Prelude Magazine Winter 2022/2023

Dining

CONNECTING GENERATIONS

Official Program of the Calgary Philharmonic | Music Director Rune Bergmann | Winter 2022/2023

Jeremy Clark finds place and purpose at Calgary Phil

Karl Hirzer reflects on his time as Associate Conductor

in tune with the Calgary Phil

YMCA Calgary arts programs focus on youth

Heather Wootton looks at the impact of PhilKids

Exploring musical growth with the Calgary Youth Orchestra and the Calgary Philharmonic

Message from the President + CEO

Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

205 8 Ave SE

Calgary, AB T2G 0K9 Box Office: 403.571.0849 calgaryphil.com

Simon MacLeod

| Managing Editor

Janet Bwititi | Editorial Advisor

Omar Jeha

| Art Director

Don Anderson Allan Gordon Bell Karl Hirzer

Vincent Ho Liz Middleton Stephania Romaniuk Donovan Seidle Aurora Sol Kathryn Ward Heather Wootton | Contributors

on the cover

Adriana Lebedovich Oscar Spencer Patrick Staples Isaac Willocks shot by HarderLee Studios featured in the cover story on page 30

Venue Partner

For advertising inquires, please email Simon MacLeod at smacleod@calgaryphil.com

Prelude is published three times a year by the Calgary Philharmonic Society. Copyright 2022 by Calgary Philharmonic Society. No part of this publication may be reproduced without express written consent of the publisher.

feature A Rewarding Investment

Orchestra Chorus Rune's Christmas

Sounds of the Season: On the Road Home Alone in Concert Traditional Christmas feature Pairing Music with Food Heroes of Film

Charlotte and the Music Maker Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

Brahms X Radiohead

cover story A Journey from Musical Youth to Mastery Mozart's Double Piano

feature Q + A with Associate Conductor Karl Hirzer

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanTM in Concert

Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip

Beethoven Lives Upstairs New World / New Generation

51 feature YMCA Expands Arts Programming Across the City

Songwriter Spotlight: Celeigh Cardinal + Shawnee Kish feature PhilKids Find Voice in Music

The Best of Whitney

We acknowledge that we come together and create music on land known by the Blackfoot name Moh'kinsstis, which we also call Calgary. This land is on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Piikani, and Kanai First Nations), the Îyâxe Nakoda (Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley First Nations), and the Tsuut'ina First Nations, as well as the Métis Nation of Alberta, Region 3. We honour this land and all those who share it in a spirit of peace, friendship, and respect.

Administration

Siân Alcorn

| Sales Assistant

Alysha Armanious

| Manager, Education + Outreach

Megan Beaudoin

| Digital Marketing Specialist

Janet Bwititi

| Director, Marketing + Sales

Scott Carey

| Grant Writer

Sonny Carmona

| Marketing + Sales Coordinator

Felicia Chow

| Office Administrator

Viviana D’Ambrosio

| Senior Development Officer

Manisha Dangol

| Development Officer

Andrea Davison

| Interim Director, Artistic + Education

Marian Dyck

| Box Office Support

Dennis Envoldsen

| Visual Content Specialist

Laura Gillespie

| Operations Accountant

Rob Grewcock

| Music Librarian

Karen Halford-Edwards

| Intermediate Accountant

Hello everyone,

The holiday season is perfect for connecting with family and communities, and this year, the Calgary Phil is getting back out across our city to celebrate with everyone. You’ll find us at the YMCAs, Jubilee Auditorium, Grace Presbyterian Church, and popping up in office blocks.

I didn’t grow up with much orchestral music — but the Star Wars soundtrack and a vinyl record of Peter and the Wolf made their mark. This led me to stumble accidentally into the magical world of the orchestra. The Calgary Phil’s dream is to provide access and opportunity to life-changing experiences for EVERYONE. We must open doors, inspire curiosity, and ensure everyone feels that the Calgary Phil belongs to them.

We are building community and empowering curiosity through the after-school program of PhilKids, our Band Together program, concerts for schools and families throughout the season, and the collaborations across Calgary with wonderful partners including the YMCA, and the renowned Calgary Youth Orchestra.

In the new year, maybe I’ll see you at the Whitney Houston tribute, or the incredible concert with Shawnee Kish and Celeigh Cardinal. I’m looking forward to Mozart's Double Piano with MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artist Ryan Zhu and Canadian star Charles Richard-Hamelin; and we’ll celebrate wonderful Associate Conductor Karl Hirzer, in his last year in this role, with his Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip. Bring your friends and come and say hello to us — I’m looking forward to seeing you!

Marc Stevens

President + CEO

Joanne Harada

| Artistic Planning Advisor

Courtney Ilie

| Associate Director, Sales

Omar Jeha

| Graphic Designer

Lisa Korolyk

| Events Coordinator

Maria Lamas CPA, CGA, PCP

| Director, Finance + Administration

Dagny MacGregor

| Sales Manager

Simon MacLeod

| Communications Manager

Tayla Mapatac

| Front of House Coordinator

Adam Masson

| Concert Operations Coordinator

Megan Robertson

| Assistant to the President + CEO

Barbara Soles

| Senior Development Officer

Jason Stasiuk

| Manager, Artistic Operations

Marc Stevens

| President + CEO

Jessica Szeto

| Information Systems + Technology Specialist

Michael Thomson

| Director, Orchestra Operations

calgaryphil.com | 403.571.0849

Board of Directors

Glenn Bontje

Monica Cheng Fern Cyr

Niki Dunne

Rebecca Finley-Schidlowsky

Corinne Grigoriu

| Governance Committee Chair

Samuel Hayes

| Finance + Audit Committee Chair

Don Herman

James Kusie Dr. John Lacey

Elizabeth Middleton

Tracy Seaman

Donovan Seidle

Casey Smith

Marc Stevens

| Ex-officio

Janet Yuchem

| Board Chair

Calgary Philharmonic Foundation Trustees

Courtney Burton

| Secretary

David Daly

| Vice President

Joel Douglas

| Treasurer

Samuel Hayes

Jim Hughes

Letha MacLachlan QC

Eileen Marikar

| Assistant Treasurer

Byron Neiles

Ellen Parker

Ryan Stasynec

| President

For an up-to-date list on administration, board members, and trustees, visit calgaryphil.com/about.

Whether you are new to the Calgary Phil or you've been coming to concerts for years, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions to make your experience as enjoyable as it can be.

What do I wear to the Orchestra?

Whatever you want! At the Calgary Phil there is no formal dress code. We want you to feel happy and relaxed so you can enjoy the performance. Most attendees wear business-casual attire, but you will see everything from jeans to cocktail wear. Dress in your own style and what makes you most comfortable.

What is your mobile phone policy?

One of the joys of a live concert is you can sit back and experience the music without distractions, but we also know you don’t want to miss an important message or call. So, if you leave your mobile device on, we simply ask that you turn the sound off, turn the brightness down, and be considerate of your neighbours.

Where can I find parking?

There are several parking lots in the area but leave yourself time to find a spot as they fill up fast. Underground parking is available at Arts Commons and the nearby Civic Plaza and TELUS Convention Centre parkades. If you take the CTrain, the stations are located one block from Arts Commons. Also, bike racks can be found on Stephen Avenue in front of the Jack Singer Concert Hall.

Are drinks allowed in the concert hall?

Yes! All drinks are permitted in the concert hall, with the exception of the occasional concert. Many people arrive early to enjoy a drink in the lobby before the performance. You can also order your drinks before the concert and pick them up from the bar at intermission.

Can I take photos or videos in the concert hall?

We'd love for you to share your Calgary Phil experience and capture your favourite moments. For most concerts you can take a quick photo or video, but don’t use flash — it can interfere with the musicians’ performance.

When do I clap?

This is our most common question. Traditionally in classical music culture, audiences hold their applause until the end of an entire piece (there can be multiple movements, with short breaks between them, in one piece). This is intended to respect the performers’ focus and the flow of the music. You’ll know when the piece is finished because the conductor typically puts their arms down completely and turns to the audience. But if you do happen to clap before the piece is finished, that’s okay! The musicians will be happy to know you’re enjoying the performance.

What happens if I’m late?

We realize that even the best laid plans sometimes go sideways. Ushers do their best to seat latecomers at appropriate breaks in the performance, but in some cases, this may not be possible until the completion of an entire work. We don’t want you to miss anything, so you can listen to the music and watch the screens in the lobby.

How long is a concert?

Concert length varies, but a typical performance starting at 7:30PM is about two hours long including a 20-minute intermission. Shorter concerts may not feature an intermission. Symphony Sundays for Kids concerts are held on select Sundays at 3PM, and are usually one hour long with no intermission.

For more questions and the most up-to-date Health + Safety measures, visit calgaryphil.com/ plan-your-visit

Orchestra

Rune Bergmann

| Music Director

Karl Hirzer

| Associate Conductor

Cris Derksen

| Artistic Advisor

Roberto Minczuk

| Music Director Laureate

Hans Graf

| Music Director Laureate

Mario Bernardi | Conductor Laureate Cenek Vrba | Concertmaster Emeritus

First Violins

Diana Cohen

| Concertmaster John Lowry | Associate Concertmaster Donovan Seidle | Assistant Concertmaster

Eric Auerbach Edmund Chung Hangyul Kim Olga Kotova Bonnie Louie Genevieve Micheletti Maria van der Sloot Hojean Yoo

Second Violins

Lorna Tsai

| Principal Stephanie Soltice-Johnson | Assistant Principal Erin Burkholder

Jeremy Gabbert Hyewon Grillet-Kim Craig Hutchenreuther Minnie Min Kyung Kwon Theresa Lane Adriana Lebedovich Steven J. Lubiarz

Violas

Laurent Grillet-Kim

| Principal Marcin Swoboda

| Assistant Principal Arthur Bachmann Jeremy Bauman Peter Blake Michael Bursey Alisa Klebanov Jesse Morrison

Cellos

Arnold Choi

| Principal Josué Valdepeñas | Assistant Principal Dongkyun An Kathleen de Caen Thomas Megee David Morrissey Daniel Poceta Basses

Sam Loeck

| Principal Kyle Sanborn | Assistant Principal Matthew Heller Trish Bereti-Reid Patrick Staples Jonathan Yeoh

Flutes

Sara Hahn-Scinocco | Principal Gwen Klassen | Assistant Principal

Piccolo

Gwen Klassen Oboes

Alex Klein | Principal David Sussman | Assistant Principal

English

Horn

David Sussman

Clarinets

Slavko Popovic | Principal Jocelyn Colquhoun | Assistant Principal

Bassoons

Antoine St-Onge | Principal Michael Hope

| Assistant Principal

Horns

Position to be filled | Principal Jennifer Frank-Umana | Associate Principal Position to be filled | Assistant Principal Maxwell Stein | Assistant Principal Heather Wootton | Assistant Principal

Trumpets

Adam Zinatelli | Principal Miranda Cairns | Assistant Principal

Trombones

James Scott | Principal Position to be filled | Assistant Principal

Bass Trombone David Reid | Principal

Tuba

Tom McCaslin | Principal

Timpani

Alexander Cohen | Principal

Percussion

Position to be filled

| Principal

calgaryphil.com | 403.571.0849

Harp

Tisha Murvihill | Principal

Learn more about our musicians at calgaryphil.com/ musicians.

The Calgary Phil is proud to perform live symphonic music for Alberta Ballet, Calgary Opera, and the Honens International Piano Competition.

Repertoire often requires extra musicians including:

Gianetta Baril, harp Rolf Bertsch, keyboard Tim Borton, percussion Alicia Bots, bassoon Lise Boutin, violin Jeremy Brown, saxophone Stan Climie, clarinet Neil Cockburn, harpsichord + organ Aidan Dugan, oboe John Feldberg, bassoon Sarah Gieck, flute Gareth Jones, trumpet Janet Kuschak, cello Malcolm Lim, percussion Andrea Neumann, violin Aura Pon, oboe Richard Scholz, trumpet Eva Sztrain, violin Doug Umana, horn

The members of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra are members of The Calgary Musicians Association, Local 547 of the American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada.

Rune Bergmann Music Director

Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann is Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the Szczecin Philharmonic in Poland, and Music Director of Switzerland’s Argovia Philharmonic. Guest engagements in the 2022/2023 Season bring Bergmann once again to the podiums of the Baltimore, North Carolina, and Málaga Symphony Orchestras. He will also make his debut with the recently formed ADDA Simfònica in Spain. Bergmann’s recent guest engagements include concerts with the Baltimore, Colorado Detroit, Edmonton, Houston, New Jersey, and Pacific symphony orchestras in North America, and the Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orquesta Sinfónica Portuguesa, Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, Orquesta de València, Staatskapelle Halle, Wrocław Philharmonic, and the Risør Festival in Europe, to name a few. Bergmann has also led performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and La Traviata at the Norwegian National Opera and he made his US operatic debut in Yale Opera’s production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as staged by Claudia Solti. Previous guest engagements have led him to such auspices as the Oslo Philharmonic, New Mexico Philharmonic, Münchner Symphoniker, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, Philharmonie Südwestfalen, as well as the symphony orchestras of Malmö, Helsingborg, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim, Karlskrona, and Odense.

Karl Hirzer Associate Conductor

Karl Hirzer can’t remember a time when he didn’t want to be a musician. Growing up in New Westminster, BC in a household filled with music, his parents had Glenn Gould and Louis Armstrong on the stereo, and his mother sang along to Irish folk songs on the radio. He was 'composing' at the family piano by age four and formal piano lessons began at six. At 12, he started playing guitar in metal bands and dreamed of becoming a rock star while simultaneously perfecting Chopin études and Beethoven sonatas, earning his ARCT at 17. Today he is Associate Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic and has led orchestras from Vancouver to Halifax, from the Gstaad Festival to education concerts in Warsaw. Hirzer studied to become a solo pianist at the University of Victoria before getting his Master of Music at McGill University. He got his first taste of conducting an orchestra during his undergrad and basked in the wondrous experience of sharing his musical ideas with musicians and audiences through simple gestures. He believes music plays an essential role in our lives and is especially committed to exploring music by living composers. He is also heavily invested in bringing music to young audiences. He continues to perform as an instrumentalist and also composes his own music, blending genres while mixing acoustic and electronic instruments. Heads up — Karl Hirzer’s first album of original material will be released in spring of 2023.

