Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
Also known as ESO
Origin Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Genres Classical
Occupations Symphony orchestra
Years active 1920–1932, 1952-present
Website www.edmontonsymphony.com
Members
Music Director
William Eddins

As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to country. The ESO is composed of 56 professional musicians who perform 42 weeks per season, and play an active role in the musical life of Edmonton and elsewhere as performers, teachers and recording artists. Currently in its 60th season, the ESO also performs as the orchestra for Edmonton Opera and Alberta Ballet productions, and its concerts and recordings are regularly heard across Canada on CBC Radio 2.

Contents

History

The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra was initially formed as Edmonton's community orchestra and gave its first concert on November 14, 1920. The orchestra suspended operations in 1932, but was revived on October 31, 1952, when it was incorporated as a registered not-for-profit organization (the Edmonton Symphony Society), and gave its first performance on November 30, 1952. It made the transition to a fully professional orchestra in 1971. Today the ESO's budget is over $8 million, and its players are the highest paid Canadian orchestral musicians west of Toronto.

Music Directors, Concertmasters, and current artistic leadership

Music Directors and Conductors

Concertmasters

Current artistic leadership

Performing venue

In September 1997, the ESO and the Edmonton Concert Hall Foundation successfully completed a two-decade, $45 million capital campaign and moved from the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium (the orchestra's principal performing venue since 1957) into its new concert hall, the acoustically superb, 1716 seat Francis Winspear Centre for Music. The inaugural gala, at which the ESO performed Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, took place on September 13, 1997.

Community commitment, programming and tours, special concerts

Community commitment The ESO is committed to serving its entire community, through eclectic programming choices and innovative education and outreach activities. Each season, almost 30,000 students experience the orchestra's music at the Winspear Centre. The Young Composers Project, with local composers as mentors, allows select high school students to compose orchestral works and hear them in performance. The orchestra's annual outdoor Symphony Under the Sky Festival is a popular destination for Edmontonians on Labour Day weekend.

Programming and tours

The ESO's history and the varied nature of its programming reflect its imaginative commitment to its community.

Special concerts

Special ESO concerts drawing sold-out houses have featured, among others, k.d. lang in 1985, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider in 1989, The Arrogant Worms in 2002, Corb Lund in 2005, Paul Brandt in 2006, Video Games Live in 2007, Nikki Yanofsky in 2008, reunion concerts with Procol Harum in 1992 and 2010, and Ian Tyson on the 100th anniversary of the Province of Alberta on September 1, 2005. In March 2011, the ESO presented a memorable concert devoted exclusively to the music of Frank Zappa, and in December 2005, the orchestra returned to the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to present two sold-out Christmas concerts with Christian singer/pianist Michael W. Smith. The orchestra continues this tradition of working with musicians from a variety of musical genres.

Composers in residence

John Estacio was the ESO's first Composer in Residence (1992–1999). He produced nine major works for the orchestra during his residency:

Allan Gilliland, the ESO's second Composer in Residence (2000–2004) also composed nine major works for the orchestra, as well as a colorful new orchestration of Canada's national anthem. Prior to his residency, Gilliland had been commissioned to write two works for the ESO. Following his residency, he was commissioned to write two jazz-flavoured works: a rhapsody for piano and orchestra, and a suite for trumpet and orchestra.

Canadian commissions

The ESO has a long tradition of commissioning and performing works by Canadian – and particularly Albertan – composers. On April 29, 2005 the ESO presented a highly acclaimed concert of music by five contemporary Alberta composers – Alan Gordon Bell, John Estacio, Malcolm Forsyth, Allan Gilliland and Jeffrey McCune – in Southam Hall at Ottawa's National Arts Centre as part of the Alberta Scene festival.

