The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, under music director Bill Eddins, announced its 2012-13 season, offering a variety of repertoire and artists over seven different series, a gala with Measha Brueggergosman and the Symphony Under the Sky festival.

The Niagara Symphony celebrates its 65th season in 2012-13 with MasterWorks, Pops and a brand new Family Series. The season, under the leadership of music director Bradley Thachuk, includes the launch of a multi-year Beethoven Project (which will culminate in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in St. Catharines’ new performing arts centre).

Orchestra London, led by music director Alain Trudel, says it’s “pulling out all of the stops next season with blockbuster performances, breakout stars, and a whole lotta Beethoven” over multiple series, guaranteed to appeal to all tastes. Guests include violinist Jonathan Crow, trumpeter Jens Lindemann, harpist Valerie Milot, and conductors Victor Sawa, Brian Jackson, and Uri Mayer.

The Regina Symphony’s season is entitled Around the World – and it features music from France, Germany, Russia, Central America, Antarctica, and more – with a distinctly Canadian twist. Soloists on the season include Canadian Brass, Meaghan Smith and James Ehnes, along with L’Arsenal A Musique’s The Little Prince, and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra’s Galileo Project.

The NSA had originally scheduled a program that would be led by its music director, Bradley Thachuk, and also feature him as guitar soloist. Plagued by a recurrence of tendinitis, Maestro Thachuk withdrew – and the engagement was offered to his twin brother, Steven, instead. It’s no patronage appointment, either: brother Steven currently serves as Professor of Guitar/Chair of Guitar Studies at California State University, Northridge, following faculty appointments at the University of Toronto, the Royal Conservatory of Music‘s Glenn Gould School and Queen’s University. The twin brothers started studying together at age 5, going on to form a “hair metal” band in their teens, before pursuing careers in classical music.

For more information, please visit niagarasymphony.org.

You can read more about the work – and the process that led to its creation – here.

The Camp offers a complete range of programs, from Early Years programming for children 18 months to 7 years to a rigorous 3-week academy for advanced music students. And all campers have access to daily Guest Artist recitals and Music Appreciation sessions and the camp experience is balanced with recreational activities, theme days – and special events for our 50th anniversary celebration. Many of the camp faculty – led by Camp artistic director (and NSA resident conductor) Laura Thomas are Niagara Symphony musicians, and “all are committed to expanding the musical horizons of their students and creating a learning environment of discovery, discipline and delight.”

HEY, NIAGARA, WE’VE GOT YOUR TALENT! features three vocalists, a pianist, five fiddlers and a guitarist – “ranging in age from 13 years to we won’t tell!”, in a program led by the Niagara Symphony’s associate conductor Laura Thomas. The guests are Brian Barber, piano; Amanda Botts, fiddle; Jonathon Dick, baritone; Brennan Doherty, fiddle; Connor Doherty, fiddle; Jocelyn Fralick, soprano; Tara Hart, vocalist and Warren Stirtzinger, guitar and the program includes a piano concerto by Leroy Anderson, a jazz favourite on guitar, a haunting country song, a famous comic duet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and a toe-tapping “Fiddle Summit” finale that brings together five energetic Celtic fiddlers plus the full Symphony.

In Windsor, meanwhile, the WSO celebrates a decade with its music director (and now, music director designate of the Cincinnati Pops) John Morris Russell in a program entitled JMR’s Greatest Hits, featuring Windsor-area soloists. It’s a wildly eclectic crew that includes returning performers folk singer Marcel Beneteau; Chorale du Tricentenaire; the Windsor Barvinok Ukrainian Dancers; jazz great Shahida Nurulla; the Windsor Light Music Theatre; boxing star Jeannine Garside; the Nupur Jhankar Indian dancers; the Emerald Isle Dancers and the Cincinnati Studio Cloggers. As well, the WSO will introduce Windsor audiences to percussionist Sally Zori; bellydancer Laila Kaushik; writer Ted Shaw and singer Mark Morson. We welcome any insights into just what boxer Jeannine Garside will be doing!

