The SSO’s Principal Horn Carol Marie Cottin

The SSO’s Principal Horn Carol Marie Cottin

We’ve been keeping in touch with the musicians of the SSO during the pandemic – and we got this awesome note from the SSO’s Principal Horn:
Hi my name is Carol-Marie Cottin and I play principal horn with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. I decided to write about why I chose horn and some of my favourite composers for horn.
I’ve been a proud member of this orchestra since 1993. I started music at a young age. Being the last of six children my mothers made sure all of us started on piano. Unfortunately I didn’t stay with piano, something I regret to this day. Anyway, in grade 6 I started on trumpet. And the only reason I started with trumpet was because my older brother had played it and it was the instrument laying around. I was quite happy playing trumpet and had great teachers in those early years. Actually all my teachers were great I was very lucky in that regard. Then when I was in grade 10 I went to my then band teacher, shout out to Mr. Chuck Hendrickson, great teacher/mentor, and asked if I could play French horn. He said “let me think about it”. So I anxiously waited what seemed forever, but was in reality was only a couple of days for his answer. He came back and said yes. Well I was so excited to pick up this magnificent, complicated, challenging and beautiful instrument. And so began my horn career.
And now I’ll write about some of my favourite orchestral repertoire for the horn. Wow, it’s hard to know where to start there’s so much to choose from. Well as you might know Mozart write so much for the horn: 4 concertos, a rondo, horn quintet, wind sinfonietta just to mention a few. So I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Mozart.
Let’s move on to Brahms. Brahms and horn playing to me are one and the same. Brahms had a great understanding of the horn sound and it’s capabilities. Whether it’s a heroic horn call, as in the finale of his 1st symphony or the haunting melody of his 3rd symphony Brahms brings to life the true colour of the horn. For me, Brahms always brings me home to the raw beauty of the horn sound, so pure and simple.
Next, I’d have to mention Richard Strauss. Also someone who wrote 2 horn concertos. It might have had something to do with the fact that his father was a horn player and composer. But I digress. By this time the horn as we know it today was in full use.  Strauss wrote sheer gymnastic, acrobatic horn lines. It’s both a joy and a terrifying challenge to play his works.  There are so many juicy horn parts in all his tone poems; from Till to Don Juan and from operas such as Capriccio (very extended horn solo-3rd act) to Salome and Elecktra. I’ve never met a horn player that just didn’t love to play Strauss.
I will end and what for me is the ultimate in horn playing.  Mahler. I’ve had the great pleasure of playing a lot of Mahler and it’s always been a great joy and full of satisfaction. It’s like the chocolate cake with the cherry on top and a side of ice cream. Yum. A couple of years ago my dream of playing symphony #5 came true.   It was another universe, another reality. I encourage all to go and listen to it. Mahler just knew how to write glorious soaring horn lines that just fit nicely on the horn. As well as writing for the whole brass section and whole orchestra lines that spoke to the true humanity of us all.  His music fills up my soul and expresses all I want to say through my instrument -the horn 📯
Well, it has been a great pleasure to share some of my favourite horn parts during these strange times. Take care, stay safe and stay healthy.
Carol -Marie 📯

Beat Beethoven Virtual Fun Run

WOW! Thank you to everyone who took part in our Virtual Beat Beethoven!

Over the course of the week, we had nearly 200 people participate in this walk/bike/run. We want to send a special thank you to the people who joined us from Columbia, Guatemala, and Scotland!

Although the run is done – you can still give it a go and enjoy getting active to this incredible music. 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth, so its a great time to soak in his music any way you can.

 

Beat Beethoven – Don Cochrane

1: Pick your distance/music – playlists below!

2: Set up your running app – like Strava, Runkeeper, MapMyRun, etc

When it comes time for your Beat Beethoven run, press start on your chosen playlist and then press start on your app to keep track of your distance and time. You can keep track of distance or steps, that’s up to you! When you have completed the run/walk/bike stop your app and pause the playlist to see if you Beat Beethoven!

