Message
from the President
Message
from the President
We are so delighted
that Thomas Jones had a wonderful first season with us. Although Tom had played
in orchestras with great international conductors (he has a Masters Degree in
Musical Performance, double bass), this was his first time conducting a full
season with his own orchestra. He chose the repertoire for the concerts to suit
the musicians of the orchestra and help develop our technique; however he chose
many pieces for their appeal to the audience….and you responded
enthusiastically to the music and to his commentary on the music.
A great big thank you
to all the musicians who played and sang with us this year.
Most of our players are amateurs who play for the love of it. To the ones
who are leaving for new school and life opportunities, good luck! For the
returning musicians next year ..lets have fun again. Special thanks to our
section coordinators Matt Whitehead and Lynne Smythe-Barons.
We try to make concert
going a good experience for all of you and appreciate the professional and
gracious staff at the Capitol Centre, our musical home. I was especially
grateful for the extended service they gave to us on the night of the last
concert when we had the blackout. Nobody fell in the dark, no instruments were
wrecked, tempers were maintained, hands held, the soloist was exceptionally
gracious, and cheers erupted when the lights came on at the last possible moment
before we would have had to cancel! Thanks to all of you for your patient and
tedious wait before the doors could be opened safely and the sound check
completed.
A partnership with the
collective “Art on
Besides concerts, we
continue community outreach through education programmes: Grade 4 visits to 34
classrooms (thanks Mary, Rachel, Joel and Jordan), visits to primary classrooms
with little violins and big cello and double bass (thanks Tom and Jordan) and a
children’s concert with Matthew Jones in February.
We also look on some of
our fundraisers as outreach to let people know we are here; we are grateful to
the many volunteers who worked at the Christmas Carol Sing-along, Bingo, Tag Day
and the Garden Tour. All of these activities, along with the regular concerts,
need planning and administering. We do not have a General Manager so here’s a
big thank you to our working Board who put a lot of love and effort into the joy
of music in
With the hard work of Paul Baker, Community Development Coordinator, we were able to add value for our kind sponsors this year. I urge you to look in the enclosed brochure to see these corporate benefactors. Thanks to better advertising and news articles, we had our best audience attendance in many seasons.
Your
community orchestra has an inspirational season planned for next year!
·
The haunting concert in October will begin with the Overture to
Don Giovanni because of the opera’s ghostly conclusion.
In the opera, Giovanni is confronted by Death who appears in a graveyard.
Our own musicians play. Nigel Robbins on oboe d’amore (what is that
instrument?) plays the world premier of the orchestral version of
“Northern Skies” by Bracebridge composer Nancy Telfer. This piece was
written especially for Nigel. Jordan Wyshniowsky delights us and his
·
In December get in the Christmas spirit with our theme of a
youthful Christmas with the brilliant young Temagami violinist Denise Cracknell
playing a movement of the famous Tchaikovsky violin concerto, and our youth
orchestra giving pep to the Christmas favourites performed by the Symphony and
Community Choir…..sing along! Christmas stories in music will run from the
greatest story of them all to Dr. Seuss’ Grinch and Charlie Brown, and the
feeling of Christmas on Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Steppes.
·
In February there is music from two of the greatest composers who
ever lived in combination with one of
· In April each piece selected tells a story through the music. You visualize the characters in the story of Peter and the Wolf (Prokofieff) brought to life by various instruments, and explained in the sparse and effective narration by our Shaw Festival Star, Blair Williams. The composer Prokofieff was a great storyteller and we ask you to listen and imagine the twists and turns in another of his stories in music: Lieutenant Kije, a nonexistent military officer invented by the bureacracy to keep the Russian Tsar happy…how will they kill Kije off? Later in our program, flamboyant characters in the Carmen story appear in Bizet’s music, with gypsy and Spanish motifs and better-than-soap-opera emotional highs.
Thomas Jones is the supervisor and Artistic Head of the Symphony String School, a new venture for us this year. Jordan Wyshniowsky ( principal cello in the orchestra) is the teacher and can be reached at 498-7744. Lessons in violin, viola, cello and double bass are available at competitive rates and ensemble training can be part of the experience for adults and children. Tom and Jordan have noticed the gains children make in thinking and concentration as well as musicality through their lessons.
As always, a big thank
you to our donors and patrons who help us with the concert attendance and
finances to keep us going and by constructive comments. We listen; we need your
encouragement, ideas and input to make the best community orchestra possible for
the Near North District. You support us in our mission to entertain, enrich and
educate through the performance of music.
I hope you will find our new concert season exciting. Please subscribe and invite your friends to come too!
Janet Zimbalatti, President
24 April, 2007