WSO’s 60th Anniversary Season Features Expanded Educational Programs

(Windsor, ON – October 1, 2007)     For its 60th Anniversary Season the Windsor Symphony Orchestra expands its innovative, award-winning educational programs, reaching more than 13,000 K-12 students in Windsor and Essex County. Combined with other educational and outreach programs at Chrysler Theatre and area schools, more than 30,000 students will experience the life-changing power of music.

More than just concerts, the WSO’s 21 education programs include comprehensive teacher preparation, custom CD’s of the musical program, and detailed teacher’s guides offering an extensive list of suggested activities to help prepare students for their concert experience. A free teacher’s workshop will be held on October 9th at Windsor’s Ciociaro Club. For each grade level, these activities are linked to Ontario’s specific curriculum requirements in reading, history, geography and more. These teacher guides are also available for students and parents on the WSO’s website at www.windsorsymphony.com.

Music Director John Morris Russell, who will conduct all 21 of these concerts, said “In all WSO performances, our most engaged listeners are informed listeners. Students in our region who attend our programs get maximum benefit by being well prepared for their musical experience, especially in how it relates to the rest of their studies. We see the results in each education program, year after year. Whether in school, at the Chrysler Theatre, Migration Hall or Sarnia, kids at WSO events are invariably responsive and enthusiastic, with an excellent grasp of what they are hearing and, most importantly, being excited about what comes next.”

KINDERGARTEN – GRADE 3

The K-3 program continues its multi-year survey of the instruments of the orchestra. This year’s concerts, titled “Wacky Woodwinds,” features music director John Morris Russell conducting Prokofiev’s favourite Peter and the Wolf to give youngsters a tour of the woodwind family of instruments – flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.  Other music includes Windsor composer Brent Lee’s Gatineau River and the Darktown Strutter’s Ball by Shelton Brooks. This 50 minute program will be presented ten times throughout the 2007-2008 school year, in schools in Windsor, Lasalle, Kingsville and Sarnia. Concert dates are February 26-29, March 4-6, and March 8-10, 2008.

GRADES 4-6

Area students in grades 4-6 come to the Chrysler Theatre downtown for a musical tour of our nation’s musical heritage in a program titled “Canadian Music Eh?” Music includes the traditional Windsor-Essex Folk Medley, Calixa Lavallee’s Overture from La Veuve, Dett’s Juba Dance from In the Bottoms,  Lee’s Gatineau River and Willan’s Overture to an Unwritten Comedy. A feature of this concert is that students will accompany the orchestra in selected pieces on the recorders from their own music classes. This 50 minute program, led by Music Director John Morris Russell, is also performed in Kingsville, Lasalle and Sarnia.  Concert dates for these ten performances are February 26-29, March 4-6, and March 8-10, 2008.

GRADES 7-12

This “Music of Freedom” program at the Chrysler Theatre on May 2, 2008 is tied into the WSO’s final subscription concert of the 2007-2008 Season. The music celebrates Windsor’s central role in the so-called “Underground Railroad,” which allowed American slaves a path to freedom in Canada. The program, conducted by music director John Morris Russell, features Dvorák’s New World Symphony, based on the old Negro spiritual Goin’ Home. Other music includes the Shaker melody from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, R. Nathaniel Dett’s Magic Moon of Molten Gold, Will Marion Cook’s  Swing Along, an arrangement of Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, and the world premiere of composer Stewart Goodyear’s Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra, with Mr. Goodyear as pianist. This exciting new piece, a fusion of classical, jazz, hip hop and Caribbean styles, will include the use a turntablist with the orchestra. Also featured is baritone Marcus Nance. This program last one hour.

The WSO offers its education programs for both English and French-speaking students. The French presentations, also conducted by John Morris Russell, are hosted by the CBC’s Lisette Lebouef.

The WSO continues to offer these programs to schools for a low price of just $6.00 per student (teachers and chaperones attend at no cost).

The lead sponsor for the educational concerts is CIBC.
Additional Sponsors are Bell Canada and Devonshire Mall.
WSO EDUCATIONAL CONCERT SCHEDULE

Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?
11:15 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?
11:15 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?

Thursday, February 28, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?
11h 15 - Le Musique Canadienne     
en francais     Tout Azimut!