3: After your run share it with us! #SSOBeatBeethoven

Each Beat Beethoven run/walk/bike you do from May 24 – May 30 can be used to enter the draw for a prize pack from Brainsport. Upload a screenshot of your run time and where you stopped on your Beat Beethoven Playlist for your entry. Feel free to send us a Beat Beethoven selfie too!

Upload your photos to enter the draw!
Click here to upload photos

You can also post a picture/story on social media with #SSOBeatBeethoven. We will share them on our social media. 

PLAYLISTS

A true passionate spirit – just like Beethoven! A brisk 5km with one of the most iconic pieces of music ever written.

Run to his epic 5th symphony (about 30 mins):
IDAGIO
SPOTIFY
APPLE MUSIC

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You’re looking for the ultimate inspiring run – feel the joy of Beethoven 9! Feel the thrill of getting closer to your goal as the choir comes in with one of the most powerful moments in all of music.

Run to Beethoven’s Choral Symphony (about 60 mins):
IDAGIO
Spotify
Apple Music

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Time to explore nature on your bike – take a ride with Beethoven and his Pastoral Symphony! Hear the birds, watch the clouds, and soak in one of Beethoven’s most beautiful pieces of music.

Bike to Beethoven’s Symphony 6 (about 40 mins):
IDAGIO
Spotify
Apple Music

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Don’t worry, it’s not all about the distance – take a chance to go for a great walk and explore these great Beethoven playlists!

Playlists to enjoy:
IDAGIO
Spotify
Apple Music

SSO For You

It’s strange to not be able to make music with your friends – and even stranger that we weren’t getting to make music FOR our friends!

While we all stay home to flatten the curve, the SSO wanted to bring you some special programming to enjoy from the comfort of your home.  Eric and the musicians have been busy working with the staff to create ways to connect with you during this time!

Meet the Musicians in Your Neighbourhood

Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm on at www.facebook.com/saskatoonsymphony

Join Maestro Eric Paetkau every Tuesday and Thursday on Facebook live for a chance to talk to the musicians that make the SSO awesome.  Each episode gets chatty and explores how each person came to call Saskatoon home, their musical influences, and so much more!

Click to watch

Classical Now on CFCR

Mondays, 7:00-8:30pm on CFCR www.cfcr.ca

Join our ED Mark Turner each Monday night for Classical Now – dig deeper into your music library and find out more about the behind the scenes stories of composers/performers and their music.  Discover music new and old and maybe even learn something on the way!

Online Performances

We are going to be sharing some music with you – some from past performances, and some filmed just for social media.  It’s a mix of stuff you’ll know well and stuff you should know better (it slaps, as the kids would say!).  We’ll be posting videos on Faecbook, Instagram, and YouTube – so keep your eyes pealed!

SSO Trivia!

with Richard and Stephanie – dates TBD

If you’ve been to one of our After Dark performances, you’ll know what we’re talking about!  From the musicians who brought you “Name that Tune on the Bassoon” and that weird thing with the cheese, we’re going to have a few trivia nights led by Richard and Stephanie to test your knowledge of all things pub-trivia mixed in with some music!

Beethoven 250 Festival

May 2nd to 8th

The festival week we had planned may have had to be cancelled, but we’ve got something up our sleeves for the stay-at-home edition.  Join us for some learn opportunities, catch some music, get interactive with the SSO!  Details announced soon!

Kids Learning Opportunities

Every day at 10am we’re posting a cool activity for your kids to try out – head over to our Facebook and check out the daily activity.

 

And more…

We have a bunch of plans in the works – maybe you’ll learn about the 12 most important symphonies ever, or how to make a double reed!  We are adjusting to this new world of having to connect with each other and with all of you in new ways – and its going to be a unique way to make music more during this difficult times!

Classical Music Online For You

With the impact of COVID-19 being felt around the globe, its become even more clear that music is something we all need at this time – and while we can’t gather together for performances, the classical music world is moving online as quickly as possible!