Cris Derksen Artistic Advisor

Juno-nominated Cris Derksen is an internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. In a world where almost everything — people, music, cultures — gets labelled and slotted into simple categories, Derksen represents a challenge. Originally from Northern Alberta, she comes from a line of chiefs from North Tallcree Reserve on her father’s side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother’s. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music. As a performer, Derksen has appeared nationally and internationally as a soloist and in collaboration with some of Canada’s finest, including Tanya Tagaq, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Naomi Klein, and Leanne Simpson, to name a few. Recent concert destinations include Hong Kong, Australia, Mongolia, Sweden, and a whole lot of Canada: the place Derksen refers to as home. Derksen’s 2021 commissions included pieces for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Ottawa’s Chamberfest, the City of Toronto, Edmonton New Music, the Edmonton Symphony with support from the National Arts Centre, Vancouver’s Blueridge Chamber Festival, Vancouver Transform Cabaret, and a fourpart docuseries for the Knowledge Network. A new album of Cris Derksen’s works will be released in 2022.

Your Phil. Your Style.

Mark Bartel Chorus Master

Dr. Mark Bartel is in demand as a versatile conductor and music educator. After a 16-year tenure in the United States, he returned to Canada in 2019 to join the faculty at Ambrose University as Associate Professor of Music. Since arriving in Calgary, he has been Chorus Master with the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, as well as Artistic Director of the Spiritus Chamber Choir. Bartel is known for his musical, educational, and community collaborations and has established a reputation as a successful builder of choirs and choral programs. He has conducted college and university choirs for over 20 years and has extensive experience leading a wide range of community choirs in both the United States and Canada. In addition to his interest in choralorchestral works and choral music of the Baroque period, he brings his expertise as a solo singer and teacher of applied voice to his work with choirs. Bartel is a passionate advocate of the impact of the choral experience in the lives of choristers, in communities, and society at large.

Chorus

About the Chorus

Established in 1963, the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus is one of only two choruses in Canada that is part of a major professional symphony orchestra. The Chorus performs a wide variety of repertoire, including oratorio, opera, light classics, contemporary music, pops, and commissioned new works. In a typical season, the acclaimed ensemble is featured in four to eight concerts with the Orchestra. The Chorus is made up of more than 120 dedicated volunteer singers from Calgary and surrounding communities who come from all walks of life. Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2023, the Chorus delivers excellence in the performance of choral music and promotes the enjoyment and development of choral singing in Calgary communities.

Mark Bartel

| Chorus Master

Evan Mounce | Assistant Chorus Master

Katt Hryciw | Chorus Administrator

Sopranos

Karine Baumgardner Lyndsay Bellemore

Katherine Biggart Ellen Borak Michelle Bozynski Tricia Bray Carolyn Byers Christina Candra Twylla Jayne Conn Sheila Cook Laura Davis Charmaine de Jong Ina Dobrinski Larissa Donnelly Megan Duckett Gail Feltham Ymène Fouli Sim Galloway Carolyn Hatt Robyn Hauck Dale Hensley Jessica How Amethyst Klintberg Freya Melax Gillian Posey Colleen Potter Brier Reid Becky Salmond Lisa Sears-Walsh Joan Simmins Barbara Soles Becky Standing Chantelle Stevenson Melissa Symanczyk | Section Representative Crystal Tan Norma Webb

Dianne Williams Chelsea Woodard | Principal Betsy Woolner

Altos

Louisa Adria Margaret Anderson Susan Bell Barbara Boland Michelle Cariou Indrani Chatterjee | Section Representative Tanya Chow Breanne Coady Bernie Constantin Yvonne Courtney Ruth Cross

Shirley Cumming Gillian Forster Racheal Githumbi Kay Harrison Pat Heitman

Amanda Holt Helen Isaac Allison Johnson Cynthia Klaassen Heather Klassen Marlene Krickhan Catherine Lasuita Megan Lundrigan Barbara Mathies Susan Mendonca Julia Millen | Principal Patty Mino Cindy Neufeld Britt Odegard Mara Osis Karen Palmer Anastasiya Petruk Anne Rodger Monica Samper Liv Sawyer

Patti Vaillant Julia Vanden Heuvel Vitaliia Vash Kaitlin Walker Dayna Wiebe

Tenors

Tim Ahrenholz

Tim Bell

| Section Representative

Keevin Berg

Tristram Chivers

Philip Dano

Pat Favaro

Richard Harding Katt Hryciw James Hume

Juan Manuel López

Eric Ma

Jason Ragan

| Principal Peter Rilstone

Richard Seale Dennis Voth Basses Archie Adams Odeniyi Ayo-Ajayi Bamzy Banwo

Aaron Bartholomew | Principal Cam Bischoff Glenn Bontje Ian Charter Chad Conrad Tim Cooke Kevin Di Filippo Arthur Dick Alan Dornian Mark Dumbrique

| Section Representative

John Ghitan

Al Huber

Eric Klaassen

Drew Kotchan

David Mark Martin Mobach

Keith Odegard

Dave Pattison

Dana Salter

David Schey

Greg Wagland

Richard Wanner

Jim Weisert Keith Wyenberg

A REWARDING INVESTMENT

Jeremy Clark on the Legacy of Philanthropy

By Stephania Romaniuk

It's called a Gordie Howe hat trick: a goal, an assist, and a fight,” recollects Jeremy Clark, a long-time donor of the Calgary Philharmonic. “I was on the high school soccer team. It'd be two-thirds of the way through the game, and I'd just be tired of playing, so I would get myself kicked out. I was that kind of guy. I had skills, but I wasn't being deliberate. I was randomly floating along, and eventually, I was placed on academic probation and almost flunked out of McGill.”

Jeremy had studied neuroscience in Montréal, but his grades upon graduation were not enough to pursue the career he wanted, so he came out west, where his parents had relocated, to regroup. “I felt like I was at the bottom of the pack. So really, it was a process in my mid to late 20s of reinventing how I thought and being more purposeful and deliberate. And when you start doing that, you start noticing other people who do it, too.”

Jeremy was looking for a social circle in Calgary and began attending McGill alumni events. He met John Gareau, a philanthropist and Calgary Phil donor. After a few years, the two found themselves at another networking event on opposite sides of a heated panel debate on investment strategies for retirement. “I could see him thinking, 'Who's this young guy who's actually going to go toe to toe with me?' And I was being respectful, but I certainly wasn't backing down. And that's when the friendship came.”

A few years later, a seat opened on the Board of the Calgary Philharmonic Foundation, and, to Jeremy’s surprise, John nominated him to become a trustee. Although Jeremy had only begun attending concerts a few years earlier, he had grown up participating in community service and believed in contributing to organizations

he valued, even when his earnings were modest. So, Jeremy joined the Foundation as its youngest board member and, less than a decade later, became its President.

Although conservative when managing risk for his clients at CH Financial, the company he leads as President + CEO, Jeremy thrives on the chance to support start-up ventures at the Calgary Phil. Jeremy is the founding and lead donor for Music to My Ears, a Calgary Phil donor recognition program and music education initiative. Along with fellow donors Walt and Irene DeBoni and the Foundation, he also invested in the Orchestra’s live-streaming infrastructure, the timing of which could not have been more fortuitous.

In 2017, Music Director Rune Bergmann approached Jeremy, the DeBonis, and the Foundation with the idea to launch live-streaming at the Calgary Phil. Major renovations at the Jack Singer Concert Hall were planned for that summer, and the team saw an opportunity to invest in all the necessary equipment the Orchestra would need, not only to create livestreams, but ones that would change the industry standard. “Most orchestras had only basic infrastructure, and recorded performances were visually static and predictable. We wanted to make an almost NFL experience for the viewer,” recalls Jeremy. After a few years of live-streaming, the Calgary Phil was perfectly poised to take concerts online when the pandemic hit, broadening and diversifying its audience in the process.

The success of the live-stream initiative also helped launch the Calgary Phil’s capital campaign, Ad Astra. The campaign will sustainably grow the endowment and secure the long-term operations of the Orchestra. The endowment is one of

the largest for Canadian orchestras and has grown from less than $1 million in 2000 to over $43 million in 2022, thanks in part to the prudent stewardship of the Foundation under Jeremy’s tenure.

Of the many notable projects

Jeremy has been involved with at the Orchestra, however, his proudest personal achievement is successfully auditioning to host pre-concert talks. Several times a year, Jeremy interviews musicians and engages audience members with questions before performances, bringing the unabashed curiosity of a selfprofessed musical novice.

At 47, Jeremy is young to have a more-than-20-year-involvement with the Calgary Phil. He credits the transformation of his early career trajectory in part to having the encouragement and honest advice of others, mentorship Jeremy now pays forward to the next generation of enthusiastic Calgary Phil supporters.

“Although my parents never sat me down and said, 'Son, this is what philanthropy is,' my mentors were that direct. Dick Matthews, a legendary Calgary Phil donor, took me aside and said, 'Clark if you're going to show up here with your party friends, you better do something serious.' Working with these great arts supporters — I saw their seriousness, their long-term commitment,” he adds.

“I think that willingness to learn and stay the course is what my mentors saw in me and what I've seen in the people I've started to mentor. People who are building the Foundation, regenerating the Board, taking on major leadership roles — people who will likely surpass my involvement one day.” Jeremy says. “Finding somewhere you really belong, where you can give a purpose to your skills — you can't put a price on that.”

Rune's Christmas

Friday 2 December / 7:30PM / Specials

Saturday 3 December / 2:30PM / Relaxed Jack Singer Concert Hall

Supported by Chorus Sponsor: Borak Forte Program Program

Rune Bergmann, conductor Cantaré Children’s Choir Calgary Philharmonic Chorus

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Christmas Overture 5'

Lars-Erik Larsson A Winter’s Tale, Op. 18 10'

Ola Gjeilo Tundra 4'

Ruth Henderson Lullaby for the Christ Child 2'

Kim Andre Arnesen Cradle Hymn 6'

Johann Sebastian Bach Jauchzet, frohlocket! from 7' Christmas Oratorio

John Rutter Allegro vivace from Gloria 5'

Kim Andre Arnesen Magnificat 5'

George Frideric Handel Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah 4'

Cantaré Children’s Choir Ensemble

Cantaré Children’s Choir, formed in 1997 by Founder/Artistic Director Catherine Glaser-Climie, is Calgary’s premiere program for children/ youth dedicated to providing an extraordinary choral music experience through excellence in performance, outstanding music education, and community outreach through song and touring. Cantaré has established an enviable reputation for the musical sophistication, gorgeous tone, and impeccable technique its members express. In addition to presenting their own acclaimed concert series, this award-winning choir has performed for prestigious events across the country including a private performance for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in Ottawa and annual performances as the Resident Artist of the Field of Crosses Memorial during the 11 days of Remembrance. Cantaré regularly performs in collaboration with the Calgary Philharmonic, Calgary Opera, and other prominent ensembles across Alberta. Singers ages 6 to 18 come together in one of four ensembles to share in the very finest sacred and secular works from Baroque to challenging contemporary pieces. The choir is known as a champion of works by Canadian composers and have commissioned nearly 20 works in its 25 seasons. Cantaré has won awards at all levels including First Prize at Canada’s National Music Festival. Their choristers are ambassadors for Calgary through concert tours across Canada, the US, and Europe.

Rune Bergmann biography on page 7 Calgary Philharmonic Chorus biography on page 9

There's something for everyone in your life at the Calgary Phil, with a variety of concerts from blockbuster hits to new discoveries and pop favourites to orchestral classics. The best gifts are the memories you'll make together, so visit calgaryphil.com to find an experience they'll remember.

for

the dedicated frontline worker

for the superhero fanatic

for the indie enthusiast

A gift card for a concert of their choice!

for the little ones

Introduce them to the Orchestra through our Symphony Sundays for Kids concerts.

Brahms X Radiohead 28 January for the pop powerhouse

for the singersongwriter fan Songwriter Spotlight: Celeigh Cardinal + Shawnee Kish 11 February for the piano lover

Katherine Chi performs Beethoven 12 + 13 May

for the fashion-forward

The Best of Whitney 10 + 11 March for the big sound buff

Our Calgary Phil merch collection includes socks, tees, and more!

for the night owl

Marvel Studios Presents Black Panther in Concert 18 + 19 May for the choral lover

Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip 3 March

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony 20 + 21 January

Let Voices Resound 21 April for the rocker

Brass Transit: The Music of Chicago 14 + 15 April

Home Alone in Concert

Sarah Hicks Conductor

Sarah Hicks’s versatile and vibrant musicianship has secured her place as an in-demand conductor across various genres. Her career has seen collaborations with diverse artists, from Hilary Hahn and Dmitri Hvorostovsky to Rufus Wainwright, Jennifer Hudson, and Smokey Robinson. Her passion for cross-genre partnerships led to a 2019 album with rap artist Dessa and the Minnesota Orchestra, with whom she holds a titled position as conductor. A specialist in film music and the film in concert genre, she has premiered Pixar in Concert and Disney and Pixar’s Coco, and her live concert recordings can be seen on Disney+ and heard on ABC. Her film music concert with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, The Morricone Duel, was released as an album in 2018 and has been broadcast worldwide, garnering over 200 million views on YouTube. Her notable conducting collaborations include the Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and San Francisco symphony orchestras, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Boston Pops. International engagements include the Toronto, Melbourne, and Czech National symphony orchestras, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Tokyo and Malaysian philharmonic orchestras, and many others.

Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium Specials

Program

Sarah Hicks, conductor University of Calgary Chorus

John Williams Home Alone (Film with Orchestra) 129'

University of Calgary Chorus Ensemble

The University of Calgary Chorus is the largest choir at the University of Calgary’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, providing an opportunity for all university students to be involved in a choral experience. Membership is maintained at approximately 85, with a very good balance of voice parts. The Chorus’ repertoire consists of classic major works and Canadian, folk, and contemporary pieces.

