Orchestras Canada

On April 17, Symphony Nova Scotia and The Barra MacNeils celebrated the Cape Breton siblings’ 25th anniversary as a working band by releasing The Barra MacNeils with Symphony Nova Scotia (Live). The recording features symphonic arrangements of the group’s Celtic repertoire created by Stewart MacNeil and long-time Barra MacNeils collaborators Chris Palmer and Eric Robertson, and is conducted by SNS’s former Resident Conductor, Martin MacDonald.

“This album is a dream come true,” says Stewart MacNeil. “The marriage of our Celtic traditions with classical settings has always been a natural, almost organically seamless marriage; but on this recording, the beauty of the arrangements combined with the great respect for the history of Celtic music which was shared amongst all the musicians on-stage enabled us to transcend the performance, and capture a moment in time that was truly magical”.

Copies of the recording can be ordered via Symphony Nova Scotia here.

Three of Orchestras Canada members are presenting short festivals this month, within the context of their regular seasons.

In Ottawa, the National Arts Centre Orchestra (led by Music Director Pinchas Zukerman) is presenting a pair of performances, April 19 and 20, of all six of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. The concerts feature NACO principal players, augmented by trumpeter Andrew McCandless and harpsichordist-for-the-occasion, John Kimura Parker. As well, both programs will feature a pre-concert performance by organist Thomas Annand – and we suspect Bach’s music will be on the agenda there, too.

Meanwhile in Halifax, Symphony Nova Scotia’s 29th season wraps up with a three-concert French Festival, April 18-22. The festival includes a Musically Speaking program, starring SNS Concertmaster Robert Uchida and Halifax pianist Peter Allen in sonatas by Debussy and Ravel, as well as Massenet’s famous “Meditation” from Thaïs; a pair of large-orchestra concerts, led by SNS Music Director Bernhard Gueller, and including such repertoire as Ravel’s Bolero, Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto no. 2, Fauré’s Requiem, and Saint-Saëns’ massive Organ Symphony. For these last two programs, over 70 professional orchestral musicians will be onstage at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium – a first in Halifax since the early 1980s.

And the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony is presenting a short festival celebrating the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The festival, running April 18 to 22, includes a pair of orchestral concerts led by KWS Music Director Edwin Outwater (with an array of soloists and guest artists), a special screening of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus with a post-event talk back with a renowned musicologist, and what’s promised to be “some extra fun in the lobby at all three Mozart concerts.”

Orchestras Canada is on the distribution list for Symphony Nova Scotia’s regular Office Update, and we gleaned this fascinating nugget from a recent edition:

Symphony Nova Scotia has signed up to participate in a new way of giving through ChangeIt, an automated charitable giving program that offers donors a simple and secure way to donate small change with every debit or credit card transaction. ChangeIt is currently available through SNS sponsor East Coast Credit Union, so if you’ve got an ECCU account, we encourage you to take a look! Visit ChangeIt Canada for more information.

On Thursday, April 5 Symphony Nova Scotia (led by music director Bernhard Gueller) and violinist Robert Uchida will give the world premiere of a new violin concerto by guitarist, composer and musical animator Tim Brady.

Here’s what the composer has to say about the process that led to the commissioning of this new work “Bernhard Gueller, Robert Uchida, and I decided we wanted to come up with a project where we could all collaborate. Knowing the quality and care that Robert, Bernhard, and Symphony Nova Scotia would put into the preparation and performance of the piece, I really let myself go, and felt happy that the work is both a fitting tribute to a great musician, and also a celebration of the joy of music making.”

For more information about the concert please visit symphonynovascotia.ca.

Congratulations to Nathan Brock, currently assistant conductor of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, who was awarded the Ontario Arts Council’s Heinz Unger Award at a concert by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra last Saturday evening. Speaking about his unique qualifications for this year’s award, the jury noted “Nathan is at an exciting stage in his career, and exhibits tremendous talent and promise. He has also demonstrated a lifelong interest in orchestral music. His strong commitment to growth and excellence in the art of conducting made him the ideal choice for the Heinz Unger Award.” The award is presented every second year to an outstanding early- or mid-career Canadian conductor, and is administered by the Ontario Arts Council.

We’d also like to convey congratulations to Tricia Baldwin, Managing Director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Erika Beatty, CEO of Symphony Nova Scotia. They each won a 2012 John Hobday Award for Arts Administration, through the Canada Council for the Arts. Ms. Baldwin will use her award for professional development to travel to two international conferences and interview world leaders who are bringing music to millions through live, recorded and internet-streamed processes. Afterwards, she will present her findings at an Orchestras Canada conference and apply her new knowledge in her work as Managing Director of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir. Ms. Beatty will use her award to be mentored by Pierre Lamoureux, owner of Cinemusica / FogoLabs, one of the top concert film producers in the world. Her goal is to explore how digital and emerging technologies can be used to capture and communicate the beauty and intensity of the performing arts to Canadian and international audiences. Mr. Lamoureux has agreed to share the essentials of his successful commercial business model, including planning, filming and post-production work for clients as varied as opera and ballet companies, to touring bands and documentary productions.

