Partner Orchestra
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra
Roberto Minczuk, Music Director Laureate
Year founded: 1955
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) has been a cornerstone of Calgary’s multi-faceted arts community since 1955, and is one of North America’s finest and most versatile live music ensembles. From classical giants to rock and roll hits and family favourites, the CPO offers an average of 80 concerts per season designed to fit all musical tastes. A repertoire that is extensive and broad in scope consistently attracts acclaimed guest artists and conductors.
At the end of the 2015/16 season, Roberto Minczuk became Music Director Laureate after ten seasons as Music Director with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. Maestro Rune Bergmann becomes Music Director as of the 2017/18 season. Past music directors of the CPO include the late Mario Bernardi, who guided the orchestra from 1984 to 1992, which was a period of tremendous artistic growth. Hans Graf served as Music Director between 1995 and 2003, leading the orchestra on its award-winning European tour in the fall of 2000, making the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra the first Western Canadian orchestra to tour Europe.
Photo credit: Chad Goddard
John Abram
Birthplace: Farnworth, UK
Current home: Calgary, AB
John Abram is responsible, in whole or in part, for the Open Space New Music Series at the Open Space Gallery in Victoria, The Drystone Orchestra, the Dartmouth Experimental Music Group, and the New Music Initiative at Mount Royal University Conservatory’s Advanced Performance Program. He has written numerous concert and film scores, was a member of Allison Cameron’s group Arcana, performed with Arraymusic, Strange Companions, and performed new music on the Halifax Harbour Ferry. He lives in Calgary, where he composes, performs, teaches, and works as a freelance recording engineer and producer.
John’s music has been heard around the world, performed by Guido Arbonelli, Arcana, Arraymusic, Bergmann Duo, Blue Arch Strings, Brandon Chamber Players, The Burdocks, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary Youth Orchestra, Concentus Corvinus, Continuum, Les Coucous Bénévoles, The Drystone Orchestra, Eve Egoyan, Electra, Interensemble, Rosa Selvatica, Victoria Symphony, George W. Welch, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, and others.
Start
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
September 22, 2017
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary
A program note ought not take longer to read than the duration of the music it introduces, so I will just comment that Start was composed as a short celebratory commencement to your concert experience, spends much of its time around the note “C”, and is curtailed by clarinets.