Orchestras Canada

Congratulations to the outstanding Canadians with connections to Canada’s orchestras who were named to the Order of Canada at the end of December. They include mezzo soprano Catherine Robbin; cellist, conductor and founder of I Musici de Montreal,Yuli Turovsky; and super-volunteer Ana P. Lopes, a recent chair of the board of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

We’ve recently learned of two recently-appointed composers-in-residence with Canadian orchestras – and we’d like to welcome them to the family. Serge Arcuri is the new (and first-ever!) composer in residence with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, which performed one of his existing works on January 10, and will be giving the world premiere of a new work in February. You can find out more about him here.

Simon Bertrand, an award-winning Quebec composer (and nominee for a Prix Opus 2011) has just been appointed as composer in residence with the Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil. In this new position, he’ll be creating original compositions and arrangements for the orchestra, while working closely with music director Marc David. To share his experiences as composer-in-residence, he’s created a blog at residenceosdl.wordpress.com.

In mid-October, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra held its 89th annual general meeting – and by all accounts, it was a happy one. Among many accomplishments reported by TSO board chair Alan Kimberley and President and CEO Andrew R. Shaw, we’ll highlight the following:
• An average of 93% paid attendance at the season’s 107 public concerts with 219,173 tickets sold;
• 23 curriculum-based school concerts at Roy Thomson Hall for over 40,000 students, with another 15,000 students reached through the TSO’s in-school concerts;
• Better-than-plan financial performance, which saw the orchestra post a modest excess of revenues over expenses on the season;
• An expansion of out-of-town programming, including a Northern residency in Timmins and North Bay; a sold-out concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall; and a tour to Florida.

Congratulations to all for a successful season!

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.

AUDITIONS

Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Section Second Violin / Second violon de section
Application deadline/Date limite : November 14 novembre 2011

Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
Violins, violas, and basses
Bassoons I and II
Horn I
Trombone III
Tuba
Application deadline/Date limite : N/A

Toronto  Symphony Orchestra
Percussion / Assistant Timpani
Section Violin (two positions)
Application deadline/Date limite : November 1 novembre 2011

September 30, October 1 and 2 mark year 2 for Culture Days and the 15th anniversary of les Journées de la Culture. Here’s a quick round up – east to west, more or less – of the orchestral activity we were able to identify via media releases from member orchestras, as well as the user-friendly websites for the movement.
Culture Days : culturedays.ca
Alberta Arts Days : culture.alberta.ca
Journées de la culture : journeesdelaculture.qc.ca

Symphony Nova Scotia: open dress rehearsal, September 30; Musical Munchkins programs at local libraries, October 1; small ensembles in various venues including the Discovery Centre October 1 and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, October 2.

Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil : chamber concert, October 2.
Orchestre symphonique de Lévis : open rehearsal with on-stage seating, October 2.
Orchestre symphonique des Basses-laurentides: meet the musicians, October 2.
Orchestre métropolitain : Sing with the Choir of the Orchestre métropolitain, October 1.

National Arts Centre Orchestra: participating in a complete weekend of Culture Days events presented by the National Arts Centre
Kingston Symphony: instrument petting zoo and open rehearsal, October 1.
Peterborough Symphony: behind the scenes at Showplace Peterborough, October 1.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: 2 lobby concerts by a small ensemble, featuring performance, story-telling and instrument demonstrations, October 1.
Kitchener Waterloo Symphony: open rehearsal, September 30.
Stratford Symphony Orchestra : orchestra petting zoo, October 1.

Winnipeg Symphony: open dress rehearsal, September 30; small ensembles at Nuit Blanche, as part of Musicians in Healthcare, and at Steinkopf Gardens, October 1.

Saskatoon Symphony: quintet performance at Flowers by Fred, September 30; musical petting zoo, October 2.
Regina Symphony: Chamber Players performance at the Mackenzie Gallery, October 2.

Edmonton Symphony: Open dress rehearsal and tours of the Francis Winspear Centre for Music, September 30; Symphony 101 with D.T. Baker, October 1.

Chilliwack Symphony Orchestra: assorted events at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre, October 1.
Victoria Symphony: instrument petting zoo, October 1 and 2

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.

For the seventh straight season, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra will open its season with residencies in two Northern Ontario communities. This year, the TSO (led by conductor Alain Trudel and featuring soprano Shannon Mercer and the intrepid members of Platypus Theatre) will present concerts and educational programs in Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie from September 12-16.

All told, the five-day tour will bring the orchestra in contact with over 10,000 students and adults in the two cities, presenting 37 in-school performances (eight of which will be given in French language), and 12 masterclasses for secondary and post-secondary students. In addition, the orchestra will give four performances of Platypus Theatre’s beloved How the Gimquat Found Her Song for school-aged audiences, and a pair of formal evening concerts in partnership with the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra (for the Sudbury concert on September 13) and Algoma Conservatory Concerts and the Algoma Fall Festival (for the Sault Ste. Marie concert on September 15). Of course, you can follow the Northern Residency on-line via the TSO’s tour blog, here:  tso.ca.