So we wanted to pull together some of our top picks for where to catch some brilliant performances online during this time.

Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall

One of the world’s most beloved classical music institutions has a 30 day free trial available of their Digital Concert Hall.  With that 30 day trial, you have access to hundreds of hours of music and live performances that you can enjoy!
You do have to sign up for the 30 day free trial.

Click for More

LA Phil

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has made itself an orchestra in a class of its own.  Their LA Phil Watch and Listen is always available and always free – they’ve got everything from concerts to interviews and more!

Click for More

Metropolitan Opera

The Met’s HD Broadcasts changed the game over a decade ago – and now they’re bringing you an HD Broadcast everyday on their website.  They announce their weekly line up the week before, and the videos are live on their website for 24hrs.

Click for More

Saskatoon Public Library – Naxos Music Library

Here’s something very special for folks with a library card!
You can sign on to the Saskatoon Public Library’s Digital Library Resources and with that you have full access to the Naxos Classical Music Library – it’s one of the largest online streaming systems and brings you a remarkable wealth of things to listen to!

Click for Digital Library

Enjoy the SSO!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl_a0Lxo-ac]

We have lots of online opportunities you can enjoy from home:

On our Facebook – www.facebook.com/saskatoonsymphony

Kids Music Activity -a special musical education activity to posted everyday at 10am

Take a Listen to This – a piece of music we think you’ll love, posted everyday at 8:30pm

Meet the Musicians in Your Neighbourhood – hosted by Eric Paetkau – Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm
Eric is joined by musicians in the SSO, and friends of the SSO, in conversations about music, life, and more.  When the chats are live, you can ask questions too!

Video Archive
We’ll be releasing some videos from past concerts – including our performances of Piazzolla’s Four Season of Buenos Aires

 

Mozart’s Symphony No. 29

Accustomed as we are to the central importance attached to the later Symphonies of Mozart and Haydn, their earlier works often seem to be uncomfortably light in weight for two such masters to have created. The music may be as inventive, as beautifully crafted as the more famous later works, but that magical sense of emotional depth is much less apparent.

There are those who maintain that the two composers were merely feeling their way towards a greater musical expression in their earlier works, but a single hearing of one of Mozart’s Operas or of Haydn’s Masses from the same period quickly puts paid to that argument. The truth is, however, very simple. Symphonies, at least until the middle of the 1780’s, were not designed to be the most important part of a concert. They developed from, and at first were largely interchangeable with, Italian Overtures, and as such were intended merely to gather the audience’s attention towards the solo and the concertante works which were to follow. Over the decades, the Classical Symphony evolved in the direction of greater logic and structural efficiency, and almost by the way, grew more important in the scheme of things. Mozart and Haydn both started to express greater emotional depth in their Symphonies as more and more of their listeners began to pay attention, and as time went on, the Classical Symphony achieved the form and the style which we value so highly today.

Mozart’s Symphony no. 29 in A Major could well be regarded as being the finest of all of his early Symphonies. One of the seven Symphonies which Mozart composed was for the new Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg Hieronymous von Colloredo in the years 1773-4. The work was, according to the still extant manuscript, completed on April 6th, 1774. There is no record of the first performance in the Archbishop’s court. It is unlikely that the premiere of a new Symphony would be considered worthy of comment or even notice but Mozart apparently felt that the Symphony held a special significance, for he carried the work around with him for the rest of his life, scheduling it for performance whenever the opportunity would arise.

The Symphony no. 29 represents Mozart’s early maturity at its best. His personal synthesis of the three disparate Symphonic styles of the Mannheim School, of J.C. Bach and of Joseph Haydn would have been remarkable as a pastiche. Instead Mozart was able to develop a manner of Symphonic composition which partook of all three schools and yet was wholly his own. The Symphony is in the proper four movements.

The first movement, an Allegro moderato, begins quietly without the usual fanfare, but quickly establishes itself with an ingratiating charm, delightfully backed up by contrasting subjects. A short Development section rapidly leads to a direct Recapitulation.

