Okanagan Symphony Celebrate 50th Anniversary with a BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
Mar 10, 2010 Music
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Okanagan Symphony Celebrate 50th Anniversary with a
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
March 25 | Bethel Church, 945 Main Street, Penticton | 7 pm
March 26 | Kelowna Community Theatre | 7 pm
March 27 | Vernon Performing Arts Centre | 7 pm
The Okanagan Symphony officially turns fifty years old this month. To mark this momentous occasion, “We are throwing three parties – one in each of our performance cities of Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon,” says Rosemary Thomson, Music Director and Conductor of the OSO. “Fifty years of continuous symphonic performances is a tremendous accomplishment.”
It’s not just parties: there will be three birthday concerts. Thomson is re-creating the very first concert the OSO ever performed, in February and March of 1960. “We’ll be performing the much-loved Rhapsody in Blue, with our Guest Artist Rolf Bertsch, the son of our founding conductor, Willem Bertsch,” says Thomson.
Bertsch is an accomplished pianist, and also a conductor of the Calgary Civic Orchestra. He’ll conduct the OSO in Beethoven’s Turkish March from The Ruins of Athens.
Conductor Laureate Leonard Camplin will conduct Haydn’s Surprise Symphony & Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze”. For the Bach, all former players of the OSO are being invited to join the orchestra onstage and play. As well, they will join the orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from the Sleeping Beauty Ballet. Camplin was Conductor of the OSO for 32 years, from 1964 until 1996.
Douglas Sanford, who was OSO Conductor from 1997 until 2005, was invited back to conduct a section of the Birthday Show, but is unfortunately unable to join in the celebration.
Rosemary Thomson will conduct the balance of the birthday concert, and the musicians and audiences are all invited to stay on after the shows and enjoy a birthday cake and reminisce. All shows start at 7:00 p.m. in all three cities. There will be no open dress rehearsals or pre-concert lectures for this concert cycle. However, Thomson will host “Afterthoughts” in all three cities, at which former conductors and musicians will share some musical memories.
The performance of HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSO opens at the Bethel Church in Penticton on Thursday, March 25th, followed by a concert at the Kelowna Community Theatre on Friday, March 26th and concluding with a show at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre on Saturday, March 27th. All shows start at 7 pm. Tickets for the Kelowna and Penticton shows are available through Ticketmaster, and Ticket Seller for Vernon.
The Okanagan Symphony is the third largest professional Symphony Orchestra in British Columbia, and has entertained residents of the Okanagan Valley and visitors from around the globe with symphonic music since 1960. The OSO is dedicated to bringing the passion of classical music to life throughout the Okanagan, while educating, entertaining, and reaching out to all generations.
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