The Orchestre symphonique de Québec has just announced its 2012-13 season, its first under new Music Director Fabien Gabel. The program reflects the full breadth of orchestral repertoire and colour, and includes 43 programs, most packaged into one of 8 different series. As well, the OSQ will continue in its use of pictograms to help music lovers identify the programs most likely to delight them – a helpful initiative launched last season.

Symphony Nova Scotia launched its 2012-13 season last week, its . It’s the orchestra’s 30th anniversary season, and its tenth under the leadership of Music Director Bernhard Gueller. The intrepid 37-player orchestra presents a diverse season that celebrates the cornerstones of the classical repertoire, outstanding Canadian soloists, and gifted Nova Scotian and Canadian singer-songwriters.

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra announced its 65th season late last week, incorporating 7 series, 37 different programs, and 63 performances. Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate is featured, along with guest soloists Yuja Wang, Measha Brueggergosman, Ben Heppner and the Barenaked Ladies. As well, we get a tantalizing glimpse of the 2013 New Music Festival, with the news that Steve Reich’s music will be featured in early February.

The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra announced its busy 2012-13 season, its 13th under the leadership of Bramwell Tovey. It’s far too large to summarize in a single paragraph, so we’ll borrow from the VSO’s own media release! “A long list of internationally-renowned guest soloists and conductors join the GRAMMY and Juno Award-winning Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in a season that features over one hundred performances of the best in classics, Symphony Pops, concerts for children and families, and special crossover concerts. In addition to core series performances in downtown Vancouver, the VSO once again visits venues around the Lower Mainland, performing in North Vancouver, Surrey, South Delta, West Vancouver, Coquitlam and Burnaby.”

Violons du Roy and La Chapelle de Québec have announced the programs they’ll be presenting in Québec and Montréal in 2012-13, under the leadership of Bernard Labadie. Featured soloists include soprano Sandrine Piau, pianist Alexandre Tharaud and flutist Emmanuel Pahud – the latter featured with the orchestra in a return visit to New York’s Carnegie Hall. A special feature of the season will be Les Violons du Roy’s first-ever joint performance with I Musici de Montréal, led by that orchestra’s music director (and protege of Maestro Labadie), Jean-Marie Zeitouni.

AUDITIONS

Once again this year, the musicians of Symphony Nova Scotia and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra will join forces to present a major concert, this time featuring a solo performance by a Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra alumna, percussionist Ben Duinker. The program is led by SNS music director Bernhard Gueller and takes place next Sunday, February 19, at Halifax’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium. As the media release says, the concert (and rehearsals leading into it) are “a unique opportunity for young musicians to learn from their teachers and mentors in a hands-on environment, while giving Nova Scotians the opportunity to hear an orchestra this large right here at home.”

Repertoire this year includes Shostakovich’s Symphony #5, James MacMillan’s percussion concerto, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel, and Verdi’s overture to La Forza del Destino. For more information, please visit symphonynovascotia.ca.

We send our very best wishes to Peter Herrndorf , CEO of the National Arts Centre, who is currently undergoing cancer treatment. Mr. Herrndorf will take a planned medical leave, starting in April. During that leave, long-time Managing Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Christopher Deacon, will serve as interim CEO.

Symphony Nova Scotia has announced that Janice Fuller will be serving as Interim Director of Communications and Marketing during Heidi MacPhee’s parental leave. Janice and Heidi will work together until the end of February, then Janice takes over.

The Saskatoon Symphony has announced that long-time principal cellist Linda Bardutz is returning to her position at the SSO. In their media release, the SSO notes, “as one of our most highly accomplished musicians, the Saskatoon Symphony looks forward to Linda resuming her role as a valued member of the SSO and Saskatoon’s musical community for many years to come.”

Tomorrow (February 9), Symphony Nova Scotia performs the world premiere of a new concerto for tabla and orchestra by composer/pianist/conductor Dinuk Wijneratne. Soloist for the concerto is Toronto tabla specialist Ed Hanley, and SNS music director Bernhard Gueller will conduct.

Speaking about the new work – and the program in which it’s nestled – Maestro Gueller said, “We’ve been talking for years about this new tabla concerto, and now it is finally happening. The tabla is a very Eastern instrument, very alien to us in our Western orchestras, and the combination of such different cultures will be very interesting. To make the contrast complete, we will also perform a very typical Spanish piece by Manuel de Falla, as well as a typical German piece, Schumann’s Fourth.”

No stranger to Halifax and SNS, Dinuk Wijneratne is one of the orchestra’s former Resident Conductors (2005-2008), and current Music Director of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. He has also received national and international acclaim as an innovative and eclectic composer and pianist.

If you can’t make it to Halifax for tomorrow night, the concert will be recorded by CBC for online streaming and nationwide broadcast.