The second movement, a serene Andante, is both civilized and somewhat pastoral in character, and is remarkably well written, even for Mozart.

The third movement opens in a brisk, business-like way in the opening Menuet section, only to become suddenly introverted, almost watchful, in the Trio.

The Finale, marked Allegro con spirito, is a dashing movement characterized by the use of hunting idioms, both rhythmic and melodic. The music swings along with real gaiety and even a certain amount of drama to bring the Symphony no. 29 to a satisfying close.

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Credit – Ronald Comber

Beethoven’s Septet

Although it provided an early boost to his popularity at a time he most needed it, Beethoven grew to resent the success that his Septet generated following its public premiere in Vienna, April 2, 1800. He had worked hard for the concert, his first benefit concert – organizing, promoting, conducting, and playing piano in a typically huge program, with the Septet as its centerpiece. It paid off, and Beethoven is estimated to have been able to live off the proceeds for two years. A piano duo version of the Septet quickly appeared. Then Beethoven encouraged his publisher to issue arrangements for strings alone, for flute quintet, and he even made a transcription himself (his op. 38) for the very marketable, and comfortably domestic, combination of piano trio. The benefit concert at the Burgtheater presented the young Beethoven (Septet, First Symphony, a piano concerto, and piano improvisations) alongside the venerated Mozart (a symphony) and Haydn (excerpts from the newly written oratorio, The Creation). Here was Beethoven standing tall, out of the shadow of his mentors and, by implication, every bit their equal. But the very success of the genial Septet would soon raise expectations that Beethoven was unwilling to meet as his composition evolved. Conservative critics would use it as a barometer against which they would measure the challenges that his more progressive, more demanding later music would pose. Beethoven grew to despise the Septet, whose popularity has never waned. “That damned thing!” the composer told an English visitor a dozen or so years later: “I wish it were burned!”

The Septet is highly original in its one-to-a-part combination of a trio of winds and quartet of strings. Its six movements are rooted in the serenade/divertimento tradition where the winds customarily play in pairs. Here, however, there is just one clarinet, oboe, and bassoon playing individual lines with violin, viola, cello, and bass. Beethoven’s palette is similarly far from traditional, with both bassoon and cello climbing well beyond their habitual bass line support, while the bass itself has more of an orchestral rather than a doubling role. The winds generally either support the strings or work as a group and occasionally as soloists, providing contrast to the sonority of the strings. The stately introduction immediately gives notice of the importance of the violin. Its earliest performer was Ignaz Schuppanzigh, then the foremost violinist in Vienna, chosen to give the premieres of many more of Beethoven’s works in the years to come. Beethoven probably had Schuppanzigh in mind when he turned the second variation (fourth movement) into a miniature concerto, wrote some virtuoso arpeggios in the scherzo movement, and even included a brilliant cadenza for the violin in the finale. The clarinet, too, has time in the limelight, notably in the first two movements. Beethoven draws the theme of the third movement from an earlier G Major Piano Sonata (later published as op. 49, no. 2), crisping up its rhythm and adding flamboyant little displays for horn and clarinet in its central trio section.

To this point, Beethoven follows the pattern of movements of a traditional classical chamber work, and a brisk finale would normally follow. Instead, in the spirit of the serenade, he introduces a fourth movement containing a sequence of five variations on what is believed to be a German folk song, choosing a different texture for each variation. The horn sets the mood of the jaunty Scherzo, which is then introduced to balance the earlier minuet, while the cello commands its lyrical trio section. The finale opens with an imposing, slow march in the minor key. It is a moment of tongue-in-cheek humour and the solemnity is short-lived since the Presto that follows positively exudes joie de vivre. The Septet, where shared enjoyment is a hallmark of the musical language, inspired many 19th century large-scale chamber works by Spohr, Kreutzer, Moscheles, Hummel, Onslow, Berwald, and others – none more celebrated than (with the addition of a second violin) Schubert’s great Octet of 1824.