Friday, February 29, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds
11:15 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds

Tuesday, March 4, 2008
St. Christopher Secondary School, Sarnia
11:50 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds
1:15 p.m.  - Canadian Music Eh?

Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds
11:15 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds

Thursday, March 6, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m.  - Canadian Music Eh?
11h 15 - Au Quatre Vents      
en francais

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Villanova Festival Theatre, Lasalle
10:00 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds
11:15 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Migration Hall, Kingsville
10:00 a.m.  - Canadian Music Eh?
11:15 a.m. - Canadian Music Eh?

Thursday, April 10, 2008
Migration Hall, Kingsville
10:00 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds
11:15 a.m. - Wild and Wacky Woodwinds

Friday, May 2, 2008
Chrysler Theatre, Windsor
10:00 a.m. - Music of Freedom

MUSIC ALIVE
Music Alive is a touring education program featuring smaller ensembles from the WSO, including string quartets and quintets, and woodwind quintets.  Programs are targeted for two age groups, grades K-3 and grades 4-8. Each 45” program is followed by an education newsletter offering suggested activities to follow each performance.

Winclare Management Services sponsors the Music Alive program.

 

OTHER PROGRAMS

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra’s educational programs for school children are only a part of its extensive activities for young people and adults. Other activities include the new ONE COMMUNITY – ONE SYMPHONY project, the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra (including a new Side-By-Side joint concert with the WSO and WSYO together on stage), the Peanut Butter ‘n Jam concerts for very young children ages 1-6, the WSO’s Community Concerts and the Instrumentally Speaking previews at the Premier Classics, Mozart & More and Bach & Beyond series concerts. The annual Free Family Summer Concert season will be announced next spring.

ONE COMMUNITY – ONE SYMPHONY
The heart of the WSO’s Diamond Anniversary Season will be a year long, city-wide exploration of a single work, Antonin Dvo?ák’s Symphony No.9, titled “From the New World.” The orchestra has invited directors of instrumental music in secondary schools from across Essex County to rehearse and perform an arrangement of selections from the orchestral masterpiece as part of their regular mix of works throughout the concert season. Music Director John Morris Russell and Assistant Conductor In-Residence Peter Wiebe will visit with each ensemble that participates to rehearse and give insights into the historical and music context of this landmark symphonic work. The culmination of this collaboration is an invitation to perform an extraordinary concert on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 that will bring together hundreds of musicians from across the county. Students who have participated throughout the year will perform their arrangements together in a “mass band” concert, followed by the WSO’s performance of the New Word Symphony in its entirety. This unique performance opportunity will serve as the finale to our 60th Anniversary celebrations and underscore the mission of the WSO: “To enrich community life and service as an educational resource though live orchestra performance.”

At the present time, eleven high school bands and one choir from across Windsor, Essex and Chatham-Kent Counties will be participating in the event.  The high school bands will be grouped together to perform four selections and the choir will sing an a capella rendition of the Symphony’s central theme, the Negro spiritual Goin’ Home.

WINDSOR SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA
Launched in January 2005, the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra (WSYO) is an educational initiative of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Peter Wiebe, the WSO’s Assistant Conductor In-Residence, is Youth Orchestra Conductor. Funding for this position was made  possible as a result of the WSO receiving a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

The WSYO is made up of about 55 musicians ages 13-22 who rehearse on Saturday afternoons at Walkerville Collegiate. The musicians represent 20 different secondary, post-secondary and elementary schools in Windsor and Essex County. So far the WSYO has played great symphonic repertoire by composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Sibelius, Grieg, Holst and Bartok.
 
This season the WSYO has two concerts planned: on Dec. 16, 2007 and May 25, 2008. Both concerts will be at Walkerville Collegiate at two different performance times: 2:30 and 7:00.

The youth orchestra program also includes the Windsor Symphony Junior Youth Orchestra (WSJYO), a 40-member string ensemble ages 9-14. They also rehearse Saturday afternoons at Walkerville, and perform at Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra concerts.

