Orchestras Canada

Congratulations to three members of Orchestra London who recently celebrated their 25th anniversary with the orchestra. They include concertmaster Joseph Lanza, violist Thea Boyd, and cellist Julia MacGregor.

A number of Canadian orchestras launched their 2012-13 seasons last week. Here’s a quick round-up:

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.

This coming weekend, at a performance by the Orchestre Metropolitain, Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be presented with Prix Denise-Pelletier by Mme Christine St-Pierre, Quebec Minister of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women. The award is one of twelve Prix du Québec, and specifically honours outstanding artistic achievement. Previous winners of the award include such icons as Félix Leclerc (1977), Gilles Vigneault (1983), Joseph Rouleau (1990), Jean-Pierre Ronfard (1999) and Robert Lepage (2003).

Hearty congratulations to the winners of the 2012 Knigge Piano Competition, held at the UBC School of Music. First Prize went to Rudin Lengo (a student at the Glenn Gould School); second prize went to Jocelyn Lai, (studying at UBC); and third prize went to Shifra Day, (a student at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal). The prize for the best performance of the required work (Echoes by UBC alumnus Richard Covey) went to Isabelle David (from the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal). Distinguished juror John O’Conor had this to say about the standard of competition: “It was a great pleasure to be on the jury of the Knigge Competition. It was a feast of piano playing from eight very talented young pianists and I wish them all great satisfaction for the future. They all deserve to do very well.”

We recently learned, with sadness, of the recent passing of Dr. Larry Agranove, a London Ontario business leader, consultant and long-time instructor at the School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University. A life-long lover of the arts, Dr. Agranove was the founding president of the Ontario Federation of Symphony Orchestras, and president of the London Symphony (later re-named Orchestra London).

ADMINISTRATIVE / ADMINISTRATIFS

National Arts Centre / Centre national des arts
National Administrator, Music Alive Program / Administrateur/trice national/e, Programme Vive la musique (PVM)
Application deadline/Date limite : April 12 avril 2012

AUDITIONS

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony
Concertmaster / Premier violon solo
Application deadline/Date limite : April 27 avril 2012

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Principal Second Violin / Deuxième violon solo
Application deadline/Date limite : April 10 avril 2012

Canadian Opera Company
Second Trumpet / Deuxième trompette
Application deadline/Date limite : May 5 mai 2012

Canadian Opera Company
Principal Trombone / Trombone solo
Application deadline/Date limite : May 11 mai 2012

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Section Violin
Application deadline/Date limite : June 4 juin 2012

Vancouver Opera
Violin (core orchestra)
Application deadline/Date limite : April 13 avril 2012

Orchestra London
Associate Concertmaster
Application deadline/Date limite : April 27 avril 2012

Orchestra London
Principal Flute
Application deadline/Date limite : April 30 avril 2012

Conductor Alain Trudel, already serving as the music director of Orchestra London and the Orchestre symphonique de Laval and conductor of the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra, has just been announced as the new conductor of the University of Western Ontario Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, effective September 2012. Speaking about the appointment, Orchestra London executive director Joe Swan noted that the orchestra has always had a good relationship with the University of Western Ontario, “but this will give us a much deeper working relationship. So we’re delighted about it.”

The Regina Symphony Orchestra has announced a career transition for its long-time and well-loved concertmaster Eduard Minevich. After 13 years with the orchestra (as well as 10, 11 and 6 years each as concertmaster with the KW Symphony, Orchestra London and the Leningrad Concert Orchestra respectively), Minevich will step down as RSO concertmaster at the end of the 2011-12 season – but he will stay on with the organization, leading its new Piapot project (through which he’s teaching violin to young students, arranging music and performing as soloist at the Piapot First Nation) and exploring opportunities to expand the RSO’s education programs into more communities in future seasons.

Congratulations to Toronto artist manager Ann Summers Dossena, who has been awarded the Manager of the Year Award at the annual Awards Ceremony and Luncheon of NAPAMA – the North American Association of Performing Arts Managers and Agents – and APAP – the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The presentation was made by Robert Baird, Toronto artist manager and president of NAPAMA, at the Hilton New York. From her 1958 start in New York, through her years in Rome (1968-1977) to her Toronto base since 1977, Ann Summers Dossena has been a tireless advocate for the arts for more than five decades.

The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra, Market Hall, and the Kawartha Youth Orchestra have named conductor Dina Gilbert as RBC Emerging Artist for 2012, under a newly created emerging artist apprenticeship program. Ms Gilbert holds a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Université de Montréal. The program is a collaboration between three community arts partners, Market Hall, the Kawartha Youth Orchestra and Peterborough Symphony Orchestra. Working under the guidance of PSO and KYO music director Michael Newnham, Ms Gilbert will receive an intensive period of mentoring and gain insight into the role played by a conductor and music director of community and youth orchestras.

Every year, we are deluged with media releases about orchestras’ holiday programs. And every year, we admire afresh those orchestras that embrace the opportunity to spread holiday cheer while celebrating their communities. Here are some recent examples:

December 14, Orchestra London will team up with the Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness to present the fourth annual performance of Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol at Centennial Hall. The event features a dramatic reading of the classic tale, performed by local legal luminaries, along with sing-along performances of carols by Orchestra London (Alain Trudel, conductor) and the The London Singers & H. B. Beal Secondary School Singers (David B. Weaver, director). Proceeds from the pay-what-you-can, general admission event will support the Unity Project, an organization dedicated to providing shelter and services to the homeless, and Orchestra London.