Carl Mayotte Quintet

March 13 | University Theatre March 18

Musique music composed by women

Audrey Ochoa with UCalgary Jazz Orchestra Feb. 27 | University Theatre

Incredible jazz and classical performances by Canadian and international artists. Tickets and

Traditional Christmas

Tuesday 13 December / 7:30PM

Wednesday 14 December / 7:30PM

Grace Presbyterian Church Specials

Supported by Associate Conductor Supporter: Mary Rozsa de Coquet Program

Karl Hirzer, conductor Calgary Girls Choir

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Christmas Overture 5'

Benjamin Britten Procession from A Ceremony of Carols 2'

Randall Thompson The Carol of the Rose from 5' The Place of the Blest

Traditional O Come All Ye Faithful 3' (arr. David Willcocks)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Trépak from The Nutcracker 2'

Kirke Mechem Seven Joys of Christmas 13'

Ruth Elaine Schram Holy Night, Silent Night 5'

Traditional Hark! The Herald Angels Sing 3' (arr. David Willcocks)

Leroy Anderson Sleigh Ride 3'

Ralph Vaughan Williams Winter from Folk Songs of the 13' Four Seasons This concert has no intermission Program and artists subject to change without notice

Calgary Girls Choir Ensemble

The Calgary Girls Choir (CGC) inspires girls and women to meet the artistic and creative challenge of choral music performance. The Choir is an internationally recognized and celebrated organization offering exceptional musical education, premieres of commissioned works, recording, artistic collaborations, and outstanding performance and touring opportunities. Through a commitment to artistic and personal excellence, singers develop leadership skills, independence, self-discipline and confidence. Their lives are uplifted though a personal and meaningful connection to music. The CGC program offers training to choirs ranging in age from 5 to adult and acknowledges the importance of quality repertoire and excellence in training. Choristers push the boundaries of their abilities in the pursuit of choral excellence and express themselves through joyful singing. Members of the Calgary Girls Choir carry that skill as they find their voice in all aspects of life. The Calgary Girls Choir fosters and develops the personal and social development of its choristers. They experience the power that the arts have to change lives and thus, develop an awareness of the contributions they can make in our community, country and the world. They have a voice and learn to use it with intelligence, heart and compassion.

Karl Hirzer biography on page 7

PAIRING MUSIC WITH FOOD

Five Restaurants to Check Out this Winter

By Liz Middleton

I

love Calgary, and there are so many great dining options in this city. Whether you’re spending time with family, entertaining clients, or visiting with friends, here are my top picks for dinner and drinks before or after a matinee or evening concert with your Calgary Phil.

1. FLORES & PINE

A great place to eat before Sounds of the Season: On the Road at the Rocky Ridge YMCA on 6 December is Flores & Pine in the northwest. They have a fantastic wood-fired grill which makes rotisserie chickens, racks of lamb, and tomahawk steaks. Their grazing board of game meats and cheeses is totally shareable. For those gluten-free and vegan, there are some great options, including their herb pistou roasted cauliflower or wild mushroom risotto.

2. LULU BAR

Before taking in Traditional Christmas at the beautiful Grace Presbyterian Church on 13 + 14 December, check out LuLu Bar — a favourite in the Beltline. Escape the winter in this Hawaiianthemed restaurant with beautiful

cocktails and dishes like fried coconut squid and crispy duck. They have many vegan-friendly dishes too, like crispy rice salad, king oyster mushroom skewers, and grilled zucchini with XO emulsion. I must also mention their signature dessert, the baked Hula — a very generous-sized ice cream cake smothered in fired meringue.

3. TEATRO

Just a few steps from the beautiful Jack Singer Concert Hall, Teatro is pure elegance and consistently excellent food and service that any serious foodie or global traveller would be impressed with. Their beef tartare, grilled octopus, burrata panzanella, and handmade pastas which can also go vegan, are out of this world. My main plate go-tos are roasted chicken or seared scallops with pork belly.

4. MAJOR TOM BAR

I’m especially looking forward to Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip on 3 March with Associate Conductor Karl Hirzer. For restaurants near The GRAND, at the top of my list

is Major Tom Bar. Must-do foods there: potato doughnuts with fresh cheese and aged balsamic, crab and shrimp roll, endive Waldorf salad, tomato and brioche salad, all the pastas, and their seriously good beef program. It can book out months ahead, so definitely plan if you can, or they also always leave space for some walk-ins.

5. SORELLA TRATTORIA

For families, I adore Sorella Trattoria by the Mercato family, a new restaurant on Centre Street north, and very easy to get downtown or to the Jubilee Auditorium for the Home Alone concert. I really enjoy their octopus with lentils and tartare with chickpea crisps. Their signature dish of cauliflower cacio e pepe is a must-do, as well as their lemon spaghetti which is very close to the same pasta I had in Sardinia. Kid-friendly beef ragu and croquettes with tomato jam would make any young child happy.

Liz Middleton is a dedicated community builder and purveyor of travel, fashion, and food experiences. Born in Vietnam, she has lived in New York City, Italy, West Africa, Melbourne, and now Calgary since 2013. She has been a Calgary Phil Board Director since September 2019. You can find all her favourites on Instagram @wherelizis and blog, This Calgary Life

Heroes of Film

Jack Singer Concert Hall

Pops Program

John Morris Russell, conductor

Program to be announced from stage

Concert includes a 20-minute intermission Program and artists subject to change without notice

A BRIEF HISTORY OF FILM MUSIC

T HE S ILE n CE OF THE F ILMS

From the 1890s through 1920s, silent films were accompanied by music provided by movie theatres, either by phonograph or performed by live musicians. Much like in the theatre of Ancient Greece and English Renaissance, musicians would improvise along to the film, or perform classical music that fit the mood as the film played.

IT ' S ALIVE! IT ' S ALIVE!

The 1930s and 1940s was a unique period in history. Despite it being a time of war and economic crisis, the world was alive with innovation and creativity. In film, comedies, action movies, and musicals helped moviegoers to leave their troubles at the door and film music began to evolve, with orchestral scores composed to match the emotions of the films themselves.

ALL THAT JAZZ

The latter half of the 20th century saw an overhaul of the idea of film music. Symphonic jazz/pop composers like Henry Mancini, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, and even Miles Davis found themselves writing for film, taking Hollywood film music in a different direction than the previous Europeaninfluenced sound in film.

THE BEGI nn I n G OF A BEAUTIFUL FRIE n DSHIP

The late 1960s began merging the mainstream music industry with film music, with movies creating an entire soundtrack using licensed songs from rock and roll/pop culture artists. The 1967 film The Graduate was among the first to use almost entirely licensed songs that had nothing to do with the film itself. Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs. Robinson is the only original song in the film, and is now a number one hit.

SY n TH CI n EMA

With the synthesizer becoming more popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s, films began to introduce a world of computerized music and sound effects with movies like Tron, Ghostbusters, and Footloose. The space opera Star Wars blended the symphonic scoring of John Wiliams with the mind of American sound designer Ben Burtt, who put the sounds of elephants, car engines, guide wires of a radio tower, and deep-sea diving gear through synthesizers to create the iconic out-of-this-world sound effects.

EVERYTHI n G BUT THE KITCHE n SI n K

In more than 100 years, film music has grown into its own unique art form, taking inspiration from almost every genre of music. While orchestral scores are still popular, there is a new balance of movies that use symphonic sounds, jazzy jingles, synthesized sonorities, rock and roll riffs, and pop bops. See you at the movies!

John Morris Russell Conductor

John Morris Russell is Conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, and Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. He is Conductor Laureate of the Windsor Symphony in Ontario. His recent collaborations around the world have included Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jon Kimura Parker, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michael McDonald, Cynthia Erivo, Cho-Liang Lin, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Megan Hilty, Brian Wilson, and Leslie Odom Jr. As a guest conductor, he has worked with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, New York Pops, and the National Symphony of Washington, DC. He frequently conducts Canadian orchestras, including Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, and has led the orchestras of Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas, Milwaukee, and Minnesota. He has also conducted important new works with Cincinnati Opera, including its first production of Hans Krasa’s Brundibár in 2000. In 2019, the world premiere of Blind Injustice, based on the book by Mark Godsey, was released on CD.

© Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

Charlotte and the Music Maker

Jennifer Tung Conductor

Chinese Canadian conductor

Jennifer Tung leads a uniquely versatile career as Music Director and pianist, Artistic Director of the Toronto City Opera, and Assistant Conductor to the Mississauga Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, Tung joined Tapestry Opera as conductor in the inaugural Women in Musical Leadership program (in partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Opera Victoria), where she served as Assistant Conductor for the world premiere of Brian Current’s Gould’s Wall (Tapestry Opera) and a new production of Orfeo ed Euridice (Vancouver Opera).

Tung has helmed productions of The Mikado, Sweeney Todd, and Peter Brook’s Tragedy of Carmen for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and in 2019, La Traviata for Opera York. She served as Assistant Conductor for the Dora Awardwinning opera Shanawdithit for Tapestry Opera and Opera on the Avalon. Tung serves on the faculty of Toronto’s Glenn Gould School and holds vocal performance and collaborative piano degrees from the Eastman School of Music.

Jennifer Tung appears with the Calgary Phil as a member of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership, a program designed to collectively develop the next generation of female and non-binary conductors and music directors in Canada.

© Dahlia Katz

Platypus Theatre Ensemble

Since 1989, almost one million young audience members have been introduced to classical music through Platypus Theatre. After more than 650 performances with more than 75 orchestras worldwide, Platypus has established itself as one of North America’s premiere music education theatre companies. Original and engaging storylines are presented intelligently and interactively, with music always taking the lead role. Children laugh, sing and empathize with the characters while learning musical concepts, styles, and much more. In 2006, one of Platypus’ most cherished productions, How the Gimquat Found Her Song, was produced for TV and won several awards, including Best Children’s Program at the prestigious Banff World Television Festival. In 1991, Platypus was the subject of a nationally broadcast documentary on CTV, followed by a PBS full-performance broadcast in 2000. During its 25th anniversary, Platypus premiered its eighth original production, Presto, Mambo!, in partnership with four orchestras across Canada. Other Platypus productions include Emily Saves the Orchestra, Rhythm In Your Rubbish, Bach to the Future, Charlotte and the Music Maker, Flicker of Light on a Winter’s Night, and Peter and the Wolf.

Peter Duschenes Artistic Director, Actor, and Writer

Alain Trudel Composer Graham Ross Illustrator

Wendy Rockburn Stage Manager

It’s more fun with friends

Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony

Friday 20 January / 7:30PM

Saturday 21 January / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall Curated Series 1

Supported by Guest Artist Supporter: Naomi + John Lacey Virtuoso Program Program

Roberto Minczuk, conductor Slavko Popovic, clarinet Neil Cockburn, organ Donovan Seidle Vernissage

Vernissage

Donovan Seidle (b. 1977)

I was commissioned by the Calgary Phil to write Vernissage in 2015 as a gift to honour retiring President and CEO, Ann Lewis Luppino. It was the wish that I use art in her collection as source material. The French term vernissage refers to a private showing of an art exhibition reserved for artists to varnish and put finishing touches to their paintings, and quite literally, varnishing.

The first movement is named after a piece by John Hartman set in Georgian Bay, Ontario. Small figurines blend in the background of the painting or, by contrast, are abstracted and stark against it. These represent the peaceable kingdom of Gilbert’s making. The movement glorifies a humble folk artist who fell and rose again becoming a solitary artisan who carved his creations. The painted figurines were his offerings to the world. The movement vacillates between two sections — an abstract ‘landscape background’ over which Gilbert’s theme floats and three ‘visitations’ which are overwhelming, undeniable, and arguably brutal.

With a lava-like texture, the sculpture by Mark Chatterley and the second movement has a primordial feeling to it — and in that primitive grace exudes power. Woman in Helmet signifies the facades we assume for protection, power, strength, seduction, and persuasion in life. Beginning with primal-sounding woodblocks, this movement is a ternary-formed moto perpetuo and throughout it fragments of the ‘Woman’ motif are scattered. It is not until the short-lived peaceful middle section that the figure is revealed, stark and beautiful without her mask — a welcome respite from the unrelenting energy elsewhere in the movement.

Program note by Donovan Seidle © 2022

Clarinet Concerto Aaron

Copland

(1900 to 1990)

Widely regarded as “the dean of American composers,” Aaron Copland won his greatest successes through his warm-hearted compositions that celebrate the folk culture of America. These included the ballets Billy the Kid, Program and artists subject to change without notice

Rodeo, and Appalachian Spring. His interest in American music extended beyond folk tunes. Jazz, the semiimprovised, distinctively American musical style born in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century, drew his creative attention, too. Early signs of its influence crop up in several works from the mid-1920s. His interest lay dormant for 20 years until the celebrated 'swing' clarinetist Benny Goodman (who also played classical music from time to time), commissioned a concerto from him. Its technical demands made Goodman nervous, to the point where he put off playing it for nearly two years. Copland’s announcement that he was seeking a different soloist finally pushed Goodman to take up the challenge. Goodman and conductor Fritz Reiner gave the first performance on a radio broadcast from New York featuring the NBC Symphony Orchestra on 6 November 1950.

Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78 Camille Saint-Saëns (1835 to 1921)

The lightness and grace of Saint-Saëns’ early symphonies reflected his love of Mozart, Mendelssohn, and Schumann. By the time he came to compose the organ symphony in early 1886, he had absorbed a different influence: the drama and brilliance found in the music of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt. In this symphony, Saint-Saëns adopted a compositional practice that Liszt had developed, basing the large-scale composition on the continuous transformation of a handful of short themes. The symphony was commissioned by the London Philharmonic Society and Saint-Saëns travelled to England to conduct the premiere himself. It scored a tremendous success. The symphony’s Parisian debut one year later drew equally strong praise from audiences and press. Together with the Symphonie fantastique of Hector Berlioz (1830) and César Franck’s Symphony in D Minor (1889), it is one of the cornerstones of 19th century French orchestral music. The inclusion of an organ in the scoring gives the music a wide range of appeal, from warm delicacy to overwhelming majesty. Program notes by Don Anderson © 2022

Roberto Minczuk Conductor

Roberto Minczuk is Music Director of the New Mexico Philharmonic and Principal Conductor of the São Paulo Opera. Under his direction, NMPhil has earned 97.1% for artistic excellence and sees substantial growth in the number of subscribers and donations. The NMPhil has since successfully filled over 25 vacancies in the orchestra with international class musicians. Minczuk has conducted over 100 orchestras worldwide, including the New York, Los Angeles, Israel, and London Philharmonic Orchestras; the London and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras; the National Radio France, Philadelphia, and Cleveland Orchestras, among many others. A protégé and close colleague of the late Kurt Masur, Minczuk debuted with the New York Philharmonic in 1998, and by 2002 was Associate Conductor, having worked closely with both Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. Some of his previous posts includes Music Director and Artistic Director of the Opera and Orchestra of the Theatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro and Principal Guest Conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony where he previously held the position of Co-Artistic Director. He's won many awards including a Latin Grammy and Emmy, and has recorded CDs with the São Paulo Symphony, São Paulo Opera, London Philharmonic, Calgary Philharmonic, Odense Symphony, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. A former horn player, Minczuk studied at the Juilliard School and after his graduation in 1987, he became a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at the invitation of Kurt Masur .