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Credit – Keith Horner

Beethoven’s Serenade

We tend to think of Beethoven as a very serious, determined, God-like figure: Johann Anton Stieler’s famous portrait of the composer furiously at work on the Missa solemnis; grey mane tousled; a stern, focused expression on his face, encapsulates this widely-held view of the man.

Yet there’s another side to him: one that’s impish, playful, and earthy. You hear this personality in some otherwise long-hair music: the “Alla danza tedesca” movement of the op. 130 string quartet, for instance. And there are whole pieces that revel in this mood, like the early Septet and the later Eighth Symphony.

A lesser-known score in this vein is the Serenade for flute, violin, and viola, written in 1801. It features Beethoven in his most relaxed, charming, and stylistically Classical – a remarkable combination, considering that the piece was composed around the same time the crisis with his hearing reached its climax.

You’d never guess that from this music. The Serenade opens with a lively, tripping “Entrata” that’s filled with fanfare-like figures played by (mainly) the flute and viola. An elegant “Minuet” follows; note the trio, with its florid writing for strings. After this comes a good-natured, scampering “Allegro molto” in D minor and then a broadly lyrical set of variations. A short, driving scherzo movement sets up the big finale, which opens with a stately introduction. But the mood quickly brightens once the “Allegro vivace disinvolto” kicks off with its rustic “Scotch snaps” and buoyant spirits.

 

 

Credit – Jonathan Blumhofer

Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony

Even by nineteenth-century standards, the historic concert on December 22, 1808, was something of an endurance test. That night, Beethoven conducted the premieres of both his Fifth and Pastoral symphonies, played his Fourth Piano Concerto (conducting from the keyboard); and rounded out the program with the Gloria and the Sanctus from the Mass in C; the concert aria Ah! perfido; improvisations at the keyboard, and the Choral Fantasy, written in great haste at the last moment as a grand finale.

If concertgoers that evening read their printed program — the luxury of program notes still many decades in the future—  they would have found the following brief guide to the Sixth Symphony, in Beethoven’s own words:

Pastoral Symphony, more an expression of feeling than painting. 1st piece: pleasant feelings which awaken in men on arriving in the countryside. 2nd piece: scene by the brook. 3rd piece: merry gathering of country people, interrupted by 4th piece: thunder and storm, into which breaks 5th piece: salutary feelings combined with thanks to the Deity.

Although Beethoven wasn’t by nature a man of words (spelling and punctuation led a perilous existence in his hands), he normally said what he meant. We must then take him at his word, believing that he had good reason (for the only time in his career) to preface his music with a few well-chosen words and that curious disclaimer “more an expression of feeling than painting.” Perhaps Beethoven was anticipating the controversy to follow, for in 1808, symphonies weren’t supposed to depict postcard scenes or bad weather.

Beethoven’s idea itself was neither novel nor his own. In 1784 (Beethoven was only fourteen), an obscure composer named Justin Heinrich Knecht advertised his newest symphonic creation: Le portrait musical de la nature (A musical portrait of nature) in five movements, including a depiction of the peaceful countryside, the approach of a storm, and a general thanksgiving to the creator once the clouds had passed. It would take hearing no more than a measure or two of music to explain why Knecht has remained obscure while Beethoven turned the music world upside down. The descriptive writing and pastoral subject matter of Beethoven’s symphony are a throwback to the baroque era—think of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or the Pastoral Symphony in the Messiah—or at least to Haydn’s two oratorios, The Creation and The Seasons, the latter written only half a dozen years earlier.

History books are right, of course, to point out the work’s novelties: the “extra” movement, the descriptive titles, the programmatic element, and pictorial details like the bird calls in the slow movement and the village band in the scherzo. But Beethoven was also right in trusting that “he who has ever had a notion of country life can imagine without too many descriptive words what the composer has intended.”

