Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra announces 2020-21 season
By Janet Kanters, Editor
The Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season ended unfinished, but the orchestra’s music director is confident they will get back to providing music for the 2020-21 season – with some changes.
“We are approaching things with caution, but are cautiously optimistic,” said Carlos Foggin, who was named a “compelling Calgarian” in 2019 for his work with the orchestra.
“We are reducing the orchestration for this fall to eliminate wind and brass players (transmission concerns). We are also very excited to have professional camera equipment on the way. This will give us a livestream option for those who are concerned about safety or travel distance. We intend to make the livestream option permanent.”
The Rocky Mountain Symphony Orchestra (RMSO) had to cancel three major shows in the 2019-20 season: April 3-4 Sizzling Soundtracks, June 5-6 Pastoral Perfection and Canada Day at Spruce Meadows.
But as they say, the show must go on. And so Foggin and his orchestra members are working on the 2020-21 season. That includes getting in rehearsals.
Unlike choirs and many amateur groups, the RMSO only rehearses in the week prior to a concert.
“We are fortunate to have players of a very high calibre who are able to put concerts together on two or three rehearsals,” said Foggin. “Thankfully, the shutdown hasn’t affected us in terms of rehearsals; (but) of course, we miss the social aspect of playing together.”
With the lag time, and the difficulty in communicating, virtual rehearsals would be of little use, said Foggin.
“Once we have confirmed concert dates, we will get together for in-person rehearsals. Our players do all the work at home by themselves before they get to rehearsals – and then we just put it together,” he said. “Once we get the go-ahead from AHS, we could put together a major concert in as little as three days. If it was a simpler pops concert, we could easily rehearse it in the morning and perform it the same night.”
So how might the 2020-21 season look to patrons?
“We are planning to be on tour in Strathmore on March 20 for a show called Greatest Hits, featuring a number of RMSO principals in showpieces and light classics,” said Foggin. “This closely coincides with timing of the Strathmore Performing Arts Festival.”
Other concerts planned will be played on Friday nights at the Polaris Centre for the Performing Arts (Balzac), while Saturday is the day the orchestra tours out to the communities.
Thanks to a grant from the Calgary Foundation, the RMSO is acquiring a professional multi-camera broadcast system to broadcast live concerts from the Polaris Centre. The new system allows a single operator to control all the cameras remotely, and the dedicated hardware and control surfaces allow for a high production value.
The orchestra was originally looking to acquire the necessary technology on their own sometime in its 2021-22 season. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting tailspin, a number of major local funders, including the Rozsa Foundation and the Calgary Foundation, came to the aid of the groups hit the hardest, responding with cancellation and recovery grants in a matter of weeks.
“While the funding for the hardware was provided for the use of the orchestra, the permanent installation in the Polaris Centre will allow outside arts organizations to live-stream their own content in HD from the Polaris Centre stage,” said Foggin.
Another change is the make-up of the orchestra. “Due to ongoing COVID concerns, we are programming string-only concerts for our first two concerts of the season,’” said Foggin.
These are Beethoven Piano Concerto #4, featuring Jeanette Lin on piano, in a reduced orchestration on Oct. 2-3; and an All Back Concert with concerto performances by RMSO principals on Nov. 13-14.
“Our Holiday Concert will feature pop and opera vocals from audience favourites: Kathleen Morrison, Leon Leontaridis and Kim Raffin,” said Foggin. “As a special Valentine’s Day treat, we are delighted to be joined by pianist Stephen Nguyen, winner of the Canadian Music Competition, in a very special concert featuring Chopin’s virtuosic 1st piano concerto, and Dvorak’s sublime Symphony #7.”
He added the Greatest Hits performance in March will highlight all the light classics favourites, including the Swan, the Wedding March and more. Soloists will include Concertmaster Eva Toncheva, principal cellist Liz Tremblay and principal trombone Dylan Martin.
“In April, we will feature two classical masterpieces: Richard Strauss’ Horn Concerto #1 and Brahms’ first Symphony. RMSO principal horn Chris Buchner will be the featured soloist,” said Foggin.
“For our Season Finale we will have reprogrammed the long-awaited Sizzling Soundtracks from Season 4, featuring Star Wars, Ride of the Valkyries, Adagio for Strings and Jim Bicigo’s new Tuba Concerto “Murder, my Suite.”