Orchestras Canada

Every year, we get media releases about holiday concerts, and every year, we applaud the intrepid programmers who come up with fresh approaches to seasonal classics, skilfully balancing novelty with tradition.

Herewith, an idiosyncratic list of concerts and events that have caught our eye!

December 11, Symphony on the Bay presents a family Christmas, Hannukah and New Year’s concert at Burlington ON’s Royal Botanical Gardens, featuring the winners of its Young Artists’ Competition, waltzes and a sing-along. James McKay conducts.

December 9 and 10, the Orchestre symphonique de Saguenay-Lac St. Jean presents one performance each in Jonquière and Roberval, featuring star baritone Gino Quilico and rising star Marie-Pier Simard-Gagnon, along with the massed Symphony Chorus and the vocal ensemble from the Conservatoire de musique de Saguenay. Maestro Jacques Clement conducts.

December 11, the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, led by Music Director Jacques Lacombe, presents a holiday program with pianist Andre Gagnon and the 84 members of l’Orphéon de Trois-Rivières. The program is comprised of material originally recorded for CD by Gagnon and the orchestra last year and now available on the disc Dans le silence de la nuit.

Also on December 11, the National Arts Centre Orchestra Players’ Association presents its 22nd annual Christmas FanFair Concert and Carol Sing-Along in support of the Ottawa Food Bank and the Snowsuit Fund. It’s a free concert, and it takes place in the main foyer of the National Arts Centre at 12 noon. The concert is led by NAC violist (and conductor of the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra) David Thies-Thompson, and special guests include guest conductor Laureen Harper (yes, the Laureen Harper), mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah, and violist Paul Casey, winner of the Harold Crabtree Foundation Award in the 2011 National Arts Centre Bursary Competition. Last year the National Arts Centre Orchestra Player’s Association donated more than $30,000 to the Ottawa Food Bank and the Snowsuit Fund through fundraising efforts over the holidays.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra celebrates the musical accomplishments of its own community in this year’s Messiah performances (December 16 and 17) by featuring four outstanding Edmonton natives in the solo roles: Linda Perillo, Frances Jellard, John Tessier and Nathan Berg. I Coristi Chamber Choir, Òran and the U of A Madrigal Singers unite to form the chorus, and ESO music director Bill Eddins leads from the harpsichord.

The last few weeks have been good ones for Orchestras Canada members, and we’d like to acknowledge some key accomplishments and landmarks.

Congratulations to the Royal Conservatory of Music, which kicked off its 125th year of operation on November 20th. Speaking about the milestone, RCM President Dr. Peter Simon noted that, ““the broad-based programs of The Royal Conservatory support Canadian education and, ultimately, Canadian innovation. The Conservatory provides a structured system of learning that develops musical literacy, professional training for Canada’s most gifted young artists, and pioneering learning solutions. Over 125 years it has been the vision of The Royal Conservatory to weave these programs into the very fabric of society, based on our conviction that the arts are our greatest tools for learning, for fostering creativity and personal fulfillment, and for contributing to stronger and more productive societies.”
For more information about The Royal Conservatory and its programs, please visit rcmusic.ca.

We’d also like to acknowledge the many Orchestras Canada members who are finalists for the 15th annual Prix Opus, presented by the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM). The awards – which recognize outstanding concerts, events, musical works and writing about music during the 2010-11 season – will be presented January 29 at the Salle Bourgie at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. The evening will also include a special tribute to Maestro Yuli Turovsky, founder of I Musici de Montreal.

Finalists of note from our membership include:

Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (multiple categories)
Quatuor Molinari (multiple categories)
Les Violons du Roy
Orchestre symphonique de Montreal (multiple categories)
Orchestre symphonique de Québec (multiple categories)
Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières
Orchestre Métropolitain
Tim Brady/Bradyworks

For more information about the Prix Opus – and to learn more about the nomination categories and nominees – please visit cqm.qc.ca (some pages are available only in French).

