We’ve recently learned of two recently-appointed composers-in-residence with Canadian orchestras – and we’d like to welcome them to the family. Serge Arcuri is the new (and first-ever!) composer in residence with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, which performed one of his existing works on January 10, and will be giving the world premiere of a new work in February. You can find out more about him here.

Simon Bertrand, an award-winning Quebec composer (and nominee for a Prix Opus 2011) has just been appointed as composer in residence with the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil. In this new position, he’ll be creating original compositions and arrangements for the orchestra, while working closely with music director Marc David. To share his experiences as composer-in-residence, he’s created a blog at residenceosdl.wordpress.com.

Here are some highlights, in the words of the MCO’s Managing Director, Vicki Young:

“We were really delighted to be able to partner with our colleagues at Prairie Fire Press to produce the multi-dimensional Cantus Borealis: Song of the Forest. Being able to take the full production with orchestra and choir into the remote communities of Falcon Beach and the Hollow Water First Nation was particularly satisfying — the latter was the first community that the artistic team visited when they began their first-hand research into the life and workings of the boreal forest.”

Attendance figures for MCO’s nine-concert series – with many programs led by the MCO’s music director Anne Manson – jumped 17% over the previous season — to 6,951 — averaging 85% capacity. Education and outreach programs reached an additional 7,783 young people in rural Manitoba, with concerts and workshops held in schools in Thompson, Gillam, Leaf Rapids and Cranberry Portage.

The MCO’s Endowment Fund, administered by The Winnipeg Foundation, is now valued at close to $1.25 million.

For more information about the MCO, please visit manitobachamberorchestra.org.

Monday April 11 and Wednesday April 13, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and friends will premiere a series of new works through its multi-disciplinary, multi-concert ‘Boreality’ project. Together with Prairie Fire Press, the MCO put a team of artists (including composer Sid Robinovitch, poet Katherine Bitney, soundscape artist Ken Gregory, photographer Mandy Malazdrewich, and project manager Janine Tschunky) to work in the taiga (“a biome characterized by coniferous forests”). The words, images and sounds with which they emerged have been used to create new music which will be heard at several Manitoba performances. The result? Sid Robinovitch’s Cantus Borealis: Song of the Forest. The work will be premiered in the boreal forest at a free concert on Monday, April 11th at 10:30 am at the Wanipigow School on the Hollow Water reserve. A second free concert will be held that day at 7:00 pm at Falcon Beach School. Then, the troupe (led by guest conductor Scott Yoo) returns for the MCO’s penultimate concert of its Winnipeg season at Westminster Church on Wednesday, April 13th.

Last night, April 7, and Sunday afternoon, April 10, Symphony Nova Scotia (led by music director Bernhard Gueller) gives the world premiere performances of Derek Charke’s Symphony #1, subtitled “Transient Energies”. The new work, commissioned with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, incorporates hundreds of pre-recorded sound samples from locations across Nova Scotia – and it explores the themes of power consumption and climate change, highlighting coal, oil, wind, and water.

Here’s what the composer has to say:

“Symphony no. 1 is intended as a truly unique listening experience, one that is similar to going to a movie theatre,” says Charke. “Each listener has the opportunity to imagine their own story as they hear sounds unfold throughout symphony. I like to call this a ‘cinema for the ears’, rather than for the eyes! Using a soundscape helps to invoke the images; it really helps to put the music in perspective. There is no mandated program. Each listener is in control of their own experience, and can enjoy the music on their own terms.

“With this, my first Symphony, I want to prove that a brand new, contemporary classical work can be just as (or dare I say more!) captivating than a traditional symphonic work… or film… or popular song. At the same time I hope to have created a work that upholds the long and proud tradition of the western classical symphonic tradition, and a work that will resonate with listeners from any walks of life.”