Slavko Popovic Clarinet

Slavko Popovic joined the Calgary Philharmonic as its Principal Clarinet in June 2018 at age 22. Popovic is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. While at Curtis, he participated in two tours — a woodwind quintet tour of the United States and South America and an orchestra tour of Europe. At Curtis, Popovic studied with Donald Montanaro, Ricardo Morales, Michael Rusinek, and Anthony McGill. He has performed with Michael Rusinek, Daniel Matsukawa, Jennifer Montone, Peter Serkin, Jennifer Koh, and Roberto Diaz, to name a few. Before entering Curtis, Popovic studied with Joseph Orlowski, Stephen Pierre, and Ross Edwards — with additional study with Kimball Sykes and Joaquin Valdepeñas. He has toured with the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Popovic has also performed as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra playing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Oakville Symphony, Symphony Hamilton, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. Popovic has attended music festivals such as the American Institute of Musical Studies, National Orchestra Institute, International Music Academy, Manchester Music Festival, and the Lake George Festival in New York. When he isn’t practicing or performing, Popovic enjoys spending time with friends and family and keeping fit by going on long bike rides and swimming.

Neil Cockburn Organ

After 22 years in Calgary, first as Head of Organ Studies at the Conservatory at Mount Royal University and later as Director of Music at the Cathedral Church of the Redeemer, Neil Cockburn took the position of Director of Chapel Music at the University of King’s College in Halifax in 2022, directing and accompanying the Chapel Choir and University Chorus. Celebrated for his diverse repertoire interests and expertise, he performs a spectrum of solo organ recitals, from Bach on historically inspired organs and symphonic programs on romantic instruments to concerts of entirely new works. In addition to many Canadian performances, Cockburn has performed in the UK, France, Germany, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, and the US. His most recent solo recording features music by 17th-century French composer André Raison. Born in Scotland, Cockburn studied music at Oxford University, the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, the Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Rueil-Malmaison in France, and the University of Calgary. His formative teachers include David Sanger, Margaret Phillips, and Dame Gillian Weir. He won first prize at the 1996 Dublin International Organ Competition and has received numerous prestigious awards, including the W T Best Memorial Organ Scholarship, a Countess of Munster Musical Trust scholarship, and the Lili Boulanger Memorial Fund prize — awarded by an international panel of judges. He was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award by Mount Royal University in 2014.

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Steve Hackman

Conductor and Creator

Conductor, composer, arranger, producer, and songwriter Steve Hackman is one the most innovative artists contributing to a new landscape in classical music. He has conducted his pop-classical fusion programs such as Brahms X Radiohead, Beethoven X Coldplay, Copland X Bon Iver, Tchaikovsky X Drake, Bartók X Björk, and Harder, Better, Faster, Stravinsky with the symphony orchestras of Pittsburgh, Nashville, Indianapolis, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, Charlotte, Columbus, and the Colorado Music Festival. From 2015 to 2017, Hackman served as creative director and conductor of FUSE@PSO, a genredefying series at the Pittsburgh Symphony. In June 2017, Hackman made his debut with the Boston Pops, and in May 2018, he made his New York City debut with his handpicked orchestra performing Brahms X Radiohead at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn. He has composed dozens of choral works and has conducted the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in concert twice, most recently in January 2018. On the pop side, under the moniker :STEREO HIDEOUT:, Hackman creates music as a producer, DJ, and songwriter. His latest album, The Gates Unknown, was released in February 2018. Steve is active on social media under the handle @stevehackmanmusic, and many of the pieces referred to here can be watched in their entirety on YouTube.

©

Greg Shotwell

Support Your Phil

Every donation to your Calgary Philharmonic makes a difference for the Orchestra and in our communities. We offer a series of donor benefits to demonstrate how grateful we are for your support.

Donor events take place throughout the season and will give you a deeper understanding of your Calgary Phil and a greater appreciation of orchestral music. Depending on your level of support, you will have the opportunity to attend events with Calgary Phil musicians, exclusive donor rehearsals, donor recitals, our popular music and lecture series Music to My Ears, post-concert receptions, access to the Founders' Room, and more.

Your generosity is at the heart of the Calgary Phil as we ensure your financial support is more impactful than ever. Thanks to your dedication and enthusiasm, the Calgary Phil will continue to connect our communities and celebrate the transformative power of orchestral music.

For more information on benefit details and how you can support your Calgary Phil, visit calgaryphil.com/support.

bravo applause

celebration dynamic ensemble

fanfare

grand B A

C D

F

G E

FULL CIRCLE

A Journey from Musical Youth to Mastery

Founded in 1957, only two years after the creation of the Calgary Philharmonic, the Calgary Youth Orchestra has been providing training to young orchestral musicians in the city, with many of these young musicians going on to become composers, educators, and orchestral musicians in such worldrenowned ensembles as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Led by Music Director Edmond Agopian, CYO is internationally recognized as one of Canada's leading youth orchestras and provides its musicians with solid training in orchestral playing through the lens of teamwork and community service.

Many Calgary Phil musicians are alums of CYO, extending their youth experience into their musical careers, including Adriana Lebedovich. A violin player since age three, Adriana says her experience in CYO over 20 years ago has greatly shaped her musicianship and love for the orchestra. Looking back on her time in CYO, she shares, “having the opportunity to play big orchestral repertoire as a student is huge, especially before joining a professional orchestra. Just learning what it means to sit at a stand with two people, all of the etiquette, who plays which part and who turns the pages and when — it was really beneficial to gain all of that as a kid. It's a key opportunity to be able to prepare for a career as a professional orchestral musician.”

Fellow violinist, Isaac Willocks is the current Concertmaster of the Calgary Youth Orchestra, the UCalgary Orchestra, and performs with the UCalgary String Quartet, and is currently studying violin at the University of Calgary and completing the Advanced Performance Program at the Conservatory at Mount Royal University.

Adriana Lebedovich, Second Violin Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Isaac Willocks, Concertmaster Calgary Youth Orchestra

Patrick Staples, Bass Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

Oscar Spencer, Bass Calgary Youth Orchestra

Discovering the violin at a young age, Isaac knew it was his instrument. “I was taken to a Christmas concert with my grandparents for my birthday. I had just turned four, and some violinists were playing,” he remembers. “When I came home, I told my mom I needed to learn to play the violin, and she signed me up, no questions asked.”

Originally from Lacombe, Isaac's studies in violin came to a fork in the road when he was a teenager. Because of a lack of training options available in Lacombe, Isaac had to decide if he wanted to commit to pursuing his violin studies. “Because we were in Lacombe, it was only on special occasions we could drive to Calgary, but I was given tickets to a Calgary Phil concert, and it was just breathtaking to see the level of musicianship, passion, and precision the Orchestra performed with. I was so inspired by them and I thought, 'oh, I have to play in an orchestra.'”

Calgary Phil Bass, Patrick Staples, who also spends time as a bow maker for double basses, was involved with CYO as a young musician and cites it as an incredibly positive formative experience.

“That wasn't my first youth orchestra program,” recalls Patrick. “I actually started in what was at the time called Preparatory Strings. When I started, I was towering above all the kids I was playing with because I started when I was 12, and a lot of the other kids were quite a bit younger. It's common to start bass later than other instruments like piano or violin just because of the sheer size of the instrument.”

After a couple of years in Preparatory Strings, Patrick moved to CYO. “It was in junior high that I got involved with the Calgary Youth Orchestra, and that was the first time I was playing music with other kids in my age group,” he notes. “That was a real turning point for me because now, all of a sudden, playing music became a social event rather than just this solitary task I did by myself, practicing alone in my bedroom. That was a really exciting part of my early musical development.”

Oscar Spencer, a Calgary high school student who plays bass in CYO, is already attuned to the impact CYO has had on his development as a musician and young adult.

“I've been a bassist for multiple years, though not all of this time was dedicated to practicing rigorously. Playing the bass in CYO has allowed me to sharpen all aspects of myself, not just as a musician, but as a person leading to my future,” he reflects. “Working with some of the best young musicians in the city gives me the urge to practice more and more after every rehearsal.”

“the Calgary Phil audition was the first audition I ever did. And I did it primarily for the experience while I was in university, and then ended up winning the job.”

At 20 years old, Adriana was the youngest musician to be offered a job by the Calgary Phil and still holds this record. “I remember going after my audition, talking to people who were on my panel, and I remember thinking, 'I recognize every single one of them!' because I had seen them on stage growing up. It's really cool to be a part of something that has been such a part of my life. I can thank CYO for that in many ways.”

Staples has similar feelings. “When I first joined the Calgary Phil, I actually got to play for a few years alongside my first double bass teacher, Sheila Garrett, who was Assistant Principal Bass,” recalls Staples. “To actually be playing professionally alongside my very first teacher was a super cool and kind of surreal, full-circle moment. I really can't overstate what an important part of my early musical training the Calgary Youth Orchestra was, primarily for the social aspect, but also for the amazing training and performance opportunities.”

Isaac decided to follow his dream, and his family began commuting into Calgary once a week for lessons, eventually moving to Calgary so Isaac could join CYO. Now studying violin at the post-secondary level, Isaac attributes where he is today to his experience playing with CYO. “One thing I found helped a lot was playing with so many youth who also had very similar goals,” he says. “When I finally moved to Calgary and was able to join CYO, it was so inspiring and fuelled my creativity and my drive to play with people who felt the same about music and love it as much as I do.”

Oscar also sees the value of the community he's found in CYO. “I truly appreciate the dynamic while rehearsing with CYO. There hasn't been a rehearsal where Mr. Agopian fails to make us all burst out laughing,” he says, “moments like these are what make me work harder to include myself in this truly amazing group by helping out whenever I can. Auditioning for CYO is something I will always be proud of myself for doing.”

Adriana shares this sentiment. “Always try and do more things just for the experience,” she says,

On 18 March, the Calgary Phil and CYO will come together in a collaborative side-by-side performance, featuring the world premiere of Vincent Ho's Celestial Horses: Fanfare & Fugue and Allan Gordon Bell's Symphonies of Luminous Being, both Calgary composers, and capping off the evening with Antonin Dvořák's spectacular New World Symphony. Playing alongside the Calgary Phil in March will be a pivotal experience for Isaac. “Having the opportunity to play with the Orchestra is so incredible to me,” he says. “I know I love performing, so I know my future is somewhere in the realm of performing and playing with professionals helps me so much to know where to grow and set specific technique and musicality goals because I get to see them played out, in a sense, by the professionals.”

“It's so incredible for CYO musicians to be able to work with the Calgary Phil musicians to hone their craft,” he continues. “It's connecting generations, and that’s what music is about to me — creating a community of support for each other.”

“ It's so incredible for CYO musicians to be able to work with the Calgary Phil musicians to hone their craft. It's connecting generations, and that’s what music is about to me — creating a community of support for each other ”

Jack

Lucas Waldin, conductor

Celeigh Cardinal, vocals

Shawnee Kish, vocals

Lucas Waldin Conductor

Lucas Waldin is a dynamic and versatile conductor whose performances have delighted audiences across North America. He has collaborated with some of today’s most exciting artists, including Carly Rae Jepsen, Ben Folds, the Canadian Brass, and Buffy Sainte-Marie, in addition to conducting presentations such as Disney in Concert, Blue Planet Live, Cirque de la Symphony, and the groundbreaking symphonic debut of R&B duo Dvsn as part of the global Red Bull Music Festival. Waldin has been a guest conductor for numerous orchestras in the US and Canada, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Grant Park Festival Orchestra, St Louis Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, and the Toronto Symphony. Having joined the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) as Resident Conductor in 2009, Waldin was appointed Artist-in-Residence and Community Ambassador — the first position of its kind in North America. He appeared with the ESO over 150 times and conducted in Carnegie Hall during the Orchestra’s participation in the 2012 Spring for Music Festival. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was awarded the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award in Orchestral Conducting and received a Citation Award from the City of Edmonton for outstanding achievements in arts and culture. Originally from Toronto, Waldin holds degrees in flute and conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Celeigh Cardinal Vocals

With a confident voice and boundless energy, Celeigh Cardinal owns a stage, connecting deeply with her audience through humour, passion, and love. In 2020, Cardinal was awarded one of Canada’s highest musical accolades: the Juno Award for Indigenous Artist of the Year. She also received a Western Canadian Music Award in 2018 for Indigenous Artist of the Year, and two nominations in 2020, including Indigenous Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Tracks from her most recent release, Stories from a Downtown Apartment, have reached number one on the Indigenous Music Countdown four times since 2019. Cardinal has two full-length albums completed, and her third release is in the works, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2021, the Edmonton-based singer-songwriter was chosen by the Walt Disney Company to perform a single and music video as part of their first season of a new initiative, Recital of Remixes. She has toured Sweden, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands, and has showcased in Dubai at Expo 2020, Reeperbahn in Hamburg, Germany, and Folk Alliance International from 2018 to 2020 in Kansas City, Montréal, and New Orleans. Cardinal is quickly becoming one of the great Canadian voices that make up the fabric of this country’s roots music scene.

Shawnee Kish Vocals

Shawnee Kish discovered music as medicine at a very early age. Dreaming about being on stage and starting her journey, music quickly became a source of self-empowerment for the Two-spirit soulful singer, allowing her to stand tall in her strength and power. Named the winner of CBC’s Searchlight 2020, this fierce, powerhouse artist is celebrated as one of North America’s Top Gender Bending Artists (MTV), named by Billboard as an Artist You Need To Know and continuously uses her music to empower. In 2021, Kish received her first Juno nomination (Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year), earned a place on the Edmonton Music Prize’s 2021 Long List, signed a label deal (Amelia Recordings), and released an EP. Listening to her chart-topping releases, one can easily recognize that Kish is influenced by the strong, confident voices of female performers such as Melissa Etheridge, Etta James, Nina Simone, and Amy Winehouse. Her deeply personal and always poignant lyrics are rooted in healing, allowing both herself and her listeners to find purpose and reason in the stories she tells. Kish is an outspoken advocate for her Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ communities. She is a proud Twospirit Mohawk who has shared the stage with some of the world’s biggest names — Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Alicia Keys, to name a few. Kish is an artist with vision who is lighting up stages across North America. She also works with the We Matter Campaign and Kids Help Phone to empower youth and provide strength and hope through music.