Works commissioned by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra include:

Commercial discography and videography

Procol Harum Live with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

(Procol Harum, Da Camera Singers, Lawrence Leonard conductor, 1972)

Conquistador / Whaling Stories / A Salty Dog / All This and More / In Held 'Twas In I / Luskus Delph
Music by Haydn, Debussy, Wirén

(Boris Brott 1 and John Avison 2 conductors, 1973)

Haydn Symphony No. 99 1 / Debussy Petit suite: En bateau 2 / Wirén March 2
McKuen The Ballad Of Distances: Symphonic Suite, Opus 40

(Tommy Banks conductor, 1973)

Scarlet and Gold / L'Escarlet et L'Or - Alberta R.C.M.P. Century Celebrations, 1874-1974

(Tommy Banks conductor, 1974)

Dere Overture / Rebellion / Tribute to the R.C.M.P.
Music by Wolf, Purcell, Adaskin, Warlock

(Pierre Hétu conductor, 1975)

Wolf Italian Serenade / Purcell The Married Beau Suite (Arr. Holst) / Adaskin Diversion for orchestra (an entertainment) / Warlock Six Italian Dances
Music by Ibert, Françaix, Rameau

(Pierre Hétu conductor, 1976)

Ibert Suite symphonique: "Paris" / Françaix Sérénade / Rameau Les fêtes d'Hébé
Orchestral Suites of the British Isles

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1983)

Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite / Warlock Capriol Suite / Harty A John Field Suite
Great Tenor Arias

(Ermanno Mauro tenor, Uri Mayer conductor, 1984)

Bizet "La fleur que tu m’avais jetée" (Carmen) / Massenet "O Souverain, ô juge, ô père!" (Le Cid) / Puccini "Che gelida manina" (La bohème) / Leoncavallo "Recitar!...Vesti la giubba" (Pagliacci) / Verdi "Niun mi tema" (Otello) / Gounod "Ah! lêve-toi, soleil" (Roméo et Juliette) / Massenet "Pourquoi me réveiller?" (Werther) / Puccini "E lucevan le stelle" (Tosca) / Puccini "Nessun dorma" (Turandot) / Giordano "Un dì all'azzuro spazio", also known as "L'improvviso" (Andrea Chénier) / Verdi "Ma se m'è forza perderti" (Un ballo in maschera) / Verdi "Ah si, ben mio...Di quella pira" (Il trovatore)
Great Verdi Arias

(Louis Quilico baritone, Uri Mayer conductor, 1984)

"E sogno o realtà?" (Falstaff) / "Morir! tremenda cosa...Urna fatale de mio destino" (La forza del destino) / "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata" (Rigoletto) / "Vanne! la tua meta già vedo...Credo in un Dio crude!" Otello) / "Perfidi!...Pietà, rispetto, amore" (Macbeth) / "Tutto è deserto...Il Balen del suo soriso" (Il trovatore) / "Di Provenza il mar, il suol" (La traviata) / "Alzati! là tuo figlio...Eri tu che macchiavi quell’anima" (Un ballo in maschera)
Music by Forsyth and Freedman

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1985)

Freedman Oiseaux exotiques / Forsyth Atayoskewin (Juno Award: Best Classical Composition)
Canadian and Russian Overtures

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1986)

Forsyth Jubilee Overture / Ridout Fall Fair / Morawetz Overture to a Fairy Tale / Shostakovich Festive Overture, Opus 96 / Borodin Prince Igor: Overture / Kabalevsky Colas Breugnon: Overture / Glinka Russlan and Ludmilla: Overture
Fiala The Kurelek Suite

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1987)

Harp Concertos

(Gianetta Baril harp, Uri Mayer conductor, 1987)

Ginastera Harp Concerto, Opus 25 / Morawetz Concerto for Harp and Chamber Orchestra (Juno Award: Best Classical Composition)
Great Orchestral Marches

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1988)

