Orchestras Canada

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.

Our apologies to the Victoria Symphony, whose media release about the world premiere of a new violin concerto by former resident composer Rodney Sharman, featuring violinist Jonathan Crow, earlier this month didn’t reach us in time. Fortunately, the work was reviewed in the Globe and Mail and you can read about it here.

On April 1 and 2, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony will give the world premiere of Whirling Dervish by Canadian composer Brian Current. The new work features Raqib Brian Burke, a Canadian Sufi Mevlevi whirling dervish who began practicing this form of meditation through movement over forty years ago. He is the only Canadian to have toured with the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.  kwsymphony.ca

AUDITIONS
National Arts Centre Orchestra
Principal Timpani (National)
Application Deadline/Date limite : March 25 mars 2011

COMPOSERS/COMPOSITEURS
Victoria Symphony
Composer-in-Residence
Application Deadline/Date limite : March 7 mars 2011

CONDUCTORS/DIRECTEUR MUSICAL
Guelph Youth Music Centre
Youth Symphony Orchestra Conductor, 2011–2012 Season
Application Deadline/Date limite : March 4 mars 2011

ADMINISTRATIVE/ADMINISTRATIF
New Brunswick Youth Orchestra/Orchestre des jeunes du Nouveau-Brunswick
Provincial Director Sistema NB/Directeur provincial de Sistema NB
February 11 février 2011

AUDITIONS
Orchestre symphonique de Montréal
Percussion (National)
February 25 février 2011

Victoria Symphony
Principal Cello (International)
April 4 avril 2011

YOUTH AND TRAINING / ÉDUCATION ET APPRENTISSAGE
National Arts Centre Orchestra/Orchestre du Centre national des Arts
NAC Summer Music Institute/Programme des jeunes artistes 2011
February 8 février 2011