© Sheena Zilinski

KARL HIRZER

Q What inspired you to lead a career in music as a conductor?

A I was fascinated by the art of conducting from a young age, but I didn’t consider it a realistic aspiration until I pursued my undergraduate studies when I discovered the orchestral repertoire of Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler. The solo piano was my area of focus, and while there’s a wealth of incredible repertoire in that realm, I felt drawn to the sound world of the orchestra with its endless possibilities of colour and dramatic variability. I realized that if I wanted to be a part of the music-making process of symphonies, the path forward would be conducting!

Q Supporting the Calgary Phil’s education programs is a big part of your role as Associate Conductor. What do you enjoy most about working on these programs?

A As musicians, we are responsible for sharing our passion and knowledge with younger audiences. As space for arts education in public school curriculums shrinks, presenting the world of orchestral music in accessible and engaging ways has become more critical than ever. My favourite thing about our Education Concerts is capturing the complete attention of a room full of kids. There’s something honest about this kind of attention. These kids come to orchestral performances with a blank canvas of expectation, leaving the door open for us to instill a special kind of awe, foster imagination, and inspire creativity in younger generations.

Q What are the best parts of rehearsing with the Orchestra and leading them in a performance?

A It’s a privilege to work with the highly talented and creative musicians of the Calgary Phil and

to have so many opportunities to engage with the timeless pieces of music we perform. It feels, in a way, like we get to live inside these pieces when we go through rehearsing and then performing them together, with the final reward of feeling that special connection to our audience. The moments when everyone seamlessly and with ease feels the trajectory of the music and responds to what we are each and all hearing in the moment, is a special feeling.

Q Tell us about your process in choosing the repertoire you conduct?

A The goal with every concert is to create unique performance experiences. I try to pick repertoire that will move an audience by tugging at their heartstrings or shocking them out of their seats! I put a lot of thought into what the pace of a show will feel like, how each piece flows into the next, and how the works on a program complement or contrast with one another. I have a penchant for programming newer works and I think that the music of today and more recent eras are essential in recalibrating how folks can perceive orchestral music. Yes, we celebrate the historical lineage of great works of art throughout history, but we are living and breathing now in the current world, and what we choose to play needs to reflect the present times. As a curating performing arts organization, we have an opportunity to create space for the voices of many who may have felt a lack of inclusion in our industry. Orchestral music is timeless, current, and universally relatable. We are here to serve the communities in which we live, and part of that responsibility is ensuring that our programming represents our communities.

Calgary since you joined the Calgary Phil in 2016, what are some of your favourite things to do in Calgary?

A I have grown extremely fond of Calgary — it is a great place to live and feels like home. I love how I often find myself running into people I know in the streets, going to shows and events around town, walking through Weaselhead Flats, and playing tennis with Rune Bergmann whenever he's around. I owe a lot to this city. I have felt thoroughly welcome since day one and cannot imagine a better place to have had this chance to grow as a musician and person. I'll give a special shoutout to Ol' Beautiful Brewing Co., Alumni Sandwiches, Milk Tiger Lounge, and the Ship and Anchor.

Q The 2022/2023 Season will be your final season as Associate Conductor with the Calgary Phil. What’s next for Karl Hirzer?

A I’m excited to see where this whole conducting thing will lead. In this current season, I have some great guest conducting gigs lined up across Canada and in the US. Next season, I’ll be returning to Europe for my first professional work since pre-pandemic. In what may be seen as a surprising deviation from the standard course: I’ve recently completed work on my first album of original compositions, written and recorded mainly during the first half of 2022. I’m looking forward to a release date in spring 2023.

Catch Karl conducting at the following concerts this winter: Traditional Christmas on 13 + 14 December and Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip on 3 March.

Mozart's Double Piano

Friday 17 February / 7:30PM

Saturday 18 February / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall Curated Series 2

Supported by Guest Artist Supporters: Naomi + John Lacey Virtuoso Program and MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artist Program Program

Rune Bergmann, conductor Charles-Richard Hamelin, piano Ryan Zhu, piano

Mozart's Double Piano is a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artist program, featuring new and returning MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artists Ryan Zhu and Charles RichardHamelin. The program helps provide outstanding young Canadian musicians with opportunities to advance their careers by performing with the Orchestra to develop Canada's next generation of artists.

Concerto No. 10 in E-flat Major for Two Pianos and Orchestra

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 to 1791)

After spending six unhappy months in Paris — where he found it necessary to stoop to hack-work to make ends meet, and where his beloved mother died in his arms — Mozart returned to Salzburg in January 1779. It was not a happy homecoming. He had set out 18 months earlier in search of greater fame and appreciation than he had been receiving, but no offer of employment was forthcoming. He was forced to return to his dreary job as Concertmaster at the court of PrinceArchbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. He despised his autocratic employer and the drudgery of working for him. Still, those feelings didn’t keep him from producing a steady stream of superb music, including the Coronation Mass and this immensely appealing concerto for two pianos.

He composed it in early 1779 for himself and his older sister Maria Anna (nicknamed Nannerl). The warmth of his affection for her comes through clearly. Its technical demands are modest, requiring more in the way of balance and unanimity than virtuosity. With a typical appearance of effortlessness, Mozart solved the twin problems of giving the two soloists equal prominence — they share material back and forth between them, or accompany each other when one is given a solo passage — and integrating them with the orchestra in artful balance.

The accompanying ensemble of oboes, bassoons, horns, and strings provides a warmly textured background. The playful concluding rondo restores the amiable mood of the opening movement. Mozart clearly held a lasting affection for this piece, since he performed it, along Program and artists subject to change without notice

Wolfgang

with a pupil, Fraulein Auernhammer, on several occasions in Vienna during the 1780s.

Symphony No. 7 in E Major Anton Bruckner (1824 to 1896)

There were two sharply contrasted sides to Anton Bruckner: the timid, unsophisticated man from the countryside, and the composer of symphonies and masses of exalting breadth and grandeur. One, uncomplicated fact bridged this vast gap: his deep and abiding faith.

He moved to Vienna in 1868. During his early years there, his compositions drew generally positive reviews from the press, whose most powerful figure was the archconservative critic Eduard Hanslick. But once Bruckner dedicated his third symphony to Richard Wagner, Hanslick’s most detested adversary in the musical debate of “tradition vs. innovation”, Hanslick’s wrath descended upon Bruckner harshly and repeatedly. Such tribulations might have broken the spirit of an artist with less faith in his God and his own abilities, but Bruckner’s beliefs kept him steadfast. During the last 15 years of his life, numerous performances and honours finally came his way. He died a contented, vindicated man.

Bruckner began Symphony No. 7 in September 1881, and he devoted the next two years almost entirely to it. Arthur Nikisch conducted the première, in Leipzig on 30 December, 1884. The ecstatic reception marked the greatest success of Bruckner’s life. Still, he implored the Vienna Philharmonic not to perform it, fearing that the inevitably negative press would jeopardize his prospects. Early performances proved crucial: first, for the long-delayed establishment of Bruckner’s reputation; and second, for the subsequent dissemination of his music.

His seventh symphony is one of Bruckner’s most frequently performed works. It presents all of his principal characteristics in one of their most successful incarnations: rich, spacious themes, rustic dance rhythms in the scherzo, and the extra degree of exaltation that was his alone.

Program notes by Don Anderson © 2022 Rune Bergmann biography on page 7

Piano

Silver medalist and winner of the Krystian Zimerman Prize at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition, Canadian pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin has emerged as one of the most important pianists of his generation. He gained international recognition when he took second prize at the Montréal International Musical Competition and third prize at the Seoul International Music Competition. He is a recipient of the Order of Arts and Letters of Québec and the prestigious Career Development Award from the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto.

As a soloist, he has performed with renowned conductors and over 50 ensembles, including major Canadian orchestras and the Warsaw Philharmonic, Sinfonia Varsovia, the Tokyo Metropolitan, Singapore, and Korean symphony orchestras, OFUNAM (Mexico City), Les Violons du Roy, and I Musici de Montréal. A graduate of McGill University, the Yale School of Music, and the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, he has studied with Paul Surdulescu, Sara Laimon, Boris Berman, André Laplante, and Jean Saulnier. He has recorded 10 albums, all for the Analekta label. His recordings have earned him one Juno Award (2022) and several Félix (ADISQ) awards and received widespread acclaim from critics around the world.

Ryan Zhu Piano

Hailing from Vancouver, nineteenyear-old Ryan Zhu has been studying the piano since the age of four. He has attained numerous accolades and many achievements. This past year, Zhu won second prize at the Juilliard Mieczyslaw Munz Piano Competition, attended the 2022 Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, competed in the Juilliard Gina Bachauer Piano Competition, and has performed in Paul Hall and Alice Tully Hall. Zhu was a part of CBC Classical’s '30 Under 30' list of 2021 and won 1st prize in the British Columbia Provincial Excellence Class for the Performing Arts. He has competed at the 2019 Van Cliburn International Junior Piano Competition and awarded Fourth Prize at the 2018 Thomas and Evon Cooper International Piano Competition, Grand Prize Winner of the 2015 Canadian Music Competition (age 11–14 category), and Winner of the Vancouver Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition in 2021, 2016, and 2014. Zhu has appeared in many international concert venues, including the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York, Field Concert Hall at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in Salt Lake City, and the Orpheum Theatre and Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver. Zhu is currently studying his undergraduate degree in piano performance with Stephen Hough and Robert McDonald at the Juilliard School. He is a former student of Michelle Mares, Mira Yevtich, Kenneth Broadway and Ralph Markham.

Charles Richard-Hamelin

© Elizabeth Delage

Program

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of AzkabanTM in Concert

Evan Mitchell Conductor

Evan Mitchell is proving to be one of the ablest and most imaginative conductors in Canada. Mitchell has enjoyed eight triumphant seasons as Music Director of the Kingston Symphony, garnering praise for his programming, approach, and musical results. Before the pandemic, the past four full seasons’ worth of Masterworks Series performances were sold out under Mitchell’s leadership. Mitchell is a prolific conductor of film scores live in concert, with a repertoire of more than 20 films. Several of these performances have been North American premieres, including Gene Kelly: A Life in Music, a specially curated showcase of the artistry of Gene Kelly, created and hosted by Patricia Ward Kelly, Gene’s biographer and wife. During the 2020 pandemic, Mitchell wrote, produced, directed, and edited several standout digital orchestral initiatives, exponentially increasing the KSO’s online profile viewership. The Kingston Symphony’s isolated digital world premiere of John Estacio’s Domestic Divertimento, their custom-tailored Symphonic Education Partnership digital performance, and the landmark web series for young audiences entitled Harmon in Space, among others, have reached over 100,000 viewers, and have been internationally acclaimed as being the benchmark for digital excellence in innovation.

Evan Mitchell, conductor Mount Royal Kantorei John Williams Harry Potter and the Prisoner 166' of AzkabanTM in Concert (Film with Orchestra)

Mount Royal Kantorei Ensemble

Mount Royal Kantorei offers a diverse and pioneering choral experience to its members and audiences. Kantorei is the Conservatory at Mount Royal University’s flagship mixed-voice auditioned chorus consisting of 80 members from all walks of life who embrace their musical journey, build community, engage audiences, and empower social impact together. The ensemble is committed to creating innovative artistic experiences and musical excellence through diverse collaborations, music videos, world premieres of new choral works and the incorporation of video and dance into their choral landscape. The choir has been creating exceptional choral music for over 25 years. Most recently, it was invited to participate in the Cork International Choral Festival and won Most Inspiring Performance and a gold medal at the 2021 Bali International Choral Festival in Indonesia for its virtual performance of Please Stay by Jake Runestad. Artistic Director John Morgan has led the choir for the past seven years and has influenced the ensemble’s global reputation for its unique productions of classical and contemporary repertoire. With his passion for music education and performance, John works across multiple musical genres and cultivates community and collaboration, evidenced by Mount Royal Kantorei’s latest endeavour, hosting the first-ever Kantorei Choral Festival in April 2023. This amazing educational opportunity offers workshops, masterclasses, and professional development sessions for choirs across Canada with worldrenowned musicians like Emmy Awardwinning composer Jake Runestad and Josh Rist.

Artistic

Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip

Late Night at The GRAND: Professor Bad Trip is an event unlike anything you’ve ever heard or seen, featuring Calgary Phil musicians tackling chamber-orchestra-sized genredefying works of the modern age in the intimate setting of Calgary’s historic GRAND theatre.

Internationally active, ‘hip-hopinspired poet’ Zoey Roy brings her compelling message and artistry to Calgary in what will be the first full-length live performance of her set of six poems: Enough is Enough

Originally set to beats by Omar Ballantyne, then orchestrated for an ensemble of 15 musicians by Juliet Palmer, the cycle was commissioned by the Regina Symphony Orchestra and filmed for digital release in early 2022. The music mixes elements of hip-hop, minimalism, film music, and classical in creating the instrumental component alongside Roy’s spellbinding spoken word performance. The text is a critical reflection and an emotional ode to an Indigenous experience in a settler colonial society while offering an invitation to paddle alongside the Indigenous consciousness as a solution for future building.

Italian composer Fausto Romitelli’s Professor Bad Trip is new music meets acid rock meets experimental jazz. Written between 1998 and 2000, the cycle contains three movements (or ‘lessons’ as he titles them) for an ensemble of 10 musicians. In addition to standard orchestral instruments, he includes parts for electric guitar, bass guitar, and synthesizer — there's even some woodwind doubling on the kazoo. The psychedelic-inspired music is dirty and distorted, ranging from wild and unrestrained to contrasting sections of expansiveness and serenity. This performance will be made extraordinary through a collaboration with Calgary-based visual arts studio Axis-Z Media Arts, led by Laura Anzola and Matthew Waddell. Together, they have created a projection mapping performance alongside the Calgary Phil musicians — making a totally immersive and unique experience for you.