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

On March 29, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra (led by music director Anne Manson) will give the world premiere performance of a new work by Serouj Kradjian entitled Trobairitz Ysabella. The work will feature Kradjian’s wife, soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian, and is inspired, , in Kradjian’s words, “by the lives, poetry and music of the trobairitz, female troubadours of the 12th and 13th centuries in Europe, considered the first known female composers of Western secular music.” The program will then travel to the Banff Centre for a repeat performance on April 1.  www.manitobachamberorchestra.org

It was an action packed few days, as over 50 delegates at the meeting took part in expert presentations on working better with data, collaborations with First Nations and Aboriginal communities, ground-breaking recent research on audience and patron growth, negotiating skills, and better governance. But it wasn’t all work: we were privileged to attend the opening of the Winnipeg Symphony’s 2nd annual Indigenous Festival, to hear short performances by both Andrew Balfour’s remarkable Camerata Nova choir and the outreach ensemble of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, and to watch an exceptionally engaging documentary on the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal’s 2008 trip to Nunavik. Peer to peer learning was also highlighted, and we’re grateful to leaders from Halifax, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ottawa, Kitchener-Waterloo, Edmonton, Vancouver and Nanaimo for sharing innovative practices and projects with their colleagues.

If you weren’t there, do not fret! You can still share in the experience: over the coming weeks, Orchestras Canada will be posting resources and podcasts from national meetings sessions on our website, and we look forward to letting you know when key resources are ready to share.

None of this could have happened without the support, energy and intelligence of many, many people. We’d like to thank

• The organizing committee: Leanne Atkinson of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Thérèse Boutin of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières; Trudy Schroeder of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and Vicki Young of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.
• Our host organizations: the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra – both of whom mobilized all of their resources to ensure that our program was full , and our guests treated graciously;
• Expert presenters: Robert Friend, VP Choice Ticketing Systems; facilitator Sam Baardman and panelists Sam Baardman, Vince Fontaine, JF Phaneuf, Lisa Abrams and Tanya Derksen (all from the WSO); mezzo soprano Marion Newman; Vicki Young and Boyd Mackenzie from the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra; Cameron Baggins from the Frontier School Division; Alan Greyeyes from the Aboriginal Music Project at Manitoba Music; Andrew Balfour and Camerata Nova; Jack McAuliffe of Engaged Audiences LLP and Kate Prescott of Prescott Associates; Francis Handy of the Stitt Feld Handy Group; and David Brown of Brown Governance.
• Meeting funders and sponsors: the Canada Council for the Arts, whose support enabled many people from smaller budget orchestras to attend; the Department of Canadian Heritage; the Manitoba Arts Council; the Winnipeg Foundation; the Thomas Sill Foundation; Arts and Cultural Industries Manitoba; and coffee break sponsors Cowan Insurance, Dean Artists, Domoney Artists and Long and McQuade.
• A wonderful group of volunteers, recruited for us by ACI Manitoba, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra;
• OC staff members Jennifer Caines and Diann Missal and OC statistician C. Stephen Smith.

A heart-felt thank to all of these people and organizations – and to the artists and cultural organizations of the city of Winnipeg – who welcomed us so very hospitably.

The program features a wide range of fiddle styles, as espoused by Manitoba soloists Claudine St. Arnaud (French-Canadian), Susan Israel (Celtic) and Chris Anstey (Newfoundland). Their solo performances will be intermixed with presentations by the MCO’s own outreach ensemble and with those from fiddle students from Frontier School Division on the first day and from the Seven Oaks School Division for two concerts on the second day.

Orchestras Canada’s donors are at the heart of our work on behalf of Canadian orchestras.  We are grateful to everyone who has made a gift to Orchestras Canada this year, and – thanks to their generosity – we are only $2142 short of our individual fundraising target for the year ending March 31.  With just over three weeks left to go, we know we can reach our goal:  but we need your help. To make a gift to Orchestras Canada, you can:

1.  Visit our giving page at CanadaHelps.org here.
2.  Call Jennifer Caines at the OC office, to make a gift by credit card: 416-366-8834 x221
3.  Mail a cheque to

Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada
203-460 rue College Street
Toronto, ON M6G 1A1

March 15 marks the deadline for participation in a new survey of Canadian orchestras’ community engagement programs – and we’ve already been amazed and impressed by the level of participation you’ve shown!  Many thanks to all OC members who have taken the time and contributed to this report.  At the end of January, Jennifer Caines emailed the survey to 71 orchestras; as of earlier this week, 35 orchestras have responded.  We look forward to sharing the results with you later this spring.  If you’d like more information, please get in touch with Jennifer at jennifer[at]oc[dot]ca.

Orchestra News will not be published next week, March 12.  We’ll be back with a blockbuster issue on March 19.