December 2 and 3, Symphony Nova Scotia presents a one-man production of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol – featuring award-winning actor and playwright Jeremy Webb in all 30 roles! According to the media release, “Webb’s adaptation has already met with overwhelming critical and box office success across Nova Scotia, and has been performed for 80,000 audience members since the beginning of its run in 2003.” The concerts also mark the release of a new recording, featuring Webb and the orchestra in a series of new arrangements by Halifax composer Scott Macmillan.

December 3 and 4, the Windsor Symphony presents a family Christmas pops program that features a performance of Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman (complete with animated short film), along with the WSO Chorus, Windsor Essex Youth Choir, Walkerville Centre for the Creative Arts Chorus, Kylee Phillips, and the Windsor Dance eXperience performing to “Skater’s Waltz” and “La Boutique Fantasque”. WSO Music Director John Morris Russell conducts. As an additional feature, the WSO will be accepting donations during intermission and after the concerts in support of Children’s Aid Society (CAS).

Orchestra London held its Annual General Meeting for the 2010-11 season on November 9 – and for the second year in a row, the organization reported an excess of revenues over expenses, growth in community-oriented programming, and strong artistic partnerships. In addition, 2010-11 saw the appointment of new Music Director Alain Trudel, who has taken on duties with the orchestra with great enthusiasm.

Speaking about the year that was, Board Finance Chair Shawn Gilhuly noted that,“over the past 12 months, the Board and staff have continued to redefine what it means to be an Orchestra. We have reached out to our community and re-engaged our patrons with a diversity of programs, ensuring we have a pipeline of appreciative audiences who share our excitement for all types of music.”

Community engagement initiatives during the season included:
• educational concerts for more than 8,000 schoolchildren;
• the 2nd annual Honours Strings mentorship program connecting professional orchestra musicians with aspiring student musicians
• partnering with UWO’s Don Wright Faculty of Music on the TD Bank Group Festival of New Music
• the Sounds of Korea community concert in collaboration with the London Korean Community
• the Unity Project for Relief of Homelessness on the 2nd annual A Christmas Carol fundraiser/concert
• partnering with General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada and The London Military Family Resource Centre on the 2nd annual Support our Troops and Their Families free community concert

For more information about Orchestra London, and to read a copy of the report provided to members, please visit orchestralondon.ca.

Congratulations to Joseph Lanza, who celebrates his 25 seasons as concertmaster of Orchestra London this year!

We’ve got a pair of recommendations this week.

The first item is a report on the education programs of eight Canadian orchestras – the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Orchestra London, Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. The evaluation was undertaken by Measured Outcome, an organization that undertakes collaborative, web-based research on the impact of charitable programs, and the process gave voice to the experiences of students, teachers and orchestral musicians involved in the programs.

Key learnings?
99% of participating adults and students found the programs valuable;
96% plan to return in a subsequent year;
61% of young people get their first (and only!) exposure to symphonic performance through a school visit, compared with 24% who attend with family and 15% who attend with friends;
Only 62% of the participating teachers make use of the Study Guide material provided, and of those, only 17% (or 10.5% of the total number of participating teachers) make use of the podcasts provided;
Teachers, students and performers consistently report that rowdy behavior by certain attendees detracts from the overall experience;
There are a number of opportunities to strengthen these already-valued programs.

The report was the subject of Orchestras Canada’s first webinar for the 2011-12 season, an event that brought together over 20 representatives from member orchestras from Victoria to Halifax. We are committed to continuing the discussion with our member orchestras, with the goal of strengthening their programming and their opportunities for collaboration.

You can view the report here.

Our second recommendation? A major new research report on arts engagement, commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council, and undertaken by Alan S. Brown of Wolf Brown and Ipsos-Reid. The report builds on Brown’s existing body of work on arts engagement, and traces the connection between an individual’s “personal artistic practice” (be it listening to music on the radio, selecting CDs to purchase or tracks to download, taking music lessons, interpreting the work of others while performing as a soloist or in an ensemble, or creating new works of music) and their attendance at live performances. There are some particularly compelling findings about the levels of cultural participation of Ontarians from diverse cultural groups.

And we can’t resist leaving you with this inspiring statement:

“Overall, 95% of all respondents are interested in doing more arts activities than they presently do.”

You can find the report here.

Orchestra London welcomes its new music director, Alain Trudel, to the stage of London’s Grand Theatre tomorrow (June 4) for a gala potpourri concert designed to showcase music from each of the Orchestra’s signature series.

As the media release says, the program runs “from the Beatles to Bartók, from Rossini to the Rolling Stones”, and features Maestro Trudel, Orchestra London, mezzo-soprano Sophie Louise Roland, and trumpeter Paul Stevenson. Trudel, in his first appearance as Orchestra London’s Music Director, will not only conduct, but will also demonstrate his well-known virtuosity on the trombone.

The concert is the public culmination of a week of meetings and work with the Orchestra, school boards and students, other cultural and educational organizations, volunteers and supporters. Says Trudel, “one of my main goals is for music to be a positive force in our community. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to showcase the Orchestra’s broad musical scope, and to meet many wonderful members of the London community.”