Program note by Karl Hirzer © 2022 Karl Hirzer biography on page 7

Zoey Roy Poet

Artist. Activist. Educator. Zoey Roy is a force. Her performances weave storytelling, rap, theatre, and rhythm and blues together to confront colonialism, explore how it impacts Indigenous people, and find pathways of healing: “What I love most about spoken word is that I can synthesize deep and complex narratives in a way that they become socially acceptable and palatable for a wider audience. I feel a sense of empathy and understanding can be gained by the collective in these moments.” Roy is dedicated to working with young people and brings her messages of anti-racism and healing into classrooms around the country. She has earned a Bachelor of Education and a Master of Public Policy and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Education. She has written two books: the memoir Homecoming (2016) and The Voyageurs: Forefathers of the Métis Nation (2019). Memorable performances include BIGSOUND in Australia and the Dubai Expo 2020. Roy has been awarded many honours, including the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples National Youth Leadership Award, the Indspire Award, and the Saskatchewan Arts Award for Arts and Learning. She will continue using her voice to amplify Indigenous presence worldwide. Roy is NehithawDené Métis, a member of Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation with roots also from the Black Lake Denesuline Nation and Green Lake, Saskatchewan. She is now based in Kingston, Ontario, but calls Saskatoon home.

Axis-Z Media Arts Visual Arts Studio

Axis-Z Media Arts is a Calgarybased studio focused on creating genre-blurring digital experiences that step outside the confines of the rectangular screen and into the real world. Their work combines elements of projection mapping, interactive installation, animation, and sound with a focus on artistic detail, technical execution, and audience inclusion. AZMA brings together media artists, musicians, designers, and technical specialists from their home countries of Canada and Colombia to work on engaging projects that are fun to create and even more fun to experience. This type of cross-disciplinary collaboration allows them to constantly question their views and contribute to new discoveries and boundary-pushing ideas. Understanding that the world is shifting to a digital era where the lines between the real and virtual are hard to distinguish, AZMA’s aim is to engage this rapidly changing ecosystem with a sense of curiosity and wonder while constantly questioning the consequences it has on our lives.

Karl Hirzer

on being named one of Avenue

Calgary's Top 40 Under 40!

Karl has been with the Calgary Phil since 2016. In addition to conducting numerous concerts each season, he is involved with our Education Series. In 2020, he spearheaded our popular online series An Orchestra Adventure, which has been viewed over 100,00 times and shared through PBS and several schools in the US.

Thank you, Karl, for your passion and creativity and the impact you've made on communities across Calgary and beyond.

Congratulations to our Associate Conductor

Strings

The orchestra has large stringed instruments such as the harp and double bass that can play very low, resonant notes. Violins can play high, ringing tones. All of these instruments, together with the violas and cellos, make up the string family of the orchestra.

“The violin is the soprano voice of the string family and is often known to spin the most beautiful cantilena melodies. It can shimmer and sparkle in the high register and can be full voiced and even growl in the bass end of the spectrum. It can play roles from temptress to witch (and anything and everything in between) within a quick turn of a phrase. The violin plays perhaps more notes per concert than any other instrument on stage.”

Diana Cohen, Concertmaster

“As the largest and lowest-sounding instrument of the string-family, the double bass provides the harmonic foundation for the entire orchestra — even if you can’t always hear the bass, you can always feel it!”

Sam Loeck, Principal Bass

“The harp has 47 strings made up of different materials. The lowest strings are made of metal. The highest strings are made of nylon, kind of like fishing line. The rest of the strings are made out of cow or sheep gut — a very strong, natural substance that produces a warm, beautiful sound.”

Tisha Mirvhill, Principal Harp

Percussion

Percussion instruments can be played in many different ways. Some instruments are scraped or tapped, others are whacked and hit. The familiar whip sound often heard in Christmas songs is made by an instrument called the clapper and the clipclop sound is made from wooden blocks.

“The timpani, or kettle drums, are large pitched drums made from large copper kettles, which use a foot pedal to change the pitch.”

Alexander Cohen, Principal Timpani

Woodwinds

The woodwinds in the orchestra can be played with single or double reeds, and instruments such as the flute and piccolo are played by blowing air in and over the lip plate. The piccolo can play the highest notes in the orchestra.

“The bassoon is the bass voice of the woodwind section — often described as the 'clown of the orchestra.'”

Michael Hope, Assistant Principal Bassoon

“The sound of the clarinet is made up of a unique series of overtones which give it a wonderful balance of warmth, mystery, and brilliance.” Slavko Popovic, Principal Clarinet

Brass

Sometimes the loudest in the orchestra, brass instruments are played by buzzing into the mouthpiece and moving the valves — except for the trombone. The trombone uses a slide to change notes.

“The trumpet is the dramatic soprano of the orchestra. It’s really the one in charge, if we’re being honest.”

Adam Zinatelli, Principal Trumpet

“The horn is a very unique and expressive instrument with a rich tone and a wide range. It blends well with many of the other instruments in the orchestra and can be heard in many roles — as a featured solo instrument, with heroic brass, delicate woodwinds, and singing string lines. If you were to unwrap all of the tubing, the horn would be almost 13 feet long!”

Jennifer Frank-Umana, Associate Principal Horn

Instrument Discovery Zoo

Do you have a young music fan on your hands? Symphony Sundays for Kids concerts are about one hour long with no intermission and feature classical favourites every child should know.

Arrive early for the Instrument Discovery Zoo in the Jack Singer lobby, where they can visit different stations hosted by Orchestra musicians. Each station features an instrument or musical activity for children to try!

This fun, hands-on experience is the perfect way to indulge your child’s curiosity and excitement about visiting the Orchestra. The Instrument Discovery Zoo starts at 2PM and the performance starts at 3PM.

Beethoven Lives Upstairs

Michelle Merrill, conductor Classical Kids LIVE!

Supported by

Instrument Discovery Zoo Sponsor: Long & McQuade Musical Instruments Program

Michelle Merrill Conductor

Michelle Merrill has inspired audiences nationwide with her sharply detailed and vibrant performances. A passionate and dynamic artist, she served four years as the Assistant and then Associate Conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In addition to her growing guest conducting schedule, Merrill currently serves as the Music Director of the Coastal Symphony of Georgia, where she has ignited the growth and expansion of the Orchestra’s offerings both on and off the stage. Merrill is a proud recipient of a 2016 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award and the prestigious 2013 Ansbacher Conducting Fellowship awarded by members of the Vienna Philharmonic and the American Austrian Foundation, which enabled her to be in residence at the worldrenowned Salzburg Festival. Born in Dallas, Texas, she studied conducting with Dr. Paul C Phillips at the Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts, where she holds a Master of Music Degree in conducting and a Bachelor of Music in performance. Apart from music, she loves cooking, running, hiking, and spending time outdoors with her husband, Steve Merrill, who serves as Principal Percussion with the Jacksonville Symphony, and their two sons, Davis and Emmett.

Classical Kids LIVE! Ensemble

Classical Kids LIVE! is produced by Classical Kids Music Education, a Chicago-based non-profit that works to enrich communities through direct access to culturally significant venues, professional artists and organizations, and high-quality theatrical concert productions while fostering a new appreciation for classical music and music history. In combination with the Classical Kids Teaching Edition, Classical Kids LIVE! serves as one of the world’s best educational outreach and community engagement programs contributing to the longterm health of classical music. Having received more awards and honours than any other entity of its kind, Classical Kids is proud to say, “We’re making a difference!” www.ckme.org

Paul Pement Director + Producer Susan Hammond Series Creator Barbara Nichol Writer Andrew Redlawsk Actor (Christoph) Thad Avery Actor (Uncle)

The theatrical concert version of Beethoven Lives Upstairs is an adaptation of the bestselling and award-winning Classical Kids audio recording, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, produced by Susan Hammond and originally directed as a staged concert by Peter Moss with additional direction by Dennis Garnhum. Classical Kids is a trademark of Classical Productions for Children Ltd., used under exclusive license to Pement Enterprises, Inc., and produced by Classical Kids Music Education, NFP. Actors and Production Stage Manager are members of Actors’ Equity Association. Classical Kids recordings marketed by The Children’s Group.

The Best of Whitney

Friday 10 March / 7:30PM

Saturday 11 March / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall Pops

Program

Naomi Woo, conductor LaKisha Jones, vocals

Laura Hickli, backup vocals

Misha Maseka, backup vocals

Performing songs from the list below:

I Wanna Dance With Somebody / You Give Good Love / How Will I Know / I Have Nothing / I Look to You / I’m Your Baby Tonight / Ladies of Legend Medley / Nutbush City Limits / Bad Girls / So Emotional / River Deep, Mountain High

5 things about Whitney Houston

Her talent inspired

Her dramatically emotive vocal gift impacted generations of singers who came after her, and Whitney’s musical influence can be heard across the pop/R&B genre today, inspiring iconic vocalists from Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey to Lady Gaga and P!nk. Even Beyoncé told The Globe and Mail that Whitney “inspired me to get up there and do what she did.”

She came from musical nobility

Whitney Houston started young, spending her teen years singing onstage with her mother, Cissy Houston, and as a backing vocalist for legends like Chaka Khan, Lou Rawls, and Jermaine Jackson. Not only that, but her cousins were Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick and her godmother was Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) singer Darlene Love.

Whitney will always love a cover

Whitney’s hit single I Will Always Love You is the number eight best-selling song of all time, with over 24 million copies sold since Whitney released the recording in November 1992. Despite it being Whitney’s most famous single, the song was actually written by Dolly Parton.

She is a Hall of Famer

In 2020, Whitney Houston was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. She is one of only 80 women to have been inducted, out of 949 individual inductees. Of the 80 women inducted, 36 are Black women.

Aretha was her 'Aunt' Whitney’s mother, Cissy Houston, sang as a backing vocalist for Aretha Franklin and the two became close friends. The Queen of Soul — or 'Aunt Ree' as Whitney would call her — became Whitney’s honourary aunt. In 1989, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston recorded the duet It Isn’t, It Wasn’t, It Ain’t Never Gonna Be

Concert includes a 20-minute intermission Program and artists subject to change without notice

Naomi Woo Conductor

Naomi Woo is a prominent young Canadian conductor and pianist, recognized by CBC Radio, ARTV, and Flare magazine as a rising star on the Canadian classical music scene. Currently Assistant Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Woo is a finalist for the position of Artistic and Music Director of l’Orchestre Symphonique de l’Estuaire, and a member of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership program and the Orchestre Métropolitain’s inaugural conducting academy. Following debuts with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, KitchenerWaterloo Symphony Orchestra, Regina Symphony Orchestra, and Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra in 2021/2022, this season sees her debuts with the Calgary Philharmonic, Orchestra NOW (New York), the Ann Arbor Symphony, and at LSO St. Luke’s with the ensemble Tangram Sound. On the opera stage, she will conduct the Canadian premiere of Du Yun’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angel’s Bone in Vancouver, Ellis Ludwig-Leone’s The Night Falls in New York City, and assist at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Woo holds a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, where she was a Gates Cambridge Scholar. She has also studied mathematics, philosophy, and music at Yale College, the Yale School of Music, and l’Université de Montréal.

Naomi Woo appears with the Calgary Phil as a member of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership, a program designed to collectively develop the next generation of female and non-binary conductors and music directors in Canada.

LaKisha Jones Vocals

Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 Season of American Idol, LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim centre stage in music, theatre, and television. Her last album, So Glad I’m Me, was full of Jones’ expressive, full-bodied, and arresting vocals — the same voice that electrified American Idol viewers with the Dreamgirls showstopper And I Am Telling You. Her drive and motivation date back to her childhood in Flint, Michigan. Raised by her mother and grandmother, Jones was exposed to music by legendary singers such as Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Patti LaBelle. Her grandmother urged the young girl to “let your voice shine,” prompting Jones to sing in various choral groups. A two-year stint studying vocal performance at the University of Michigan left the high school graduate craving to sing more than hit the books. Pursuing her dream of becoming a singer, she auditioned for American Idol in 2003. Though she didn’t make the cut, Jones drove to New York to audition again in 2007 and made it to the sixth season, where she became the fourth finalist. She segued from American Idol to the Broadway stage for The Color Purple, where she played the pivotal role of Sophia, which she alternated with R&B icon Chaka Khan, who became her mentor, and Jones later participated in Khan’s 35th Anniversary Tour. Following her Broadway stint, Jones provided vocal coaching on MTV’s reality competition Legally Blonde: The Search for Elle Woods

© Rune Øster Mortensen

New World / New Generation

Saturday 18 March / 7:30PM

Jack Singer Concert Hall

Curated Series 3

Supported by Commission Supporter: DeBoni New Works Program Program

Rune Bergmann, conductor Vincent Ho, composer Allan Gordon Bell, composer Calgary Youth Orchestra

Vincent Ho

Celestial Horses: Fanfare & Fugue 5' (World Premiere)

Celestial Horses: Fanfare & Fugue

Vincent Ho (b. 1975)

When I was asked to write a work that featured the orchestral brass and percussion section paired with an organist and youth brass players, I was at a loss as to how to approach this. My friend Walt DeBoni sent me a photo of galloping Hungarian horses, and that was when I was inspired by an idea. I kept the professional-level players together on stage playing the fanfare and fugue and spatialized the youth players around the concert hall playing materials that evoked the sound of galloping horses, creating an antiphonal experience that would have the audience hearing music coming from the stage while also hearing galloping musical material surrounding them from all other directions.

Program note by Vincent Ho © 2022

The Sundogs Reel

Allan Gordon Bell (b. 1953)

On a cold winter day, the light of the sun often gets refracted as it passes through ice crystals. This forms a halo that may be accompanied by miniature suns that seem to follow, or as older English would have it, dog the sun. Indeed, it sometimes appears as if these parhelia, these sundogs, are dancing with the sun. Perhaps they even move in time with a reel, a traditional fiddling dance derived from Irish, Scottish, Québecois, and Métis music-making. The Sundogs Reel begins with an icy texture leading to an energetic section that contains both the motoric rhythms of the reel and an asymmetrical rhythm for contrast. It has a slow, lyrical middle section that then returns to the character of the opening section with some variations.