Our familiar picture of Beethoven, cross and deaf, slumped in total absorption over his sketches, doesn’t easily allow for Beethoven the nature-lover. But he liked nothing more than a walk in the woods, where he could wander undisturbed, stopping from time to time to scribble a new idea on the folded sheets of music paper he always carried in his pocket. “No one,” he wrote to Therese Malfati two years after the premiere of the Pastoral Symphony, “can love the country as much as I do. For surely woods, trees, and rocks produce the echo which man desires to hear.”

They’re all here in his Sixth Symphony. The most surprising thing about the opening Allegro is how quiet it is: seldom in five hundred measures of music (well over ten minutes) does Beethoven raise his voice. Surely no composer—including the so-called minimalists—has so clearly understood the impact of repeating a simple idea unaltered, or slowing the rate of harmonic change to a standstill. When, near the beginning of the development section, Beethoven changes the harmony only once in the course of fifty measures, the effect of that shift from B-flat to D is breathtaking. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this spacious, relaxed, blissfully untroubled movement is that it comes from the same pen that gave us— at the same time, no less—that firecracker of a symphony, his Fifth, in C minor.

Not even Donald Tovey, with his precise use of language, could find a better word to describe Beethoven’s slow movement than “lazy.” We can be sure that the laziness is intentional, and it’s amazing how much this least restful of composers seems to enjoy the drowsy pace, the endless dawdling over details, the self-indulgent repetitions of favorite sections, and the unchecked meandering through the byways of sonata form. Beethoven begins with a gentle babbling brook (one of those undulating accompaniment figures that Schubert would later do to perfection) and ends with notorious bird calls. The only problem with the birds is that Beethoven calls so much attention to them, bringing the music—and the brook—to a halt, and then specifying first the nightingale (flute), then the quail (oboe), and finally the cuckoo (clarinet). But as many a writer has pointed out, the birds are no more out of place here than a cadenza in a concerto—the nightingale even provides the final obligatory trill.

The third movement is dance music, with a plain, homely, rustic peasant dance for a midsection trio. But the fun is cut short by dark clouds and the prospect of rain. There’s probably no more impressive storm in all music—the whole orchestra surges and shakes, trombones appear (for the first time) to emphasize the downpour, and the timpani shows up just to add the thunder. This is, of course, no extra “movement” at all, but merely a lengthy, rapid introduction to the finale. The clouds finally roll away, the oboe promises better things to come in a wonderfully heartfelt phrase, and the flute, with its staccato scale, raises the curtain on Elysium. And so, to the yodeling of the clarinet and horn, we willingly believe F major to be the most beautiful key on earth. The moment is parallel to the great triumphant sunburst that marks the arrival of the finale of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, and, although the means could hardly be less similar, the effect is just as wondrous.

 

Rebecca Dale

Saturday, March 7th will feature a North American premiere of Rebecca Dale’s reflective Materna Requiem. If you’re thinking that you don’t know the music of Rebecca Dale, we’re telling you this is a must hear!

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Rebecca Dale is a British composer of screen and concert musicBorn in 1985, Rebecca started composing from a very young age, completing her first full musical at age 10 and piano concerto at 15. After school music scholarships, she studied at Oxford University (New College) and the National Film and Television School, and holds an MA with distinction in Composing for Film & Television. Her 2015 debut self-release for choir and orchestra, I’ll Sing, rose up the classical charts and was Classic FMChoral Classic of the Week. Her next release, Soay, spent five weeks at Classical No.1 and was named Classic FM 2016 album of the year. In 2017, Dale won a coveted place on the Sundance Composer Lab.

Check out this recording of Soay released in January 2019!

Most recently her track ‘Winter’, commissioned by bestselling vocal group Voces8 for their album of the same name, was described by Gramophone magazine as a “masterpiece”. A follow up album is due for release this year. Dale also recently composed original music for the BBC Christmas drama series, Little Women.

