Orchestras Canada

Congratulations to the young winners of the 28th annual Concours de l’Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivieres : grand prize winner, flutist Ariane Brisson, and second place winners, clarinettist Éric Abramovitz and percussionist Charles-Alexis Côté (the latter also awarded the People’s Choice award).

Congratulations are also due to eight young classical or jazz musicians who will be taking part in “My First NAC”, a free concert in the Studio of the National Arts Centre on May 29. They’ve all been touched by one or more of the NAC’s artist training programs (from the Manhattan on the Rideau masterclasses, ‘Musically Speaking’ pre-show chats and concerts, Family Adventures with the NAC Orchestra, the Summer Music Institute Young Artists Program, to the Debut Series), and each will be awarded a $1,000 Astral Artist Prize. The young performers are Matthew Chalmers, jazz vibraphone/drums; Timothy Chooi, violin; Lara Deutsch, flute; Aidan Ferguson, mezzo-soprano; Emilie Grimes, viola; Alexander Malikov, piano; Simon Millerd, jazz trumpet; and Dan Reynolds, jazz piano.

Orchestra Toronto has announced the winner of the 2012 Marta Hidy Prize: fifteen-year-old cellist Daniel Hass of Toronto. The prize is named for the Canadian violinist Marta Hidy, whose legacy as a solo artist, orchestral and chamber musician, conductor, teacher and music professor it honours. Daniel is a student of David Hetherington, and is principal cellist of both the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Academy Chamber Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The National Youth Orchestra of Canada has announced its Composer-in-Residence for 2012 : James O’Callaghan. Mr. O’Callaghan, who was also selected for the Canadian League of Composers/Canadian Music Centre’s inaugural Composer Mentoring Project in 2011, will compose an original work for the NYOC’s 2013 North American tour.

After an emotional series of farewell concerts, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra has named departing Music Director John Morris Russell as its Conductor Laureate, the first time in the orchestra’s 65-year history when that title has been awarded. Speaking about the appointment, Maestro Russell said “I am deeply honoured to receive this title and look forward with joy and affection to many years of great music making to come.”

It’s been a busy few weeks in Windsor, Ontario with the concluding concerts in John Morris Russell’s eleven-year tenure with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra – and a bit of a community celebration to send the Maestro on his way. We’d like to join in and wish JMR all the best in his new adventures with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra: his contributions to Windsor – and to Canadian orchestras and music-making – have been noteworthy. Thank you!

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra will add nine performances to its concert schedule for the 2012-2013 Season, citing the need to respond to demand caused by its move to the historic Capitol Theatre and its search for a new Music Director. “The two factors that typically stimulate ticket sales for symphony orchestras are a new concert hall and a new Music Director,” said WSO Executive Director Jeth Mill. “Over the course of the next two years we will benefit from both.”

According to the orchestra’s media release. “the Capitol Theatre can accomodate only two-thirds the audiences that can be seated in the Chrysler Theatre. The reduced seating capacity combined with anticipated audience growth resulted in the decision to add concerts.”

From late February until mid-April, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra will give a total of 20 performances of two distinct programs in schools throughout Windsor-Essex – two narrated in French, the remainder in English. The programs have been created specifically for targeted grade ranges and feature an education guide with background information and activities tied to the Ontario curriculum. Wild & Wacky Woodwinds, for Grades K-3, is part of a four-year cycle that features a different family of instruments each year. Students attending these performances will hear music that features a variety of woodwind instruments, including Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf. Canadian Music, Eh?, for grades 4-6, highlights Canadian music from the drumming traditions of the First Nations to a piece of orchestral music written by a student from Walkerville Collegiate Institute.

To complement and extend the concert experience, the WSO has partnered (for the second year in a row) with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through The Arts (LTTA) program. Award-winning LTTA puppeteer Matthew Romain has been working with Grades 3 & 4 classes from six different schools since November to create a puppet show for Peter and the Wolf that will be performed for selected Wild & Wacky Woodwinds concert dates.

Canadian Music, Eh? features bass-baritone Adam Iannetta along with choirs from the French Catholic school board. Together, they’ll sing a Windsor-Essex folk medley featuring songs celebrating the history of Windsor/Essex County. As well, the program will include a demonstration of First Nations drumming traditions, and the performance of a work by Eric Swiatoschik, a student at Walkerville Collegiate Institute and a member of the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra.

Last week, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra revealed the names of the eight people selected for consideration as their next music director. The candidates – 2 Canadians, 6 Americans – were chosen from 153 applicants by a Search Committee comprised of musicians from the orchestra, leaders of the Board of Directors, staff members, patrons and community members.

The candidates are (in alphabetical order): Robert Franz, Laura Jackson, Steven Jarvi, Cristian Macelaru, Kevin Mallon, Eric Paetkau, Kevin Rhodes, and Scott Speck – and they’ll be conducting the first eight performances in the WSO’s 2012-2013 season. According to the WSO’s media release, “if all goes according to plan, the sixth Music Director in the history of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra will be announced early in 2013, and will serve as principal conductor for concerts during the 2013-14 season.”

The Windsor Canadian Music Festival (WCMF), an annual collaboration between the School of Music at the University of Windsor and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, is taking place this week at assorted venues in Windsor. The program – developed under the guidance of WCMF artistic advisor Dr. Brent Lee – features a full concert by the Windsor Symphony (led by music director John Morris Russell), a U of W faculty concert, talks and panel discussions, “Phog Phunk Phest VI” — and a generous and wide-ranging aesthetic. According to the WSO media release, “the WSO performance will feature a program of commissioned works for chamber orchestra and interactive electronics by David Eagle, Keith Hamel, Jim Harley and Brent Lee. Each composer will create a work that takes advantage of 14 individually amplified instruments whose sound is processed in real time using Max MSP software and diffused through a multichannel sound system.”

For more information on this ingenious and eclectic program, please visit windsorsymphony.com.

Last week, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra reached an agreement in principle with the City of Windsor for the future use of downtown Windsor’s historic Capitol Theatre. The agreement stipulates that the City would make necessary repairs and renovations to make the Capitol more suitable as a concert hall and home base for the orchestra and its operations, while preserving the flexibility to serve other art forms. Under the agreement, the WSO will manage the facility while ownership will remain with the City.

As regular readers of Orchestra News may recall, in recent years the WSO has explored various options for a new concert hall.

“We are grateful for this opportunity to help preserve a significant heritage building for the benefit of our community and the arts groups that perform here,” says WSO Executive Director Jeth Mill. “The Capitol Theatre will provide an attractive concert hall in which to showcase the Music Director candidates who will conduct the orchestra during our 2012-2013 concert season.”

For more information about the WSO, please visit windsorsymphony.com.

This weekend, January 28 and 29, jazz pianist Ron Davis, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and its music director, John Morris Russell, embark on a collaboration that will feature two performances and culminate in a CD recording. The project, titled SymphRonica, is jazz piano and symphony orchestra fused together to create what Davis calls, “a stunning new kind of music.”

This weekend’s concerts mark a return engagement for Davis with the WSO, following a successful collaboration in 2009. This time around, though, there will be a pair of concerts followed by a “closed theatre” recording of the program. The release date for the CD will be announced soon. For more, please visit windsorsymphony.com.