The CBC Radio Orchestra was a Canadian
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
based in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, that was operated by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...
. Until the early 1980s CBC had a number of orchestras located in
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
,
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, and
Halifax but due to
federal government
A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...
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
A radio orchestra (or broadcast orchestra) is an orchestra employed by a radio network (and sometimes television networks) in order to provide programming as well as sometimes perform incidental or theme music for various shows on the network. In ...
in North America.
History
The orchestra was founded in 1938 under the name the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra.
[ A predecessor of the CBC, the ]Canadian National Railway Radio network
CNR Radio or CN Radio (officially the Canadian National Railways Radio Department)[Henri Miro
Henri Enrique Miro (13 November 1879 – 19 July 1950) was a Canadian composer/arranger, conductor, pianist, and music critic of Catalan birth. He was a pioneering conductor for Canadian radio and his works were performed in all of Montrea ...]
in 1931–32.
Over the years guest conductors have included Raffi Armenian
Raffi Armenian, (born June 4, 1942) is a Canadian conductor, pianist, composer, and teacher. He directed the Kitchener–Waterloo Symphony orchestra for many years. Since 1999 he has been the director of Orchestral Studies at the University of T ...
, Kees Bakels
Kees Bakels (born 14 January 1945, in Amsterdam) is a Dutch conductor.
Bakels began his musical career as a violinist, and later studied conducting at the Amsterdam Conservatory and the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. He has appear ...
, Michel Corboz
Michel Corboz (14 February 1934 – 2 September 2021) was a Swiss conductor.
Life
Corboz was born in Marsens, Switzerland, and educated in his native canton of Fribourg. He studied vocal performance and composition at the conservatory in Fribourg ...
, Victor Feldbrill
Victor Feldbrill, (April 4, 1924 – June 17, 2020) was a Canadian conductor and violinist.
Early life and education
Feldbrill was born in Toronto,[Serge Garant
Albert Antonio Serge Garant, (September 22, 1929 – November 1, 1986) was a Canadian composer, conductor, music critic, professor of music at the University of Montreal and radio host of ''Musique de notre siècle'' on Radio-Canada.] , Monica Huggett
Monica Huggett (born 16 May 1953 in London, England) is a British conductor and leading baroque violinist.
Biography
At the age of 16, Huggett started studying at the Royal Academy of Music, London, with Manoug Parikian and Kato Havas, baroque ...
, Milton Katims, Gary Kulesha
Gary Kulesha (born 22 August 1954) is a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and educator. Since 1995, he has been Composer Advisor to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer-in-Residence with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (198 ...
, Sir Ernest MacMillan
Sir Ernest Alexander Campbell MacMillan, (August 18, 1893 – May 6, 1973) was a Canadian orchestral conductor, composer, organist, and Canada's only "Musical Knight". He is widely regarded as being Canada's pre-eminent musician, from the ...
, Ettore Mazzoleni
Ettore Mazzoleni (18 June 1905 – 1 June 1968) was a Canadian conductor, music educator, writer, and Arts administration, arts administrator of Swiss birth. He was one of the Canadian Opera Company's principal conductors during its early years, w ...
, Geoffrey Moull
Geoffrey Moull is a Canadian professional conductor. He was principal conductor of the Bielefeld Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra.
Education
Geoffrey Moull was born in London, Ontario, Canada and ...
, Harry Newstone, Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Yannick Nézet-Séguin, CC (; born Yannick Séguin;David Patrick Stearns, "Nezet-Seguin signs Philadelphia Orchestra contract". ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', 19 June 2010. 6 March 1975) is a Canadian ( Québécois) conductor and pianist. He ...
, Jaap Schroeder Jaap may refer to:
* Jaap Sahib, Sikh prayer
* Jaap (given name) Jaap is a Dutch given name that is short for Jacob or Jacobus (Jacob or James in English). People with this name include:
Academics
*Jaap R. Bruijn (born 1938), Dutch maritime his ...
, Georg Tintner
Georg Tintner, (22 May 19172 October 1999) was an Austrian conductor whose career was principally in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Although best known as a conductor, he was also a composer (he considered himself a composer who conducted) ...
, Owen Underhill
Owen Underhill (born January 26, 1954) is a Canadian composer, flutist and conductor based in Vancouver. He is currently a professor of music at Simon Fraser University. He has been an active contributor to the new music scene on the West Coast, a ...