Dale has been involved in projects for 20th Century FoxDisneyWorking TitleThe Weinstein Co. and the BBC, and her score for Crossing The Line was nominated for best original music in feature film at the 2017 international Music & Sound Awards. She has recorded and conducted orchestral works at Abbey Road, Air Studios, George Lucas’s Skywalker Ranch and Fox Studios, Hollywood. Dale’s Full length albumRequiemwas released by Decca Classics in August 2018.

Hailed by Classic FM as “one of today’s most exciting young composers” and “a household name in years to come”, Rebecca Dale made history when in 2018 she became the first female composer to sign to Universal Music’s Decca Classics label, and the first woman to sign to Decca Publishing. In September her debut album recorded with the Royal Liverpool PhilharmonicRequiem For My Mother, smashed into the UK album charts at No.1 in the specialist Classical charts.

Here is a sneak peak of Materna Requiem – the Pie Jesu. The intention of this movement is to capture the feeling of a father singing to their newborn.

Originally mentored by Golden Globe-nominated Alex Heffes (“Last King of Scottland”) and Emmy-nominated Maurizio Malagnini (“Call the Midwife”), Rebecca has worked on films like Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, director Stephen Frears’ The Program, action film The Take starring Idris Elba, BBC period drama series The Paradise and The Secret Agent, famous US Miniseries remake Roots, Touching the Void Live and BBC’s Frozen Planet Live and Disney’s Queen of Katwe directed by Mira Nair.  She was a judge for Northern Ireland’s inaugural Royal Television Society Programme Awards, is a Berlinale Talents alumna and BAFTA Crew participant, and has been a regular interview guest on BBC Radio 3.

As a concert composer Rebecca has written for numerous classical artists and ensembles including Mari & Hakon Samuelson, the London Mozart Players, the Scottish Festival Orchestra, the Latvian Opera Orchestra, musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra, percussionst Joby Burgess and cellists Richard Harwood, Benjamin Hughes and Oliver Coates. She is a fellow of the prestigious MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire (notable composer alumni include Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copland), and has been an associate composer with the London Symphony Orchestra on its Soundhub programme. She also directs and writes extensively for choral groups, was commissioned by Canterbury Cathedral Girls Choir for their debut album, and was 2017-18 Composer in Residence for the London Oriana Choir as part of its five15 project. I’ll Sing was performed at Cadogan Hall with ensemble and orchestra from the London opera houses, as part of the charity concert for Grenfell Tower.

She plays the violin and piano, and likes odd socks.

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Materna Requiem – Subscriber Perks

We’ve got some great perks for our Subscribers!

We are so excited about our concert on March 7th, Materna Requiem. This will be a North American premiere of Rebecca Dale‘s masterpiece, and we want all of our subscribers to be able to experience it in an even more intimate way – by attending a rehearsal at no extra charge! Here you will be able to witness the program before the evening’s performance, offering an opportunity to immerse yourself deeper in the work. Maestro Eric Paetkau will work the orchestra, guest soloists Spencer McKnight and Chelsea Mahan, and the Greystone Singers and Aurora Voce choirs to ensure everyone has a unified vision.

The dress rehearsal on Saturday, March 7th (starting strictly at 1:00pm), will be open to all subscribers to watch upon registering. To take advantage of this unique experience, you must register by February 28th with Matthew via email at outreach@saskatoonsymphony.org, or by calling the office Monday-Friday 10:00am-3:00pm at (306) 665-6414 – please inquire for more information.

And how about something special for our ambitious concertgoers – we are implementing our “Inside the Sound” subscriber perk, where a small handful of people can sit scattered amongst the orchestra during a preliminary evening rehearsal (Thursday, March 5th or Friday, March 6th). Here you will be able to see an in-depth look at the rehearsal process, from the musicians perspective! The specific date will be decided once we can poll those who have requested to be a part of this – please don’t shy away! Email Matthew at outreach@saskatoonsymphony.org or call the SSO office (306) 665-6414 to find out more information and secure one of the few spots!

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Materna Requiem