By Darren Young
Keeping a straight face day in and day out with no leisure or relaxation time can be an arduous task. A little fun is a must and even the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra knows when to loosen those bowties and get funky with their hip selves. From time to time, the CPO feel compelled to crawl… Continue reading Music Interview: Catch Disco Fever
By Emily Senger
The Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Annual General Meeting. Vaulted ceilings and chandeliers. A sea of middle aged and senior men and women in expensive black suits jackets. Grey hair. A young reporter, feeling more than slightly out of place. Feeling out of place, at least until the 2004-2005 season programme is announced which includes Abba, Academy… Continue reading CPO lives!!!
Two years ago, I planned a terribly romantic date at some downtown outdoor event. Sadly, activities of that type fall short on the romance factor when it’s-30 degrees, the event is canceled and you end up in a Subway scalding your lips on coffee with nothing to say and nothing to do.According to the Calgary… Continue reading Philharmonic joy
“The classics should not feel like a root canal.”Victor Sawa does not fit the role of the standard conductor. In fact, he totes himself as “definitely different from 99 per cent of other conductors who convey the image that they’d rather not be there.” He’s bringing his uniqueness as an affable, comical and audience-focused conductor… Continue reading Terror takes the CPO stage
Seven thousand three hundred people at a sold-out show. Not bad for the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, an organization that sat in artistic limbo for months last year as it struggled to keep afloat financially. Musicians had nowhere to play while a skeleton administrative crew worked against time and the odds to prepare a plan for… Continue reading Mozart returns to the mountain and Beethoven hits the bottle
Few students pranced like proud and pretentious peacocks through the Jack Singer Concert Hall last Sunday night, but they should have. Everyone should have. Everyone deserves to feel the deep, internal excitement aroused by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The celebrated symphony was performed by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra as part of their first Beethoven Festival. The… Continue reading Ode to joy
In 1893, shortly after the release "Falstaff", which was to become his most celebrated comic opera, Verdi admittedly reported that "Certain passages are so droll that the music has often made me laugh while writing it." Over 100 years later, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra helped me appreciate Verdi’s claim. Regarded by some as the pre-eminent… Continue reading Verdi’s fat scoundrel