, , and Jon Washburn. Most of Canada's leading concert artists have appeared as soloists.
The orchestra had 45 members at the time its dissolution was announced. It has had only four conductors in its existence. The first was John Avison
John Henry Patrick Avison, (April 25, 1915November 30, 1983) was a Canadian conductor and pianist. From 1938 to 1980, he was the founding conductor of the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra. He was a longtime member of the Vancouver Symphony Orche ...
who led the orchestra until 1980. For 2 years the baton was held by John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Life and career
Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Gard ...
. Between 1984 and 2006 the lead conductor was Mario Bernardi
Mario Bernardi, (20 August 1930 – 2 June 2013) was a Canadian conductor and pianist.[Alain Trudel
Alain Trudel (born 13 June 1966) is a Canadian conductor, trombonist and composer.
Biography
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Trudel first became known to the public as a trombone soloist. He made his solo debut at the age of 18, with Charles Dutoit a ...]
was named musical director of the orchestra, replacing Mario Bernardi as of fall 2006.
The orchestra generally performed 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
Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...
in December 2004 and to Iqaluit, Baffin Island in September 2008. The orchestra performed most of its concerts at the Chan Shun Concert Hall
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is situated within the natural landscape of the campus and is surrounded by evergreens and rhododendr ...
at the University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
. Although from time to time it also performed at the Orpheum 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. In 2004 an album of its recordings won a Juno Award for Large Ensemble Classical Recording. This successful business plan was later 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 Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toronto ...
. The ensemble had weekly broadcasts until it was disbanded in 1964.
Demise
The orchestra was disbanded at the end of November 2008.
[CBC Radio Orchestra to disband after 70 years]
[Lederman, Marsha]
"CBC Radio Orchestra to be dismantled"
''Globe and Mail'', March 27, 2008
The demise of the CBC Radio Orchestra was 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
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
, a prominent article in Vancouver's Georgia Straight
''The Georgia Straight'' is a free Canadian weekly news and entertainment newspaper published in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Overstory Media Group. Often known simply as ''The Straight'', it is delivered to newsboxes, post-secondary schools, ...
and even coverage in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. There have also been protests outside CBC locations across Canada. Several Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
from different parties expressed their opposition to the orchestra's demise at a May 2, 2008 meeting of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage; Bill Siksay
William Livingstone Siksay (born March 11, 1955) is a Canadian politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) who represented the British Columbia riding of Burnaby—Douglas for the New Democratic Party from 2004 to 2011.
Early life
Siksay ...
(NDP - Burnaby—Douglas), Denis Coderre
Denis Coderre (born July 25, 1963) is a Canadian politician from Quebec. Coderre was the member of Parliament for the riding of Bourassa from 1997 until 2013, and was the Immigration minister from 2002 to 2003 and became the mayor of Mont ...
(Liberal Canadian Heritage Critic) and Ed Fast (Conservative - Abbotsford).
National Broadcast Orchestra
On November 1, 2008, CBCRO musical director Alain Trudel
Alain Trudel (born 13 June 1966) is a Canadian conductor, trombonist and composer.
Biography
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Trudel first became known to the public as a trombone soloist. He made his solo debut at the age of 18, with Charles Dutoit a ...
announced that the orchestra would attempt to continue independently of the CBC, as the National Broadcast Orchestra of Canada with plans to perform six to 10 concerts a year with a contingent of between 35 and 50 players. The NBO will have a projected budget of $1 million to be provided through fundraising though the ensemble hopes to eventually qualify for government grants. Trudel says the orchestra will continue to concentrate on North American music and new works by Canadian composers and intends to be a multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
orchestra utilizing webcasting as well as undertaking radio and television projects. In 2010 the orchestra, based in Vancouver, prepared for its first concert; the program included ''The Sparrow’s Ledger'', a CBC-commissioned composition by Michael Oesterle."National Broadcast Orchestra rises again through Internet"
''Georgia Straight'', by Alexander Varty on January 6th, 2010
References
External links
National Broadcast Orchestra
CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra - Canadian Communication Foundation
{{Authority control
Canadian orchestras
Radio and television orchestras
Disbanded orchestras
Musical groups established in 1938
Musical groups disestablished in 2008
Musical groups from Vancouver
2008 in Canadian music
Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Large Ensemble or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment winners
1938 establishments in British Columbia
2008 disestablishments in British Columbia