Orchestras Canada

AUDITIONS

Niagara Symphony Orchestra
Principal Oboe
Principal Bassoon
Section Percussion
Section Bass
Application deadline/Date limite : May 11 mai 2012

ADMINISTRATIVE / ADMINISTRATIFS

Victoria Symphony
Senior Development Officer
Application deadline/Date limite : May 9 mai 2012

It’s been a busy couple of weeks since we last reported on season launches – and we’re pleased to catch up on the latest:

The Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, under music director Jacques Lacombe, presents a nine-concert program (plus gala fundraising concert) during its 35th anniversary season. Highlights include the premiere of a new work by André Gagnon and Michel Tremblay, based on letters from Gabrielle Roy to her mother, and performed by Marie-Nicole Lemieux with the orchestra.

I Musici de Montréal released details of its first full season under the leadership of artistic director and principal conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni – 37 concerts in venues ranging from the Maison symphonique to the Salle Bourgie, featuring emerging Canadian talent, long-time artistic partners, and first-time artistic collaboration with Les Violons du Roy and the choir of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal.

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal has launched its 2012-13 season – its fifth under Music Director Kent Nagano – and highlights include not only large-scale projects (opening the season with Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and closing it with Honegger’s Joan of Arc at the Stake), but also the debut of a new chamber choir (under the leadership of Andrew Megill), twelve Montreal premieres and three world premieres, including a new Haydn-inspired work by DJ Champion.

The Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra has launched its 2012-13 season, a five-concert program that, consistent with the GTPO’s policy, is led by an array of guest conductors, each of whom brings a slightly different flavour to their chosen program.

The Victoria Symphony celebrates Music Director Tania Miller’s 10th season with the orchestra with a “blockbuster array of repertoire and stars”, including performances by James Ehnes and Chantal Kreviazuk, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin, and a New Music Festival featuring the music of John Cage.

AUDITIONS

National Arts Centre Orchestra / Orchestre du centre national des arts
Second Oboe / Deuxième hautbois
Application deadline/Date limite : April 2 avril 2012

Victoria Symphony
Principal Second Violin
Section Violin (2 positions)
Principal Percussion
Application deadline/Date limite : April 10 avril 2012

On Sunday, February 5, the Kingston Symphony (led by music director Glen Fast) will give the world premiere of a new concerto for piano and orchestra by Kingston composer and pianist Michel Szczesniak, entitled Felt Resonance. Szczesniak, an adjunct lecturer in piano at Queen’s University, has performed concerti with the Winnipeg, Victoria and Kingston Symphonies, recitals for CBC Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Regina and Saskatoon and has served as solo pianist with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Banff Festival Ballet. To learn more about the work – and its articulate composer – please visit the KSA newsletter, here.

Last week, the Victoria Symphony participated in a city-wide collaborative celebration of iconic Canadian painter and autobiographer Emily Carr, presenting a pair of multi-disciplinary concerts focused on the artist’s life and work. The concerts included world premiere performance of several new works by Canadian composers and featured dance, recitations of Emily Carr’s poetry and video presentations of her paintings.

The featured composers included two “graduates” of the Victoria Symphony’s Composer-in-Residence program, Anna Höstman and Tobin Stokes, along with Giorgio Magnanensi, Veda Hille, and Barbara Croall. Featured artists include Veda Hille, Chief Frank Nelson, Marion Newman, Alejandro Ronceria, William Wasden and the Emily Carr String Quartet.

For more information visit victoriasymphony.ca.

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

This weekend, September 24 and 25, the Victoria Symphony kicks off its Signature Series with the first in a series of explorations of the “superstition that Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony cursed all composers who followed.” Here’s what Maestra Tania Miller has to say about the series theme:

“In 1824 Ludwig van Beethoven bared his soul in a work so stunning in originality, scale and emotional power that virtually every great composer who followed has lived under its shadow. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony left so great an impact on the classical music world that a superstition arose in its wake resulting from the untimely deaths of several composers who passed way while trying to write their 10th symphonies. We are exploring this superstition throughout the Signature Series and performing works by composers affected by the “curse” including Mahler, Brahms, Schubert and more.”

On this concert, though, the exploration of the Shadow of the Ninth starts at the beginning, with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1, written by the composer in 1799. The concerts are led by VS resident conductor Giuseppe Pietraroia, and they also feature VS concertmaster Terry Tam as soloist in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

AUDITIONS

Victoria Symphony
Section Violin
Application deadline/Date limite : October 21 octobre 2011

ADMINISTRATIVE/ADMINISTRATIFS

Dance Umbrella of Ontario
Executive Director
Application deadline/Date limite : October 21 octobre 2011

Lyric Opera of Kansas City
General Director
Application deadline/Date limite : October 21 octobre 2011

Sunday, July 31 marks the date for the 22nd annual edition of the Victoria Symphony Splash, an amazing event that takes over Victoria’s Inner Harbour and attracts over 60,000 people for a day of music and fun. This year’s program celebrates the 100th anniversary of BC Parks, and includes a Splash Family Zone (complete with bouncy castles and an instrument petting zoo), a street dance with the Timebenders, an orchestra parade (which gives the audience a chance to see their musical heroes up close as they make their way to the barge), and the salute guns of the Canadian Navy.

Splash isn’t just any old outdoor concert, either. Victoria Symphony Music Director Tania Miller makes a special point of celebrating Victoria’s outstanding young artists, and this year has selected not only the “traditional” Splash Young Soloist (this year, 11 year-old violinist Alice Haekyo Lee), but also the very first Splash Young Composer (18 year-old Jared Richardson).

And how is it paid for? The Victoria Symphony has made a concerted effort to diversify its funding sources for the annual event through corporate sponsorship, the “Band of Heroes” program (which enables small businesses and individuals to collectively support the marquee event), and onsite donations through the purchase of Splash buttons.

Victoria Symphony Splash is the grand finale of two weeks of outdoor concerts taking place from July 19th to 31st. Symphony in the Summer includes four performances by the full orchestra, and an additional eight performances by small ensembles from the orchestra. These concerts take place at Butchart Gardens, Beacon Hill Park, several of the city’s squares, the Legislative Steps, the Lawn of the Fairmont Empress and the Inner Harbour.