AUDITIONS
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Concertmaster/Premier violon (National)
Application deadline/Date limite : August 23 août 2011

Sinfonia Toronto
Section Violin
Application deadline/Date limite : June 28 juin 2011

Here’s what the media release says: The concert is “a great musical celebration conceived as a crescendo. The first sounds heard in the new hall will be those of Québec, with works exemplifying three generations of Québec compositional creation. The human voice will first fill the air with Jesus, erbarme dich, a choral work by Claude Vivier, an essential ambassador of Québec musical sound. One of the oldest of instruments, the flute, will be heard next when Timothy Hutchins (OSM principal flute) performs Envol: Alléluia for solo flute by Gilles Tremblay, a true pioneer in the repertoire of Québec. The Orchestra’s own sound will then take wing in a premiere commissioned by the OSM from young contemporary composer Julien Bilodeau. In addition, short unpublished texts by authors that include Wajdi Mouawad, Marie-Claire Blais and Joséphine Bacon will echo Schiller’s “Ode to Joy.” Kent Nagano will then conduct Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, that monumental work that changed the course of the history of music. For the occasion the Orchestra will share the stage with a brilliant ensemble of soloists made up of soprano Erin Wall (Canada), mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura (Japan), tenor Simon O’Neill (New Zealand) and bass Mikhail Petrenko (Russia), while Toronto’s Tafelmusik Chamber Choir joins the OSM Chorus. So that the broadest possible audience can attend this memorable event, the first of the opening concerts, on September 7, will be broadcast on television, radio and the Internet by Radio-Canada, the official broadcaster of the OSM. The performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony by Kent Nagano and the OSM will be recorded for release on disc (Sony/Analekta).”

And, yes, there is much, much more over the course of the season. You can find out more, here: www.osm.ca.

Sinfonia Toronto, a professional chamber orchestra led by music director Nurhan Arman, has announced its 2011-12 season, a 7-concert series at the Glenn Gould Studio. Canadian and international soloists are featured, and Canadian works include music by Malcolm Forsyth, and Glenn Buhr and world premieres by Rob Teehan and Christos Hatzis. While the later 20th and 21st centuries are well-represented, the orchestra’s repertoire ranges from Vivaldi through Mozart, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, and more. For more information, please visit www.sinfoniatoronto.com.

Last Friday, Symphony Nova Scotia hosted a free concert to announce its 2011-12 season, described in the orchestra’s media release as “yet another season of classical heavyweights, Canadian and Maritime content, and collaborations with local artists and bands.” The orchestra’s capabilities in a range of music genres are well documented – and Music Director Bernhard Gueller notes that “we have exciting artists like Anton Kuerti and Julian Kuerti together, brilliant violinist Roman Simovic, and Hawksley Workman. We also have an unusual combination – the National Arts Centre Orchestra and Pinchas Zukerman together with Symphony Nova Scotia. Plus, there is the Fauré Requiem, the Music of Pink Floyd, Dinuk Wijeratne’s new tabla concerto, and 27 Symphony Nova Scotia premieres (including three world premieres).” www.symphonynovascotia.ca

CONDUCTORS/DIRECTEUR MUSICAL
Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Music
Assistant Professor – Conducting
Application Deadline/Date limite : March 5 mars 2011

On January 30, the Esprit Orchestra (led by music director Alex Pauk) presents a program featuring the Elmer Iseler Singers, and violist Teng Li and works by Ligeti, Kancheli, and Canadians Douglas Schmidt (his “Discouraged Passion”) and José Evangelista (the Symphonie minute). www.espritorchestra.com

And who could resist the headline on Sinfonia Toronto’s most recent media release: “Lady Gaga’s Violinist to Play with Sinfonia Toronto”? Tonight, January 21, Canadian violinist Judy Kang (evidently a favourite of the Lady) will perform Marjan Mozetich’s Affairs of the Heart with the intrepid chamber orchestra, under the direction of music director Nurhan Arman. The program also includes works by Mozart and Robert Fuchs. sinfoniatoronto.com

This weekend, Montreal’s Arion Orchestre Baroque performs a program of music featuring baroque woodwinds by Fasch and Telemann, starring baroque bassoonist (and artistic director of the Festival International de Musique Baroque de Lamèque) Matthieu Lussier. The concerts take place at Redpath Hall, McGill University. www.early-music.com

On January 26, the Orchestre symphonique de Quebec, led by resident conductor Airat Ichmouratov, presents a program of Armenian and Armenian-inspired music at Palais Montcalm. The concert includes the North American premiere of Maestro Ichmouratov’s David de Sassoun (a symphonic poem based on one of the central stories of the Armenian experience) along with works by Komitas, Ippolitov-Ivanov and Khatchaturian. Featured soloist is Hampartsoum Djabourian, a virtuoso performer on the doudouk, a traditional double reed instrument. osq.qc.ca

In a nifty partnership with the Riversdale Business Improvement District, the Saskatoon Symphony will provide live accompaniment to Buster Keaton’s comedy classic “The General” in a special performance at Saskatoon’s Roxy Theatre, the “only remaining atmospheric theatre west of Ontario”. Saskatoon conductor, musician, and educator Brian Unverricht conducts. www.saskatoonsymphony.org

The Lethbridge Symphony Association is holding a Love Notes Valentine’s Ball on February 11 – and the event will also be the venue for an auction of seven musically themed chairs, transformed by local artists in tribute to music and musicians. Highlights? A Phantom of the Opera chair, a child’s desk that has been transformed with images from nursery rhymes, a chair that’s turned into a tribute to percussion instruments, a “Howard Cable” chair, and a throne created in honour of LSO Principal Clarinetist Peggy Mezei! The chairs are on display at the University of Lethbridge until the date of the ball.