Fučík Entrance of the Gladiators / Alford Colonel Bogey / Sousa Stars and Stripes Forever / Elgar Pomp & Circumstance No. 4 / Farnon State Occasion / Papineau-Couture Marche de Guillaument / Beethoven Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens) / Schubert Marche Militaire / Johann Strauss I Radetzky March / Healey Willan Centennial March / Delibes Cortège de Bacchus / Tchaikovsky Jurisprudence March / Michael Conway Baker March (Evocations, Movement II) / Adaskin March No. 2 / Halvorsen Triumphal Entry of the Boyars / Grieg March of the Dwarfs (from Lyric Suite, Opus 54) / Herbert March of the Toys (from Babes in Toyland) / Rodgers March of the Siamese Children (from The King & I) / John Williams The Imperial March (from The Empire Strikes Back)
Works for Cello and Orchestra

(Shauna Rolston cello, Uri Mayer conductor, 1989)

Morawetz Memorial to Martin Luther King / Bruch Kol Nidrei, Opus 47 / Fauré Élégie for Cello and Orchestra, Opus 24 / Dvořák Silent Woods, Opus 68 No. 5 / Bliss Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
The Symphony Sessions

(Tom Cochrane, Red Rider, George Blondheim conductor, 1989)

Light in the Tunnel / Human Race / Can’t Turn Back / Napoleon Sheds His Skin / White Hot / Big League / Calling America / Avenue "A" / Bird on a Wire / Boy Inside the Man / Lunatic Fringe / Good Times / The Next Life
Music by Britten and Willan

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1993)

Britten Canadian Carnival, Opus 19 / Britten Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes, Opus 33a / Willan Symphony No. 2 in C minor
Russian Sketches

(Uri Mayer conductor, 1997)

Ippolitov-Ivanov Caucasian Sketches, Opus 10 / Tchaikovsky Eugene Onegin, Opus 24: Polonaise / Tchaikovsky The Sleeping Beauty, Opus 66: Waltz / Shostakovich The Age of Gold: Suite, Opus 22a: Polka / Borodin In the Steppes of Central Asia / Rimsky-Korsakov The Golden Cockerel: Suite
Electra Rising: Music of Malcolm Forsyth

(William Street saxophone, Amanda Forsyth cello, Grzegorz Nowak conductor, 1998)

Valley of a Thousand Hills / Tre Vie / Electra Rising (Juno Award: Best Classical Composition)
Music by Smetana and Janáček

(Grzegorz Nowak conductor, 1999)

Smetana Má vlast (original 1875 version) / Janáček Moravian Dances
P.J. Perry and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra

(P.J. Perry, saxophone, David Hoyt conductor, 1999)

Django / Charlie Parker Medley / Bossa Nova Medley / They Kept Bach's Head Alive / Ballad Medley / Hand In Hand / Harlem Nocturne / The Old Castle / Strike Up The Band
Semi-Conducted (CD) / Three Worms and an Orchestra (DVD)

(The Arrogant Worms, David Hoyt conductor, 2003)

Overture / Big Fat Road Manager / Canada's Really Big / Rocks and Trees / Log In to You / I am Cow / Last Saskatchewan Pirate / Gaelic Song / Me Like Hockey / Carrot Juice is Murder / Dangerous / Billy the Theme Park Shark / Celine Dion / We are the Beaver
Frenergy: The Music of John Estacio

(Mario Bernardi conductor, 2004)

Frenergy / A Farmer's Symphony / Bootlegger's Tarantella / Such Sweet Sorrow / Solaris / Borealis / Wondrous Light
Steve Bell in concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (DVD)

(Steve Bell, vocalist, Rei Hotoda conductor, 2008)

Here By the Water / Deep Calls to Deep / Waiting for Aidan / Burning Ember / Lord of the Starfields / Even So / Wellspring / Holy Lord
Carl Czerny - A Rediscovered Genius

(Jolaine Kerley soprano, Joy-Anne Murphy alto, Benjamin Butterfield tenor, Paul Grindlay bass, André Moisan clarinet, Grzegorz Nowak 1 and Leonard Ratzlaff 2 conductors, 2011; recorded in 2002)

Grand Overture in C minor, Opus 142 1 / Overture in E major 2 / Offertorium: "Benedicat nos Deus", Opus 737 2

References

External links

See also