Saturday, April 10, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony’s Design a Concert program has its 2nd annual outing.  The program, inspired by a similar program offered by the Pittsburgh Symphony, offers 30 high school students (from 6 different schools) the opportunity to work with staff on the theme, program, marketing, fundraising and stage production elements of an orchestral concert.

We’ll let the KW Symphony’s Director of Education, Christopher Sharpe, take it from here:

“The students need to take time away from school for the 6 working sessions, each lasting 1.5 hours, so it is not always easy finding students to volunteer their time for this.

The students select a specific workgroup: Marketing, Artistic, Development and Operations (Production), and each workgroup is mentored by at least one KWS staff member at all times. We provide the students with the venue, the orchestra, a conductor and soloist(s). The rest is designed and run by them, starting with determining the theme which leads to the programming, which then determines the marketing, fund raising and stage production elements of the project.

The students work on a deal sheet with KWS staff which determines budgets and ticket prices. The golden rule is that the bottom line does not show a deficit so the students quickly learn how simple decisions can have a major impact on the budget.

The staff have been challenged and inspired by this project. Teaching is not always a role that they were prepared for, but they have all enjoyed working with the students. They have many stories about the students who get ‘bitten by the bug’ and will likely use this work experience as part of their future careers.

This season’s concert takes place this Saturday, April 10. The students wanted to be part of the performance so they will sing O Canada with the orchestra at the end of it. If last year is any indication, the concert will be as professionally run as any KWS concert, but the audience will be made aware of the hard work the students put into it. The musicians appreciate how this program benefits the students taking part and understand how it helps guide some of them into arts management. If nothing else, the students who participate gain a huge appreciation for all that it takes to put on a concert, and many of them will be our future audience members.”

For more information about the KW Symphony, you can visit their 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.

Late last week, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony announced that its musicians have agreed to a 5% wage reduction effective January, 2010; as well, repertoire for two upcoming programs has been adjusted, to reduce the number of per service musicians required. 

According to the KW Symphony’s media advisory, the musicians’ “contribution represents an investment in the long term vitality of the organization and acknowledges, with confidence, the exciting future of the organization….The success of the KWS is a result of an amazing partnership between musicians, management, the board and the community. In response to the lead of the KWS musicians, donors will be called upon to recognize the importance and value of the orchestra through a tribute campaign to be announced soon.  In the face of global economic uncertainty imposed by external forces, the KWS is proactively asserting fiscal responsibility in order to preserve the long term vitality of this region’s premiere performing arts organization.”

For more information on the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, you can visit their website here.

Council Chair Jane Danzo has announced that long-time BC Arts Council Executive Director Jeremy Long will retire from the BC Public Service early in the New Year.  Stating that “Jeremy Long has served the people of British Columbia for more than 20 years,” Ms Danzo noted that “he has been eligible for retirement for the past two years, but chose to stay on to help oversee the completion of the Council’s strategic planning process. He has left us with a strong foundation, and we will continue to build on it for years to come.”  Long joined the Province’s arts and culture division in 1988 and has been involved with the BC Arts Council since its inception, in 1996. He has served as Council Executive Director for the past three years.  Gillian Wood, current Associate Director, will take over as Acting Executive Director effective November 16, while a permanent replacement is selected.
 
Marilyn Fitzpatrick is the new Director of Finance at the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

Rachel Churchill is the new interim Executive Director of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra.  She succeeds Rosie Horne in the role.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony held its Annual General Meeting for the 2008-09 season last week, and reported audience growth, increases in contributed income – and a loss on the season of just over $275,000.  According to a report in The Record, “the total debt now stands at $586,256, compared to $311,927 at fiscal year end in 2008.”

The article continues, “Despite the budget shortfall, the deficit was not the focus of attention at last night’s annual general meeting, held for the first time at the symphony’s new digs in the Conrad Centre for Performing Arts in downtown Kitchener. Music director Edwin Outwater said he will not let the financial problems affect programming. “The economy and the challenges we face, they don’t affect my ideas at all,” said the affable and energetic conductor. He said he has been astonished by the hard work by both staff and musicians, many who are working beyond their regular shift trying to keep the symphony viable. “When things get tough, of course you draw back,” he said. “It puts this organization into a tricky, but inspiring position.”

For more information about the KW Symphony, you can visit their website here.

There’s a nice article about Music Director Edwin Outwater and the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in this week’s issue of Maclean’s.  You can find it here.

On October 10, the Kitchener Waterloo Symphony and the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery – both anchor tenants at Kitchener’s Centre in the Square – will team up to present an afternoon of art and music for children and their parents/caregivers.  The new program marries pre-concert art activities (including the creation of collage finger puppets, drawing and a Gallery scavenger hunt) with a family concert, led by conductor John Morris Russell.  For more information on the event, you can visit the KW Symphony’s website here.

Last Friday night, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS) marked the opening of the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts (CCPA) in Downtown Kitchener with a gala event celebrating the launch of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony concert season.

In spring 2009, the Manfred & Penny Conrad Family Foundation stepped in to preserve the former King Street Theatre Centre as a community-based venue for the performing arts for the region, with the KWS as anchor tenant and building manager.

“Our vision is to re-invigorate the downtown core by developing a vibrant arts space that is a true resource for the community at-large. I am thrilled that the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony will be the anchor tenant of this bustling space that will be used by a wide range of talented local artists and arts groups throughout the year. Our hope is that this facility will also be a preeminent destination for music and performing arts education.” says Penny Conrad.

While the KWS administrative offices have moved to the downtown location, the Centre In The Square will continue to be its primary performance venue.  Rehearsals, educational and outreach programs (including programs offered through the KW Symphony’s extensive youth orchestra program) and smaller events will take place at the new Conrad Centre.