On March 26, Sinfonia Toronto presents its first ever Green Gala, taking place at a zero-waste venue accessible by public transit, and featuring a 100-km dinner menu, 100% recyclable decor, an enviro-friendly silent auction, paperless invitations and ticketing and “elegant and energy efficient music.” To find out more, you can visit the orchestra’s website here.

Speaking about the tour, Maestro Arman said “I am delighted we can present our wonderful orchestra on European stages. The artistic achievements of the orchestra deserve the international attention it is receiving. Such a tour with a major European soloist and playing in important halls like Barcelona’s Auditori will help boost our reputation – and Canada’s – in Europe and open still more doors.” For more information, please visit sinfoniatoronto.com.

We’ve also had a lovely report from Composer Brent Straughan and the Island String Players Society about a new work that will be premiered by the Victoria Chamber Orchestra in spring 2011, led by Yariv Aloni.

The idea for the work was conceived by Don Kissinger, President of Island String Players Society, and his partner Dr. Jane Wright, librarian and general benefactor to the orchestra.  Brent Straughan has dedicated the work to the memory of Jane, who died in 2009.

Brent’s own words describe the adventure of the growth of Island Arioso.

“When Don Kissinger approached me with the idea of setting down impressions of his beloved Gulf Islands as a string serenade for the Victoria Chamber Orchestra,  it was an epiphany for me. I have always felt that I had at least one beautiful string serenade inside, but where, when, and how would it ever come out ?  Don arranged the mechanics and I started immediately to work, with high enthusiasm. A friend, listening to bits of the serenade in progress, said, ‘Your music is better than they are, I mean I’ve seen them: they are just islands.’  I thought to myself,  ‘Oh, really?’  Because when Don took me and my wife, Frances, on a tour of those islands I hadn’t visited, I soon learned that each had a distinct personality, character and micro culture.”

“I worried about which island would get stuck with the Adagio!  Finally I settled on Saturna Island as it is a little more remote and austere – solemn, sombre, yet intrinsically beautiful.   ‘Mayne Island’ was the most difficult for me, and it will take the most rehearsal time for the orchestra. It features a Stephane Grapelli jazzy feel in 5/8 time whose fluctuating rhythmic substrata of duples and triplets remove us far from the normal corridors of the city, and plunge us headlong into the clean country island air.”

“Galiano” is my most Spanish-themed danceable music, a musical obeisance perhaps to Spanish explorers and cartographers like Dionisio Alcala Galiano and early Salish inhabitants.  On “Pender” I found much mystery still in Magic Lake. The call of the loon (musical saw) summons up the frogs and thrumming insects of the lake, to an eerie kayak ballet for the annual New Year’s Eve Lantern Ceremony.”

“Saltspring” really gives the strings a final opportunity to cut loose! I went, in my mind, to the annual Street Dance at Moby’s and imagined copious quantities of street musicians (hip hop violin!) in attendance. I imagined each player to be full of high energy and enthusiasm, scampering pell mell through my music.”

Sinfonia Toronto
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Windsor Symphony Orchestra

Congratulations to flutist Robert Cram, first-ever recipient of the Ontario Arts Council’s Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance. Mr. Cram received the award late last week, during the opening concert of the University of Ottawa Orchestra’s 2009-10 season.  Mr. Cram, an active advocate for new and Canadian music, was the principal flutist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra for 23 years.  He has been equally committed to solo work, appearing with NACO and many other Canadian orchestras.  He is the founder and artistic director of the Pierrot Concerts, an organization devoted to developing and performing contemporary Canadian music and music theatre works, and a dozen or more pieces have been written for him by composers including Harry Somers, Gilles Tremblay, Jacques Hétu, Steven Gellman, Patrick Cardy and Melissa Hui.

Congratulations as well to flutist, composer and conductor Robert Aitken, the winner of the 2009 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. The $50,000 prize, administered and presented by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes the highest level of artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement by Canadian artists who have spent the major part of their career in Canada in theatre, dance or music.  In awarding the prize to Mr. Aitken, the committee said, “A masterly force in the world of contemporary Canadian music, Robert Aitken has demonstrated for over half a century a tireless commitment to its development, performance and promotion in every corner of the globe. As a flutist, composer, interpreter and teacher, he is a distinguished innovator and continues to exert a strong influence on upcoming generations.” 

Last weekend, Symphony Nova Scotia Music Director Bernhard Gueller (not a flutist:  Maestro Gueller started his musical life as a cellist) was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, by Halifax’s Dalhousie University.  Dalhousie University’s honorary degrees are awarded to recognize individuals who, by their example of extraordinary achievements and service to society, provide inspiration and models of leadership and integrity to Dalhousie’s student body. Gueller, who recently renewed his contract with Symphony Nova Scotia for another five years, is recognized for his inspiring leadership of the Symphony and the connection he makes with audiences.  “I am deeply humbled and honoured to receive this degree,” says Gueller. “I see it as a wonderful recognition of the work done by all of us at Symphony Nova Scotia.” 

Nurhan Arman, Music Director of Sinfonia Toronto, has announced the appointment of Susan Lam as the orchestra’s new General Manager. Ms Lam comes from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra where she worked as Artist Liaison and Assistant to Artistic Administration.