Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra

The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra, based in Calgary, Alberta. The orchestra gives the majority of its performances in the Jack Singer Concert Hall at Arts Commons. It is also the resident orchestra for the Calgary Opera, Alberta Ballet Company, and the Honens International Piano Competition.

History

The Orchestra has a relatively short history, which began in 1910 with the founding of the First Calgary Symphony by violinist A.P. Howell. In 1947 the New Calgary Symphony was formed by Clayton Hare with members of the Mount Royal Orchestra and the previous Calgary Symphony.

In 1955, the Dutch conductor Henry Plukker created the Alberta Philharmonic, which in the same year merged with the Calgary Symphony. A new name, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra was chosen. Prelude, the orchestra's program magazine, began publication in October 1975 and continues to be their official concert programme. The Orchestra often features the Calgary Philharmonic Chorus, a chorus of over 120 members. On average the Calgary Philharmonic performs over 85 concerts per season to over 100,000 people in Calgary and surrounding area.

In 2001, management of the orchestra initiated a lockout and salaries of the players were cut by an average of 20 percent. In 2002, the orchestra had declared bankruptcy. In 2003, the orchestra came out of receivership, and Mike Bregazzi became their CEO and president. He retired from these posts in 2005.^[1] Ann Lewis Luppino became the orchestra's next CEO.^[2] Lewis Luppino retired in June 2015, and Paul Dornian was named the new President & CEO.

The current Music Director of the orchestra is Roberto Minczuk, who was named to the post in July 2005. His initial contract was for 3 years, starting with the 2006-2007 season.^[3] Other members of the conducting staff are Associate Conductor Adam Johnson and chorus master Timothy Shantz. Ivars Taurins is the Bach@Knox Festival Conductor. The late Mario Bernardi is the orchestra’s Conductor Laureate and Hans Graf is Music Director Laureate. Czech-born violinist Cenek J. Vrba was concertmaster until 2011 when he retired. Diana Cohen took over as concertmaster in the 2012/13 season.

In 2010, Donovan Seidle, the orchestra's assistant concertmaster, drew international attention when he served as the associate music director of the Vancouver Olympics, under Dave Pierce, the music director during the games and whom he had worked frequently for.^[4] He wrote some of the instrumental music used during the opening ceremony, among them an arrangement of the Olympic Hymn, which was performed in English and French.^[4]

Music directors

• Henry Plukker (1955–1962)
• Haymo Taeuber (1963–1968)
• José Iturbi (1968–1969)
• Maurice Handford (1970–1975)
• Arpad Joó (1977–1984)
• Mario Bernardi (1984–1992^[5])
• Hans Graf (1995–2003)
• Roberto Minczuk (2006–present)

Recordings

The orchestra has made over 10 recordings for CBC Records, including the following works:

• Franz Liszt Piano Concertos (Janina Fialkowska, Piano)
• Cello Concerti of Elgar & Saint-Saëns (Shauna Rolston, Cello)
• Mozart – 12 Overtures (Mario Bernardi, Conductor)
• Mendelssohn – Symphonies 1 & 5 (Mario Bernardi, Conductor)
• Schumann – Symphonies No. 1, 2, 3 & 4 (Mario Bernardi, Conductor)
• Mahler - Symphony No. 1 (Hans Graf, Music Director)
• Tchaikovsky - Piano Concerto No. 1 with Pavel Kolesnikov (Roberto Minczuk, Music Director and Pavel Kolesnikov, piano)
• Rhapsody in Blue: The Best of George Gerswhin (Roberto Minczuk, Music Director)
• Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3 (Roberto Minczuk, Music Director)
• Beethoven Symphonies Nos. 5 & 8 (Roberto Minczuk, Music Director)

See also

• List of symphony orchestras

References

External links

• Calgary Philharmonic web site