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières (OSTR) kicked off its annual school matinee series earlier this week in both Trois-Rivières and Shawinigan with a trio of performances of Les Quatre Saisons de Piquot, a musical fable by Gilles Vigneault and Marc Bélanger, conducted by Louis Lavigueur. The work has won a number of prestigious awards, including France’s In Honorem de l’Académie Charles-Cros and the Prix Félix for young audiences recording of the year. The work also features narrator Martin Francœur.

Claire-Émilie Calvert has developed a teacher’s guide for the program (French only) –and it can be downloaded here.

At the end of August, Orchestras Canada bade farewell to Sandra Cina, who has worked as our part-time Membership and Communications Coordinator for the past three years. Sandra will be starting a new full-time position at the Mississauga Arts Council at the end of September, and we wish her all the best.

That said, we’re happy to announce that one of our former summer students, Krista Wodelet, has succeeded Sandra in the role. Krista has just returned to Toronto, after completing her MMus in bassoon performance at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She will be dividing her time between her bassoon-playing career, Opera.ca and Orchestras Canada – and we’re delighted to welcome Krista back to OC.

Long-time friends of Orchestras Canada and the Association of Canadian Orchestras will be saddened to hear of the passing of musician and arts manager John Shaw, on September 9. Originally engaged by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as principal oboe, he served that organization as CEO for 14 years. During his tenure with the CPO, he was also a highly effective board chair of the Association of Canadian Orchestras. At the time of his death, John was organist and music director of Central United Church in Stratford and was an active member of the Stratford Concert Choir. He leaves behind his wife of thirty-eight years, Julia, and their three children Mary (Richard), Mark (Sarah) and Andrew (Candice) as well as his sister Mary (Phillip).

Congratulations to 24-year old conductor François Pothier Bouchard, recently appointed as resident conductor with the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivieres for a two-year term. A native of Trois-Rivieres, he holds an artist’s diploma in organ performance and a Prix du Conservatoire in orchestral conducting. He is combining his work with the OSTR with artistic direction of the Orchestre symphonique des jeunes Philippe-Fillion.

The Regina Symphony has announced the appointment of Simon Fryer as the new Principal Cellist for the Regina Symphony Orchestra & RSO Chamber Players, starting in the 11.12 Season. Formerly a member of the Penderecki String Quartet and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, he is also a noted soloist, teacher, recording artist and Artistic Director of the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto’s Music in the Afternoon series.

The Board of Directors of Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre has announced the appointment of Ron Lenyk as Chief Executive Officer of the Centre effective September 1, 2011. A former publisher of the Mississauga News, Mr. Lenyk succeeds Gerry Townsend in the role.

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières has announced the appointment of lawyer Jean-Éric Guindon (from the firm Bélanger Sauvé) to the role of Board Secretary with the orchestra. He succeeds Mme Suzanne Michaud in the role.

Embracing Benjamin Franklin’s precept that “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”, both the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières and Symphony Nova Scotia have released details about upcoming fundraising events…that involve beer.

May 7, Symphony Nova Scotia presents its 20th annual Beer and Beethoven event, featuring the full orchestra, special guests JP Cormier and the Elliott Brothers, a putting green, an instrument petting zoo, commemorative t-shirts, refreshments of all kinds, and the chance to have your picture taken with a life-size “Beethoven” in a BMW racing suit! (Don’t blame us: we just report this stuff.)

May 11, the OSTR presents its third annual beer tasting event, a celebration of local micro-brewed products from four different breweries, accompanied by artisanal sausage and live jazz.

