CBC Radio Orchestra

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The CBC Radio Orchestra is the orchestra of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and is based in Vancouver. Until the early 1980s CBC had a number of orchestras located in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal, and Halifax but due to federal government budget cuts they were eliminated and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra was promoted to national status. It changed names in 2000 to reflect its status as the CBC's only broadcast orchestra. The last radio orchestra in North America, ^[1] ^[2] the CBC has announced that it will be disbanded at the end of November 2008.^[1] ^[2]

The demise of the CBC Radio Orchestra has been met with a negative reaction in the classical music community and significant coverage in the media including a front page, large article in the Vancouver Sun, a prominent article in Vancouver's Georgia Straight and even coverage in the New York Times. There have also been protests outside CBC locations across Canada. ^[3]

There also appeared to be opposition to the dismantling of the orchestra by Members of Parliament attending a May 2, 2008 meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage from all three main political parties. Bill Siksay (NDP - Burnaby Douglas), Denis Coderre (Liberal Canadian Heritage Critic), Ed Fast (Conservative - Abbotsford) were opposed to the decision of CBC management to terminate the last radio orchestra in North America.

The orchestra had 45 members at the time its dissolution was announced. Since it was founded in 1938^[1] ^[2] it has only had four conductors in its existence. The first was John Avison who led the orchestra until 1980. For 2 years the baton was held by John Eliot Gardiner. Between 1984 and 2006 the lead conductor has been Mario Bernardi. On April 30, 2006, Canadian trombonist Alain Trudel was named Principal Conductor of the orchestra, replacing Mario Bernardi as of fall 2006.

The orchestra generally performs two (fall and winter/spring) or three concert series each season. It has performed in Festival Vancouver for a number of years. Past tours have included an Arctic Tour in 1973, Coastal B.C. tour in the early 1970s, Markham and Toronto, Ontario in the late 1990s, a trip to Yellowknife in the December of 2004 and to Iqaluit, Baffin Island in September of 2008. The orchestra performs most of its concerts at the Chan Shun Concert Hall of the University of British Columbia. Although from time to time it also performs at the Theatre in Vancouver. For 65 years the orchestra's main services were as a studio broadcast and vinyl l.p. and c.d. recording orchestra responsible for an active program of commissioning, performing and recording new Canadian compositions. Its successful business plan was dramatically altered and they were restricted to performing in public broadcast concerts only at the Chan Shun Concert Hall in Vancouver.

The CBC also formed the CBC Symphony Orchestra in Toronto in 1952 relying heavily on members of the Toronto Symphony. The ensemble had weekly broadcasts until it was disbanded in 1964.^[4]

A predecessor of the CBC, the Canadian National Railway Radio network also had a radio orchestra. The Canadian National Railway Radio Orchestra was conducted by Henri Miro in 1931-32.^[5]