Symphonies of Luminous Being

Allan Gordon Bell

I created this work to explore the idea that everyone and everything living on this planet is, in fact, a child of light. Born from the dust that came from the explosions of stars, all the elements of life were drawn together through gravitational forces, becoming life when they became fused with water through photosynthesis. All life depends upon light, and from light comes the complex web of inter-being in which all creatures are co-dependent co-creators. Elements

begins with an explosion of propulsive musical energy, proceedings through energetic episodes exploring symmetrical rhythmic and melodic fragments. Creatures is an exploration of three musical biophonies, explorations of materials drawn from gestural rhythms and melodic patterns of the non-human musicians of the air, land, and sea. Kin begins with an allusion to material from Elements, followed by three structurally related musical ideas. The first is a harmonic progression with three iterations, each in a different pitch centre, different metres, and different soloists. The second is a musical passage in the strings and woodwinds that elaborates on the harmonies of the first idea. The third is an expansion of a fragment from Elements, occurring in the brass. Kin culminates with the superimposition of all three ideas, leading to a musical passage that imitates a double helix. Moving to a quiet coda, Kin ends on the chord from which I derived all musical material — a chord of resonance, the so-called chord-of-nature.

Program notes by Allan Gordon Bell © 2022

Symphony No. 9 in E Minor Antonín Dvořák (1841 to 1904)

Dvořák’s arrival in the fall of 1892 to become Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York marked the beginning of his three years in America. He found much there that fascinated him, especially the music of African and Native Americans. “I am convinced that the future music of this country must be founded on (African American) melodies,” he said. “There is nothing in the whole range of (the) composition that cannot find a thematic source here.” People wondered whether he used authentic African and Native American melodies in the works he composed in America, the first of which was the Symphony No. 9 in E Minor. But as he wrote, “it is the American folk spirit that I have tried to reproduce in my new symphony. I have not actually used any of the melodies. I have simply written themes embodying the peculiarities of (Native American) music…and have developed them with all the resources of modern rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, and orchestral colour.”

7

Edmond Agopian Conductor

A violin graduate of The Juilliard School, Edmond Agopian began his studies in Romania. In 1991, he was appointed Professor of Violin and Conductor at the University of Calgary and Artist-in-Residence at Mount Royal Conservatory. He was appointed Music Director of the Calgary Youth Orchestra in 2002. He has been awarded the Calgary Arts Award and the Alberta Centennial Medal. At the University of Calgary, he was awarded the Roberts Distinguished Professorship in Fine Arts. As a violinist, he has been featured on regional and national CBC, French and English radio programs, Radio Europa, and as a soloist with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Conducting work has included performances with the Canadian Chamber Orchestra (conductor and concertmaster), the Shanghai Opera Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. For 13 seasons, he was Music Director of the Kensington Sinfonia and for 20 years, he was on the faculty of Morningside Music Bridge.

Calgary Youth Orchestra Ensemble

The Calgary Youth Orchestra, considered to be the flagship ensemble of the Mount Royal Conservatory, is recognized as one of the finest youth orchestras in the country. CYO alums can be found in orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, as well as all major Canadian orchestras. Under its Music Director, Edmond Agopian, the CYO has toured Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and New Zealand. The CYO has performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II during her visit to Calgary in 2005, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in 2009, and at the Juno Awards in 2008. The CYO has commissioned works from several composers, including CYO alumnus Donovan Seidle, Michael van der Sloot, Scott Ross-Molyneux, and George Fenwick and has worked with illustrious conductors such as Mario Bernardi, Hans Graf, Roberto Minczuk, and Bramwell Tovey, among others.

Program note by Don Anderson © 2022 Rune Bergmann biography on page

Allan Gordon Bell Composer

Allan Gordon Bell CM was born in Calgary in 1953. He has created works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles, orchestra, band, and electroacoustic media, as well as scores for contemporary dance productions and an opera. His music has been featured in concerts performed by soloists, ensembles, and orchestras throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Over the years, Bell has been a visiting composerin-residence at the Winnipeg New Music Festival, Shattering the Silence in Nova Scotia, and Festival of the Sound in Ontario. In 2016, Bell was the Roger D. Moore Visiting Composer at the University of Toronto. From 1996 to 2006, Bell designed and led the Young Composers Program for the Honens International Piano Competition, introducing creative music to elementary school students. CBC Records released the CD Spirit Trail: The Music of Allan Gordon Bell, containing five of his orchestral pieces, and the Centrediscs recording Gravity and Grace, featuring James Campbell and Lands' End Ensemble, earned Bell the 2014 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for Field Notes. Bell is Professor of Music at the University of Calgary and has served as President of the National Board of the Canadian Music Centre. He is a Member of the Order of the University of Calgary, a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, a recipient of an honourary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Alberta, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Vincent Ho Composer

Vincent Ho is a multiple awardwinning and four-time Junonominated composer of orchestral, chamber, vocal, and theatre music. His works have been described as “brilliant and compelling” by the New York Times and hailed for their profound expressiveness and textural beauty, leaving audiences talking about them with great enthusiasm. His many awards have included Harvard University’s Fromm Music Commission, the Canada Council for the Arts Robert Fleming Prize, ASCAP’s Morton Gould Young Composer Award, four SOCAN Young Composers Awards, and CBC Radio’s Audience Choice Award. From 2007 to 2014, Ho served as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s composer-inresidence and presented a number of large-scale works that generated critical praise. Born in Ottawa, Ho began his musical training through Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music, where he received his Associate Diploma in Piano Performance. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary, his Master of Music from the University of Toronto, and his Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Southern California.

BRINGING ARTS PROGRAMS TO YOUTH

YMCA Calgary Expands Programming Across the City

By Kathryn Ward

Since the dawn of humanity, creating art has been an important means of expression and communication and, ultimately, a critical part of the human experience.

“Art and creativity are significant contributors to our well-being and success as humans,” says Dean Paddock, Vice President of Community Engagement with YMCA Calgary. “We have a long history as a trusted charity in the Calgary community and believe that layering in creative pursuits alongside physical ones has the power to boost potential in people of all ages.”

For that cause, YMCA Calgary has developed YMCArts, a program that provides engaging, professional, and accessible creative programming for all ages.

Engaging in creative pursuits is not only fun but offers many physical, mental, emotional, and social benefits, such as boosting endorphins, reducing stress, improving cognitive functioning, strengthening the immune system, raising self-esteem, promoting empathy, and deepening connections to others and our purpose.

“The YMCArts initiative stems from our belief that the opportunity to explore and develop our creative selves should be available to everyone,” explains Dean. “We’re proud to be the first YMCA in Canada to expand our reach and integrate core arts programming into our offerings.”

YMCA Calgary’s creative pursuits are primarily targeted at youth, though they support people of all ages and skills to explore and grow their creative potential. Classes and camps offered at six Calgary locations include painting and drawing, drama, dance, and music programs, including a youth choir.

“Through this variety of classes and camps, kids can participate in either guided or self-directed imaginative experiences using different media and approaches,” Dean says.

“Beyond the obvious development of motor and technical skills, kids also learn to express ideas and emotions through a variety of media in a fun and supportive environment,” he adds. “They have a chance to develop their imaginative muscles while developing their skillsets and discovering the joy of self-expression.”

YMCArts Presents is an exciting season of shows featuring live talent. From music to dance to comedy, YMCArts Presents offers a variety of innovative performances at the BMO Theatre in Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge, and the Evan Hazell Theatre in Brookfield Residential YMCA at Seton. With both theatres now available for rentals.

“We are thrilled that the Calgary Phil has been ahead of the curve in exploring opportunities to provide experiences outside of their regular venue,” says Dean. “Our two theatres have proven to be beautiful homes for

Calgary Phil community shows, and we continue to explore other projects that showcase the extraordinary talent of Calgary Phil musicians and embrace YMCA’s commitment to community health and wellness.”

Providing YMCArts Presents in suburban locations means arts lovers no longer must travel to the inner city to enjoy professional performances.

“One of the Y’s priorities is to ensure our facilities and spaces are community hubs that provide immersive, affordable, and accessible experiences to engage our communities and diverse populations,” says Dean. “We are truly committed to providing a variety of experiences to as many people as possible.”

The YMCA offers some level of professional, engaging, and accessible creative programming in six locations in Calgary, with a full complement of creative programs for all ages at Shane Homes YMCA at Rocky Ridge and Brookfield Residential at Seton locations.

“Moving forward, we plan to roll out integrated and inclusive core arts programming at all Calgary locations, providing accessible arts programming and facilitating community connection for individuals across the city,” explains Dean.

In December 2022, the Calgary Philharmonic comes to life for Sounds of the Season: On the Road at the YMCA Calgary Seton and Rocky Ridge locations.

JOYCE + DICK MATTHEWS

Join our community of visionary supporters

The Calgary Philharmonic Foundation is the largest annual supporter of your Calgary Phil, exceeding all levels of government support, and ensures the permanence of the Orchestra and that future generations have access to the power of orchestral music.

This program has been bringing world-class artists to perform with your Calgary Phil since 2008, enhancing musical presentations for both audiences and musicians. Many Virtuoso artists also perform at donor recitals or teach masterclasses to aspiring young musicians in our communities.

Founded by Ellen and Allen Borak, this program helps elevate the art of choral music by supporting and nurturing the development of the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus. This program provides more than 100 volunteer singers with the opportunity to grow in their performance of choral music and promotes the enjoyment of choral singing in our communities.

Elaine and Jeremy Clark, along with their daughters Keiko and Chloe, support several projects designed to empower curiosity for the Orchestra in its fullness. Adult education projects like chamber music recitals, Music To My Ears events, and pre-concert chats are meant to encourage the next generation of enthusiastic Calgary Phil supporters.

Irene and Walt DeBoni created this program to support the commissioning of new Canadian works necessary for the continued development and vitality of orchestral music. Thanks to this program, the Orchestra premieres enticing and trailblazing new works each season.

Celebrating 10 years, the MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artist Program helps provide outstanding young Canadian musicians with opportunities to advance their careers by performing with the Orchestra to develop Canada’s next generation of artists.

This philanthropic program was created in memory of Joyce and Dick Matthews, who were dedicated and generous supporters of your Calgary Phil for more than 50 years, providing the opportunity to recognize someone special.

Founded by Judith Kilbourne, PhilKids is an after-school program for students aged 5 to 11, bringing music to the hands and hearts of children who otherwise would not have access to such artistic development, fueling the empowerment of children through the exploration of music.

Support one of these programs, or donate to our Greatest Needs fund at calgaryphil.com/support.

OPPORTUNITIES FUND

Sponsors

Our Donors

Leadership Giving

The Calgary Philharmonic expresses its deep gratitude to the passionate and dedicated supporters whose significant lifetime giving to the Calgary Philharmonic Society and the Calgary Philharmonic Foundation helps us achieve our vision.

Gifts to the Calgary Philharmonic Foundation Ad Astra Campaign

10 years or more of lifetime giving

20 years or more of lifetime giving

$10,000,000 and above

Joyce + Dick Matthews

$1,000,000 to $9,999,999

Alberta Foundation for the Arts Calgary Arts Development Authority

Canada Council for the Arts

Walt + Irene DeBoni

John + Ethelene Gareau

Government of Canada Dr. John Lacey

Morningside Music Bridge Foundation

Drs. Ted + Lola Rozsa

Estate of Mario James Stella

$500,000 to $999,999

William + Irene Bell Marg + Paul Boëda Cenovus Energy Inc CNOOC (formerly Nexen)

Annie Freeze

Carol + Frank Gray Mary Rozsa de Coquet

Robbin Shandel

Taylor Family Foundation

$250,000 to $499,999

Said Arrata

Estate of Marjory Barber

Ms. Cheryl Bishop

Leslie + David Bissett

Ellen + Allen Borak

Heather + Ian Bourne

Andrea Brussa

Norma Carroll

Heather Edwards

Flanagan Foundation

Larry + Jan Fichtner

Tony + Liz Fricke

Judith Kilbourne

KPMG LLP

Estate of Murray Lipsey Letha MacLachlan QC Palmer Family Foundation Repsol Oil + Gas Canada Inc Rozsa Foundation Muriel A Stewart TELUS Corporation

$100,000 to $249,999

ARC Resources Ltd

Jeff Arsenych

Jenny Belzberg

Gerald + Beverly Berkhold

BP Petroleum

Lori Caltagirone Canada Life

Elaine + Jeremy Clark Judith + Terence Dalgleish James Doleman + Dori Wood Enbridge Pipelines

Tibor Fekete

Estate of Geraldine Fish Glasswaters Foundation

Estate of Winnifred Griffith Richard + Lois Haskayne Imperial Oil Ltd

Jeanette King

Estate of Evelyn Christine Kings HD Klebanoff Memorial Fund Macquarie Group Foundation

Allan Markin

Estate of Mary McIntosh James + Janice Morton Nickle Family Foundation John + Jean Partridge Rabinovitz Family Fund Seagram Company Ltd Clarice A Siebens

Margaret Southern Carla + Klaus Springer

Trent + Josie Stangl Mary Ann Steen Sunesis Consulting Inc

TC Energy TD Canada Trust Deborah Yedlin + Martin Molyneaux Shirley Zielsdorf

Endowed Chairs

Rozsa Endowed Chair Music Director

Rozsa Foundation Endowed Chair Associate Conductor

Ellen + Allen Borak Endowed Chair Chorus Master

John + Ethelene Gareau Endowed Chair In Recognition of Cenek Vrba’s 36 years of service Concertmaster

Peter + Jeanne Lougheed Endowed Chair Associate Concertmaster

Hotchkiss Endowed Chair

First Violin Section Member HD Klebanoff Endowed Chair First Violin Section Member

Esther Violet Hall (née Young) Endowed Chair Principal Second Violin

Debbie Lynne Hall (daughter of Esther Violet Hall) Endowed Chair Assistant Principal Second Violin Dennis Sharp + Hélène Côté Sharp Endowed Chair

Second Violin Section Member Dalgleish Endowed Chair 66

Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation Endowed Chair In Memory of Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté Principal Viola

Naomi Lacey Endowed Chair In Honour of Philip Hansen Principal Cello

John + Jean Partridge Endowed Chair Cello Section Member

Deborah Yedlin + Martin Molyneaux Endowed Chair Cello Section Member

Marg + Paul Boëda Endowed Chair In Memory of Jennifer Boëda-Dahl Principal Flute

Bill + Irene Bell Endowed Chair Piccolo

Judith + William Kilbourne Endowed Chair In Recognition of the Kilbourne's long-term support Assistant Principal Horn

Frank + Carol Gray Endowed Chair In Memory of Vincent Cichowicz Principal Trumpet

Frank + Carol Gray Endowed Chair In Recognition of Tim Rawlings' 42 years of service to Calgary Phil Principal Percussion

Joyce + Dick Matthews Endowed Chair Piano

Named Funds

Marjory Barber Fund

Borak Forte Fund

DeBoni New Works Fund

Geraldine Fish Memorial Fund in support of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

Joyce + Dick Matthews Philanthropic Fund

Naomi + John Lacey Virtuoso Fund

Murray Lipsey Memorial Fund in support of the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus MacLachlan/Ridge Emerging Artist Fund

2021/2022 Donors

The Calgary Philharmonic expresses its deep gratitude to the following supporters who made generous gifts to the Calgary Philharmonic Society and the Calgary Philharmonic Foundation between 1 July 2021 and 30 June 2022. For complete listings, visit calgaryphil.com/support.