SIDE-BY-SIDE
For the first time, over 100 musicians will gather together as the WSO and WSYO sit “Side-By-Side” to perform a concert of orchestra masterworks at the acoustically-excellent Windsor Armouries on Saturday, April 18, 2008 at 2:30pm. The performances will be conducted by John Morris Russell and Peter Wiebe. Tickets for children start at $12, adult tickets are $23, and family discount packages are available, all via the Chrysler Theatre box office at 519-252-6579 or 1-800-387-9181 to order by phone. Box Office Hours: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sponsored by Scotiabank

 

PEANUT BUTTER & JAM SERIES
The “PB&J” series of concerts for young children ages 1-6 expands to three locations this season to accommodate the enormous demand. In addition to the sold-out series at the Windsor Public Library’s Main Branch and Place Concord, a new series starts this season at the Nikola Budomir Library. Each location features three programs of small ensembles and musical fun and game, including crafts and a chance to get “up close and personal” with the musicians and their instruments. PB&J concerts are hosted by WSO Assistant Conductor In-Residence Peter Wiebe and Janis Radford, and each venue offers two performances, at 10:00 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m.

The programs for 2007-08 are:
? BEETHOVEN’S BEAT, featuring the WSO String Quartet.
? KIDS RULE!, featuring the WSO String Quartet
? FAST ‘N SLOW, HIGH ‘N LOW, featuring the WSO Woodwind Quintet

CENTRAL:
Windsor Public Library Main Branch
Fred C. Israel Auditorium, 850 Ouelette Ave,
Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 19, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

EAST:
La Salle Communautaire
7515 Forest Glade Drive
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Saturday, April 26, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

WEST:
Nikola Budimir Library
1310 Grand Marais Road West
Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Sunday, April 27, 2008, at 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

Tickets for all PB&J concerts are $8.50 for children (under 8), and $10.50 for adults, available at  the Chrysler Theatre box office at (519) 252-6579 or 1-800-387-9181 to order by phone.  Box Office Hours: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets are also at each concert beginning two hours before each performance.

The Peanut Butter ‘n Jam Series Is Sponsored By:
Vicky & Mark Wilson & Family
Windsor Parent Magazine
A Channel
The Windsor Star
AM800

 

COMMUNITY CONCERTS:
The Great-West Life Community Concerts are part of the WSO’s Community Outreach program. The goal of Community Outreach is to bring the experience of live music to the broadest audience possible. These concerts are scheduled during the fall, winter and spring and are presented by individuals, churches, civic and community organizations as a special event or fundraiser. The WSO’s style of presentation is very inclusive and informal, mirroring the community we serve.

These concerts, conducted by Peter Wiebe, feature selections of music that might be heard at WSO Classics, Pops, Mozart and Baroque concerts with an emphasis on familiar melodies and popular favourites. Concerts usually include selections from Mozart, Bach, Gershwin, Handel, Schubert, waltzes or polkas by Strauss and even Broadway selections by Andrew Lloyd Webber and many others.

Thursday, October 18, 2007—7:30 p.m.
Hungarian Cultural Centre -- Mindszenty Hall
790 Hanna Street E. , Windsor, On  N8X 4L9
Tickets:  Adult  $10  students 13 & under $5

Friday, October 19, 2007—7:30 p.m.
Corpus Christi
1400 Cabana Rd. West, Windsor, On  N9G 1C4
Phone:  519-969-5292 
Tickets: $10   kids (7 and under) free

Friday, November 16, 2007—10 a.m.
St. Thomas of Villanova, Festival Theatre
Student tickets:  $2
Funds raised will go toward the Villanova Arts Program

Friday, November 16, 2007—7 a.m.
WSO String Orchestra AND flutist Alexander Zonjic and friends 
Celebrating 20 Years with “Taste of the Arts”
Villanova Festival Theatre
2800 North Townline, LaSalle, Ontario,
Tickets:  Adults $12 or 4 for $40, Seniors/Students $6,
Concert plus Afterglow event $20 or 4 for $60
Afterglow wine tasting and light refreshments following the concert.