Symphony Nova Scotia starts its 28th season with Symphony Week, filled with free concerts and special events at venues like City Hall, the Spring Garden Road Library, Scotia Square Mall, Citadel High, and the Maritime Museum. Performances will include everything from children’s music to orchestral concerts featuring the entire Symphony, and a particular highlight is the . final stage of the Emerging Composer-Director Mentorship Program, during which emerging composers partner with up-and-coming film directors to produce fully-orchestrated three-minute film cues, which will be screened for the first time. The events of Symphony Week are timed to coincide with the Atlantic Film Festival, Culture Days and Word on the Street - and it’s an amazing roster of events. symphonynovascotia.ca

On October 5, the Orchestre symphonique de Saguenay-Lac St. Jean presents a symphonic tribute to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Chicoutimi folk painter Arthur Villeneuve at the Palais Montcalm in Quebec. The program is led by OSSLSJ music director Jacques Clément, and explores themes dear to the painter: nature, religion, painting and the region in which he lived and worked. The program includes a work especially written for the occasion by Jean-Pierre Bouchard, entitled Arthur, la peinture; and features poet and “omni-creator” Raôul Duguay, who will pay tribute to the painter and perform his celebrated song, La Bitt’à Tibi. A night to remember!  lorchestre.org

The National Arts Centre Orchestra opens its season with a 7-concert celebration of Mozart and Haydn, under the leadership of Music Director Pinchas Zukerman, featuring orchestral concerts at the NAC, chamber music concerts by the Escher Quartet at the National Gallery, and a stellar line-up of soloists, including Emanuel Ax, Juho Pohjonen (in his Canadian debut), Jeffrey Kahane, Shai Wosner, and Benjamin Hochman, and writer/broadcaster Eric Friesen. nac-cna.ca

There’s particular anticipation surrounding the opening concert of the Niagara Symphony, in St. Catharines ON, where they will welcome Music Director Designate and Principal Conductor Bradley Thachuk to lead the opening concert of its 63rd season on Sunday, October 3 – a concert also featuring cellist Shauna Rolston. Maestro Thachuk’s appointment was announced last spring, and he will take up full-time duties with the NSA next year. niagarasymphony.org

Here’s what we can tell you about other upcoming events!

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents the six-concert Symphony Under The Sky festival, September 3 – 6, at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park. It’s a varied program, with (as the media release says) “everything from Bach to Billy Joel.” Guest conductor Bob Bernhardt will lead the orchestra in five of the six concerts, and soloists include violinist, Karen Gomyo the Knock School of Irish Dance, pianist Jim Witter, and the guns of the Royal Canadian Artillery. For more information, please visit here.

There’s been an encouraging update from the Victoria Symphony about their annual Symphony Splash event, scheduled for August 1, 2010. Absent a major title sponsor this year, the Victoria Symphony team set about to create another kind of giving opportunity for patrons interested in ensuring that Symphony Splash went ahead. In late June, the orchestra announced that its new fundraising initiative, titled Victoria Symphony Splash Band of Heroes, has already generated $50,000 in new support for the marquee event. In response to the loss of its title sponsor, the Victoria Symphony invited numerous companies and individuals to lend their support. The Victoria Symphony Splash Band of Heroes, asks for $1,000 contributions in exchange for specific recognition benefits. According to Mitchell Krieger, executive director of the Victoria Symphony, “It’s wonderful to see these Heroes stepping up to support Victoria Symphony Splash, especially as so many are new to the Symphony family. Making more connections to the community will not only keep Splash vibrant, it will help the Symphony’s long-term sustainability. We are nearly halfway to our goal of 100 Heroes, and we hope that more will step forward between now and August 1st.” Band of Heroes has proven to be a success as 45 businesses and individuals have already joined Band of Heroes, and more are signing up every week. Band of Heroes gives companies of all sizes and individuals the opportunity to support the event in a way not previously available. See here for more information.

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.

The program is led by NSA associate conductor Laura Thomas, and consists of three intensive 90-minute sessions with Thomas, followed by an orchestration workshop with symphony musicians to fine-tune the new works.

For more information, please visit here.

Earlier this week, Betty Webster (former Executive Director of Orchestras Canada) was one of twenty Ontarians to be awarded the Ontario Senior Achievement Award, at a ceremony in the Lieutenant Governor’s Suite at Queen’s Park.  The awards recognize those who have made outstanding contributions to their communities after turning 65 – and we were proud to have played a role in Betty’s nomination!