Gifts of $500,000 and above

Alberta Foundation for the Arts Calgary Philharmonic Foundation Canada Council for the Arts Government of Canada Dr. John Lacey

Gifts of $100,000 to $499,999

Estate of Marjory Barber Calgary Arts Development Authority

Honens Calgary Philharmonic Society Fund Mary Rosza de Coquet Taylor Family Foundation

Gifts of $50,000 to $99,999

Walt + Irene DeBoni Heather Edwards Government of Alberta One Anonymous Donor Two Anonymous Donors

Gifts of $10,000 to $49,999

Michelle Bailey + John Whelan Ellen + Allen Borak

Ian + Heather Bourne Calgary Shaw Charity Classic Foundation Canada Life

CH Financial Alan D Castle Endowment for the Arts

Elaine + Jeremy Clark Walter + Ute Dilger

Estate of Esther Emmett

Enbridge Pipelines

Estate of Geraldine Fish

Annie Freeze

Tony + Liz Fricke

Glasswaters Foundation

The Globe and Mail

Jacky + Geoff Granville

Ryan Green

Philip Ireland + Sheila McIntosh

Keyera

Letha MacLachlan QC

Janice + James Morton Chris + Ruchi Ryley

Mike Shaik Shaw Communications

Valerie + Allen Swanson

TD Canada Trust Viewpoint Foundation

Gifts of $5,000 to $9,999

Jenny Belzberg

Blake, Cassels, + Graydon LLP

James + Patricia Burns

Ann Calvert

Cyril + Elizabeth Challice

Walter + Gloria Chayka

Lori Cutler + Nick Kuzyk

CWB Wealth Management –McLean + Partners

Dynasty Power

E Ann Falk

Franklin Templeton Investments

Imperial Oil Ltd

InterPipeline

Jeanette King

Dr. John Lacey

Janet + Rick Matthews

Elizabeth + Ross Middleton

The Honourable Lois E Mitchell Mobsquad

Moon Beams Foundation

Anne Marie Peterson Legacy Fund

Janet Poyen

Clarice A Siebens

Marc + Claire Stevens

United Active Living Welty Family Foundation

Gifts of $1,000 to $4,999

Ian + Gwen Anderson

Karen Ashbee

Roy, Hazel, + Nancy Austin Fund

Andrew Azmudeh

Michelle Bailey + John Whelan

Barbara R Beaton

Belinda + Thomas Boleantu

Brad Boychuk

Marion R Burrus

Eileen Butler

Richard Byers

Calgary Foundation

Jim Campbell

Bob + Sylvia Carey

Cynthia Clark

Marie-Josee Claveau + Nicolas Tremblay

Stan Climie Harry + Martha Cohen Foundation

Gertrude Cohos

Gary Cole Fern Cyr

Paula Davies

Alexandra De Freitas

Deloitte

James Doleman + Dori Wood

Judy Dofoo

Lawrence Fan

Tom + Dianne Ferguson

Donna Fonteyne

Wayne Foo Foundation

Shirley Foster

Kathleen Fox

Audrey + John Fry Glen + Nancy Charitable Gift Fund

Donald + Joan Greenfield

Pamela Grigg Carolyn Guichon

Dr. Danelle J Hames

Julianna Hegg + Bill Hogg David Henley

Mary Hetherington

Arthur Hibbard + Gloria Wong

Jevon Hills

Gordon + Joan Holland

Linda + Gordon Hong James Hughes

Carrol Jaques + Bob Loov Glen + Arlene Johnston

Robert Kulhawy

Lennox Family Foundation

Michael Lipnicki Fine Pianos

Dr. Jonathan Liu

Loch Gallery

Luxe Du Jour

David + Diane Macdonald Chris MacKimmie

Simone MacRae

Peter + Heather Marreck

John + Pat Martin

Davide Martino

Masters Gallery

Laurie Matiation

Elizabeth Maurice Dale S Meister

Richard Mercer

Elizabeth + Ross Middleton

Patricia Moore

Jean Morris + Matthew Vyse

Jean Murray

Faiz Nadir

Tae Nosal

John + Jean Partridge

Peabody Family

Lara Pella + Geoff Holub

Ruth + Garry Ramsden-Wood

Eric Ruygrok

Alex + Aliza Sarian

Henry Schultz

Rod + Wendy Schultz

Joan + Geoffrey Simmins

Roger + Lorna Smith

Don Smith + Helen Young

Alfred Sorensen

Betty J Stein

John Thompson

Erin Thrall + Peter Johnson

James Ulrich

United Church of Canada Foundation

Russel Varnam

VivianeArt

Brent Warren Margaret Warren

Stanley Waterman

Norma + Ron Westcott

Julie Westgate

WestJet Airlines

Mark Wittrup

Reg Worsley

Wood Pittman Fund

Deborah Yedlin + Martin Molyneaux

Frederick Young Janet Yuchem

Seven Anonymous Donors

Two Anonymous Donors

Gifts of $500 to $999

John Abbott

Dean Allatt

Christopher Beare

Robert Binda

Heide Blakely

Marg + Paul Boëda

Marilyn Braden

Ian Burgess Callow + Associates Management Consultants

Ah-Ling Cheng

Adam + Christina Carpenter Dorothy Chisholm

F Thomas Christie Rowena Cromwell

Joseph De Angelis

Jane + Allan De Caen

Joan Dennis Noreen Dyke

Tibor Fekete

Larry + Jan Fichtner

David + Beverley Foy

A Gordon Giesbrecht

Corinne Grigoriu

Glen Hammerlindl

Carol Hanna

Ian Hawkins

Dr. Janice Heard

Don + Denise Herman

William Hopson

Allan Huber

Bruce + June Johnston

Valerie + Craig Johnstone

Mary Ellen Kirk

Eric Loughead

Andrew + Alison Love

Alla Magid

Sharon Martens

Estate of A V McCall

Rene + Mark McManus

Anne McWhir

Brian Neufeld

Keith + Kathleen Nicholson

Richard + Beth Olver

Joaquina + Fritz Painsi

Parker PR

Dan Phillips

Steve Poceta

Ken Potma

Marlene Raasok

Rosza Foundation

Salopek + Associates

Don Seaman

Kelly + James Scott

Ruth Scott

Douglas Soeder

Sponsor Energy

Mira Starczyk

Ingrid Vicas

Dixie + Tony Webb

Terry + Anne Wilson

Ray Woods

Holly Wong

Sol + John Wright

Anne + Frank ZinatellI

Eight Anonymous Donors

Gifts made In Honour of Andrew Azmudeh

Kim Bruce Jim Campbell Paul Dornian E. Hermann

Bev MacLeod

Joyce + Dick Matthews

John David Payne

David + Martha Rempel

Lauren Ridge Ryan Stasynec Gary Stimson

Gifts made In Memory of Dr. James H. Acheson

Sara + Louis Binda

Arlene Christie

Judith Dalgleish

Arlene McCall

John David Payne

Dorothy Pommen

Klaus Springer

Allan Sweetser

Joyce Williams

Stacey Christina Worsley

Our Volunteers

These volunteers contributed their precious time in the 2021/2022 Season — we celebrate them and their dedication.

Mariah Atkinson

Liliane Batista

Partow Bayzaee

Irlana Bondar

Marguerite Bonnet

Frances Bradley

Peggy Chan

Candice Cheah

Teresa Chiu

Ian Churchill

Sandi Churchill

Carole Clement

Steve Clement

Lynne Dale

Carol Dann

Bing Diao

Julie Docken

James Doney

Graham Edwards

Amanda Ferguson Shirley Foster

Brenda Frame

Dave Frame

Barbara Frasch

Prasad Ganesan

Milena Gonzalez

David Grant

Alicia Groenwweg

Brandy Hachey

Larry Hamm

Gloria Hare

Tracy Harrington

Hamish Harrison

Robin Harwig

Pamela Hinman

Tina Hoang

Nathan Hong

Aime Hutton

Elly Jarvis

Shane Kidd

Veronika Kiryanova

Amy Klintberg

Dennis Kozak

Lillian Kozak

Wendy Kunsman

Simon Larter

Jeannie Laughlin

Jenai Lieu

Elmire Limoges

Gail MacCrimmon

Shawna MacGillivary

Fiona Mackintosh

Joy Mamer

Jay Anne Mandingin

Jackie Marston

Sheila Martin

Julia Meeder

Kristy Meents

Carol Mewha

Donna Morrison

Marina Milovanova

Lynne Oishi

Faye Olubobokun

Parisa Parsa

Jolanta Pawlilowska

Marlene Payne

Elsa Penate

Luz Elena Perra

Stephanie Quilliams

Erin Swanson Reinhardt Brin Santoro

Barbara Schultz

Doug Smith

Josephine Sauve

Kristen Smith

Sonja Stangelj

Roy Stuart Barbara Stuber

Judy Taylor Ryan Truong

Gloria Tse

Valerie Turner Noah Urquhart

Mijk Van Wijk Debbie Wagner

Larry Wagner Gina Waks

Louis Warners

Dawne Wharton Gayna Wong Amir Zaidi

Ad Astra Cabinet

Michelle Bailey

Ann Calvert

Jeremy Clark

Walt DeBoni

Elizabeth Evans, Co-Chair Dr. John Lacey, Honourary Chair

Elizabeth Middleton, Co-Chair Ellen Parker

Ryan Stasynec

Cork + Canvas Committee

Almas Kassam

Elizabeth Middleton

Agung Nugrahaeni Maydelin Nuñez

Tim Onyett, Committee Chair

Lucy Pei Anna Premyslova Lauren Ridge Michelle Yee

We also thank the Boards of Directors of the Calgary Philharmonic Society and Foundation, and members of the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, listed on page 4 and page 9 respectively.

Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy on the above lists. Please email any errors or omissions to volunteercoordinator@calgaryphil.com.

Building to New Heights

Together we can strengthen our community, pursue artistic excellence, and ensure a sustainable future for the Calgary Philharmonic. Support our Capital Campaign. Learn more at calgaryphil.com/AdAstra.

PHILKIDS FIND VOICE IN MUSIC

By Heather Wootton, PhilKids Lead Teaching Artist + Assistant Principal Horn

As long as I have been a professional musician, it has been important for me to find ways to share my love of music and my belief in its transformative qualities inside and outside of the concert hall. For the past few years, I have been involved in organizing and leading a program that I’m very passionate about and which is beginning to and has the potential to make a huge impact in Calgary communities. Founded with support from Calgary Phil visionary supporter Judith Kilbourne, PhilKids is a free after-school music program inspired by the famous El Sistema program which began in Venezuela over 40 years ago and is now emulated worldwide.

The original El Sistema program was started by a man named Dr. José Antonio Abreu with 11 students in an underground parking garage! Abreu has said that “music has to be recognized as an agent of social development in the highest sense because it transmits the highest values — solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion,” crediting it with the ability to “unite an entire community and express sublime feelings.”

The current Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, had his musical

beginnings in El Sistema. According to Dudamel, “music saved my life and has saved the lives of thousands of atrisk children in Venezuela...like food, like health care, like education, music has to be a right for every citizen.”

With PhilKids, musicians from the Calgary Phil and the community and volunteers have worked with students from grades one through six at Keeler Elementary School in the southeast Calgary community of Forest Lawn for the past six years and now we are also at Falconridge School in northeast Calgary.

Several of my colleagues and I have had the opportunity to create and teach this program and see the amazing impact it has on these children. We’ve grown from one day a week in January 2016, with four teachers and 30 students learning bucket drumming and basic musicianship, to currently welcoming over 100 students led by a group of a dozen dedicated and passionate teachers and volunteers.

From the start of the program in the fall through to the end of the school year we work with them side by side as they learn and grow as young people and musicians. The youngest children start with Bucket Band, playing a hardware store bucket,

listening and learning rhythms, and how to play as an ensemble. They also learn to use their voices and about the different instruments in the orchestra. Once the children have a grounding in the basics of music, starting in grade three, they get to learn violin, cello, trumpet, flute, or percussion. It is truly inspiring to watch them discover themselves along with the music. They create friendships and discover a community that supports them, they often uncover strengths and talents they might not have realized they had, and how to appreciate the strengths and talents of others.

Summer, a flute student at Keeler who really didn’t say much in her first year in PhilKids, shared with me that “before I was in PhilKids, I didn’t like to speak up in class as I was so afraid and shy. Now I can stand up and speak and can make friends more easily. PhilKids helped me be brave.” There are so many similar stories from our PhilKids and their families.

Besides learning how to play an instrument and to read and understand music, we concentrate on communication and teamwork, kindness and respect, peer to peer mentoring and leadership, and the importance of commitment. They learn that success happens if at first you just try and keep trying!

We all know how important it is that music education and access to the arts be made available to ALL children, no matter their circumstances. To address the current lack of representation in the world of classical music, we must start at the roots, at the very beginning and provide access and opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds to succeed and ensure there are accessible opportunities to advance.

We really want to make sure that we're reaching as many kids as possible and to expand the program to include more children and schools, break down barriers and help kids soar. You can really discover yourself as you discover music. And that’s what we see with these children. Rather than “I can’t”, we now hear “I can” and “I’ll try” much more.

To learn more about PhilKids, and how you can support the program, visit calgaryphil.com/philkids.

Marvel Studios’ Black Panther quickly became a global sensation and cultural phenomenon, showing a new dimension of what super hero films could be.

Relive the excitement of the first installment of this franchise while the Orchestra performs Ludwig Göransson’s Academy Award-winning score live to picture.

Calgary Phil film series partner

© Marvel Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts. © All rights reserved.