Saturday, November 17, 2007—7 p.m.
St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral
2000 Tecumseh Road E., Windsor, Ontario N8X  4L9
Phone:  519-252-8145
Tickets: Adults $10; Students/Seniors $8.00;  Children with an adult parent free

Sunday, November 18 , 2007—7 p.m.
Banwell Community Church
2400 Banwell Road, Windsor, Ontario  N8P 1X9
Phone:  519-735-2654
Tickets: $10  (Light refreshments will be served following the concert.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Small Ensemble Concert
Sunday, January 6, 2008—7 p.m.
Christ Lutheran Church
304 Munger, Harrow, Ontario N0R 1G0
Phone:  519-738-4044

Wednesday, January 23, 2008—7 p.m.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
804 Grand Marais Road E., Windsor, Ontario N8X 3H4

Friday, January 25, 2008—7 p.m.
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
1921 Cabana W., Windsor, Ontario N9G 1C7
Phone:  519-969-7561

Tuesday, May 6, 2008—7 p.m.
St. Michael’s Catholic Church
29 Elliot Street, Leamington, Ontario  N8H 3M4
Phone:  519-326-2643

Wednesday, May 7, 2008—7:30 p.m.
St. George Romanian Orthodox Church
1960  Tecumseh Road E., Windsor, Ontario N8W 1E1

Thursday,  May 8, 2008—7:30 p.m.
St. Francis Chapel at Heavenly Rest
5005 Howard Avenue, Windsor, Ontario N9H 1Z5
Phone:  519-969-4836

Friday, May 9, 2008—7:30 PM
First Lutheran Church
160 Giles Blvd. W, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6G9
Phone:  519-256-2667

The Community Concerts Are Sponsored By:
GREAT-WEST LIFE

 

MUSIC THERAPY PROGRAM
2007-08 is the 4th year of this program, run in collaboration with the University of Windsor School of Music. Assistant Conductor in-Residence Peter Wiebe & members of the WSO work with the University of Windsor’s Music Therapy program to provide services at Windsor Western Hospital and Metropolitan Hospital. This innovative program, sponsored by Transition to Betterness, has served over 3,000 people since 2004.

INSTRUMENTALLY SPEAKING & MORE
The WSO provides numerous ways for adults to find out more about the music.  Instrumentally Speaking, the WSO’s pre-concert talks, are held an hour before the start of each BMO Financial Group Premier Classics concert inside the Chrysler Theatre, and 35 minutes prior to the evening performance of each HSBC Mozart & More and Dieppe Insurance Bach & Beyond concert at Assumption University’s Freed-Orman Centre. Maestro Russell has made arrangements with guest artists, conductors, composers and music specialists to offer their insights in an informal and informative way. Questions are always welcome.

Quarter Notes, the official program magazine of the WSO, offers informative notes on each program written by Dr. Ed Kovarik, these program notes are also available long before each concert on the WSO’s newly designed website at www.windsorsymphony.com.

Music Director John Morris Russell is also well-known for addressing the audience at concerts, with extra tidbits about the music.

INTERNSHIPS
The WSO’s professional staff also hosts several administrative interns each year, including students from the University of Windsor’s certificate program in arts administration. Interested students can contact the WSO at 519-972-1238.

WINDSOR SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Founded in 1947, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra is a professional regional orchestra of 43 contracted musicians. It enjoys a national reputation for its innovative programming with a strong creative commitment to Canadian performers and composers. The WSO has established a national reputation for its musical excellence and wide-ranging Educational and Community Outreach programs. The WSO can be heard regularly on CBC national radio broadcasts, and made its Gemini-nominated national television debut on CBC Television's Opening Night in 2003. The WSO is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Ontario Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Arts (2001, 2003). Since 1998, the WSO has doubled its subscription sales, and in 2005 launched the Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestra. Since 2000, the WSO has added five new concert series, and has commenced a ground-breaking Music Therapy programme, in partnership with the University of Windsor and Windsor Regional Hospitals. The WSO performs a 33-week concert season from September to May.

For more information, please contact:
Rob Gold, Director of Marketing
Tel: 519-973-1238, ext. 23
Email: rgold@windsorsymphony.com
Web:     www.windsorsymphony.com

 

The Education Season And Other Programs Are Made Possible By These Sponsors:

CIBC Education Concerts Lead Sponsor
Winclare Management Services  Music Alive Series
Great-West Life  Community Concert Series

 

Side-By-Side Concert Sponsor: Scotiabank

Side-By-Side Concert Media Sponsors:
The Windsor Star, A Channel, AM800

The Peanut Butter ‘n Jam Series Is Sponsored By:
Vicky & Mark Wilson & Family
Windsor Parent Magazine, A Channel, The Windsor Star, AM800