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced details of its 60th anniversary season, its seventh under the leadership of music director Bill Eddins. A typically busy season for the ESO, it features a wide array of classical, pops, family, light classical, holiday and special event programming, and is as creative in presentation format as it is in choice of artists and repertoire. A special highlight? The orchestra’s first-ever performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall, as part of the second annual Spring For Music Festival in May 2012. For this event – a curated celebration of creative orchestral programming – the ESO and Bill Eddins will perform a program entirely made up of ESO-commissioned works: John Estacio’s Triple Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Cello, written for the ESO’s inaugural performance at the Winspear Centre in 1997; Allan Gilliland’s Dreaming of the Masters III composed for trumpet virtuoso Jens Lindemann; and a new work by the ESO’s new Composer in Residence Robert Rival. Soloists for the program include Lindemann, pianist Angela Cheng, violinist Juliette Kang, and cellist Denise Djokic. For more information, please visitwww.edmontonsymphony.com.

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

This Saturday, March 5, the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivieres will present a program of music inspired by the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, from the perspectives of French, Russian and Danish composers. Soprano Marianne Fiset will be featured in Ravel’s Shéhérazade, and the orchestra (led by Music Director Jacques Lacombe) will also perform Rimsky Korsakov’s Scheherazade and Carl Nielsen’s Aladdin. As an added bonus, the performance of Aladdin will be enhanced by the projection of slides of paintings inspired by Nielsen’s music by Newark, New Jersey area artists Karen Eve Friedland, Alice Harrison, Veru Narula, Hilary Shank-Kuhl and Lizzi Schippert. This multi-media project is the brainchild of Jacques Lacombe, who is also music director of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the slides had their debut with the NJSO in late February.

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières has announced details of its 2011 voice competition, with first rounds scheduled for March 4-6 at the Conservatoire de musique de Trois-Rivières and the final rounds (with orchestra) scheduled for April 3, at the salle J.-Antonio-Thompson in Trois-Rivières. Winners will divide up more than $10,000 in prize money and scholarships. Application deadline is February 7, 2011. For more information, please visit here.

We continue to be amazed at the inventiveness of the seasonal programs presented by Canadian orchestras this year. So, for the third week in a row, here’s a round up of highlights from across the country, west to east.

In British Columbia, the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra presents a pair of seasonal programs, starting this weekend with two performances of a concert that features “a story from the time of Dickens, dances, musical humour, plenty of seasonal tunes and a new young Symphony Award winner”, violinist Colleen Venables. The KSO and chorus present a sing-along Messiah next weekend. www.kamloopssymphony.com

Next week, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony presents four performances of a Yuletide Spectacular – one in Guelph and three in Kitchener – led by guest conductor David Martin, and featuring Men With Horns and a great big chorus! www.kwsymphony.ca

Last night (December 9), the intrepid I Musici de Montreal presented a program featuring Montreal-based klezmer ensemble Kleztory. Other works on the program include an arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s string quartet no. 1 and a special performance of the Leopold Mozart’s Toy Symphony, featuring traditionally-clad Mohawk children from Kahnawake performing in the solo roles. www.imusici.com

This Sunday, the Ensemble instrumental Appassionata, led by Music Director Daniel Myssyk, gives a special performance of Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals at the Auditorium of Montreal’s Jardin botanique, featuring narration and projections by Guy Beausoleil, and additional music composed by Robert Marcel Lepage. www.appassionata.ca

In Quebec City, Les Violons du Roy – led by resident conductor Eric Paetkau – welcomes soprano Charlotte Corwin and harpist Valerie Milot in a pair of programs December 17 and 19, featuring seasonal music (some in special arrangements) by Frank Bridge, Peter Warlock, Gerald Finzi, Henri Büsser and Marcel Samuel-Rousseau. www.violonsduroy.com

The Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivieres welcomes younger audiences to a pair of short performances on December 12 as part of its Muffins aux sons series: Noël avec Jacques Lacombe et Trois Quatre. www.ostr.ca

And this week also brought announcements about Messiah performances in Saskatoon (with performances in Saskatoon and Battleford), Ottawa, Longueuil, Windsor, and Halifax – while the Canadian Tenors juggernaut continues its national tour, to sold out houses.