inTUNE – Page 2 – Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra

Elf Week

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And we hope that your days are filled with music as we get closer to the holidays.

We’re busy preparing for our performances of ELF and Handel’s Messiah. And in the office we’re putting the finishing touches on next season’s programming…we cannot wait to share the details of our 95th season with you!

As a charity, this time of year is very important to us. December gives us a chance to receive donations that you can claim with your 2024 taxes. One of the great things about giving to the charities you love is that you ensure that your investment stays right here in your community.

This December, the SSO is purposefully focusing your support in a few key areas. Our work on our strategic plan Opus 100 is the most important work we can do. While we know that you love coming to our concerts, we are called to our purpose on stage and beyond. To ensure we’re valued in our community, we’re:

Investing in our orchestra.
We’ve been working with our musicians on a new contract that sees us focus organizational resources on pay and pension contributions for our musicians. This is, in my opinion, the most important work the SSO can do at this time. We are so lucky to have such an incredible group of musicians calling Saskatoon home, but we need to ensure that we commit to long-term financial investment in our musicians. They do incredible work, and they deserve to be properly compensated. This investment is also needed to attract and retain high-calibre musicians.
Enlivening programming
The SSO has been working on a bigger vision for the future of what we can do for our community. Making music accessible and engaging to as many people as possible is critical to ensuring that the SSO has a future. Your gift can support tickets for young people, support the Symphony in Schools programming, and help us develop new outreach programs for adults and seniors. We want to make sure that everyone can have the benefit of the increased well-being that comes with making music.
One-of-a-kind experiencesThe SSO has become known for its innovative programming that highlights music from Bach to new music, Beethoven to rap. Concerts like next spring’s Metamorphosis showcase what’s possible when we dream big – giving our audiences experiences that can only be experienced right here in Saskatoon. Bringing concerts like Harry Potter and Disney films to life ensures that so many people who have never been to the SSO now feel deeply connected to why it’s important to ensure Saskatoon has a vibrant orchestra.
Supporting production
Without a musical home, the SSO finds itself continually spending more and more each year on production costs. Moving concerts and rehearsals from venue to venue and place to place comes with growing expenses and a great deal of our staff’s time. As we continue to grow what the SSO does for its community, we need to keep supporting this work to financially manage that growth.

It feels incredible to hear your passion in the cheers during concerts. It’s literally the best feeling in the world. We can’t tell how much you appreciate the work we do. If it were possible, we’d be coming round to all of our donors’ houses to give you a giant cheer for each and every one of of your gifts this year. That’s how much we appreciate what you do for us!

And donating ahead of December 31st allows us to automatically double your gift. Once again, we’re humbled to have your gifts matched by the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation.

We are so grateful for your help in reaching our fundraising goal for this year’s matching campaign to ensure that the SSO doesn’t just thrive, but flourishes!

Thanks for supporting the SSO,

Mark Turner

Messiah Week

What is your favourite holiday music?

For me, honestly, there are almost too many options! I love it all…from Sleigh Ride to All I Want for Christmas, music for Solstice and Hanukkah. But if I was forced to pick, it might be an easy choice as “Messiah Week” at the SSO is my favourite concert week of the year.

Regardless of how many times I experience Handel’s Messiah, whether as a pianist helping a singer practice this difficult music or as an audience member of a sing-along, it never fails to remind me that it is so magical.

This music, nearly 300 years old, is evergreen. It somehow magically always feels fresh and brand new. It never gets “easier” for the performers. It never fails to lift the audience up out of their seats and throw their spirit around the room in drama and unabashed joy.

And somehow, hundreds of years later Handel is still achieving what he always wanted to. Forget the drama, forget the spectacular music – it’s about community.

If you’ve never been to our Sing-Along Messiah performance – I want you to join us this weekend. You don’t have to sing along…but I’d love it if you gave it a try. It’s hard! It’s a bit scary (even for those of us who know it well). But it is among the most incredible prescription for joy that you can experience.

Sitting alongside friends and strangers, we all embark on this wild journey of music that is complex and challenging, and singing it together will fill you with joy. You’ll know things are going well, and you’ll know when things are not! You will find yourself deeply moved by being in harmony with the entire room around you, and you will likely find yourself laughing. Somehow, Handel is still binding us together.

As an orchestra and a charity, coming together is what we do best. We’re called to find ways of connecting everyone, from musicians to audience, in something great. And just like an incredible piece of music, everything is at its greatest when we work together.

In that goal of working together to great music, I’m asking you to make a donation to the SSO this holiday season. As a charity, these next few weeks are crucial to our continuing success.

We have a few more weeks to receive gifts ahead of the end of the calendar year. And with our matching support from the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation, making a gift is a bit like joining in for Sing-Along Messiah. It feels incredible to be part of something bigger that brings so much joy to all of us when we make music together.

Thank you so much for your incredible support,

Mark Turner

Composer Series Handel

In 2019, Denyse started to create famous composers into a series of colourful portraits in support of the SSO.
She is delighted to reveal ‘Handel’, her latest to the collection. These pieces are available in two sizes: 12 x 12 and 24 x24.

You can see the painting for yourself in the lobby at Elf in Concert!

To view and purchase prints from the full composer series visit Dervilia art + design.

Contemplating Clouds on a Prairie Sky

When you look at the cover of Contemplating Clouds on a Prairie Sky by composer Wayne Toews there is a note that says

Dedicated to Ellen Remai, who has enriched Saskatoon through support of the Arts community.

Not only did Toews dedicate the piece to Ms Remai, but he also donated the work to the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra as a part of our Share in the Future fundraising campaign. His contribution was matched thanks to the generosity of Ms Remai through the Frank & Ellen Remai Foundation.

The donation of Toews’ piece helped us reach our goal of raising $500,000! It is incredibly special to have someone as gifted of a composer as Wayne Toews share his art with us. We are honoured to be giving the premiere of the piece at Controlled Burn. As a past member of the orchestra, it means a lot to us that he continues to support the SSO.

As a lifelong musician, educator, conductor, and part of the local music community, Toews understands the importance of live music in the heart of the prairies. He has also been a part of building local music organizations from the ground up.

There is something incredibly resilient about the prairie music community. It takes grassroots to heart with the number of organizations, large and small, creating incredible music on shoestring budgets and all is made possible through the hands of generous volunteers. There is a wealth of talent here in, and from, the prairies that is heard all over the world.

Wayne Toews is huge part of that legacy.

On top of his work in the Saskatoon school system, Toews has been teaching students of all ages since his career began in 1969. He created the band program at City Park Collegiate and neighbourhood schools, expanded the music program at Aden Bowman Collegiate, founded the Saskatchewan Orchestral Association, founded the modern iteration of the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra and led it for 25 years alongside his colleague George Charpentier.

He organized the Jack Johnson Memorial Music Fund through the Saskatoon Community Foundation to provide annual grants in support of young Saskatoon orchestral musicians. Toews has given workshops around the world, on the Saito Conducting Method and is the principal instructor of the International Saito Conducting Workshop in Saskatoon each summer. In the fall of 2004, he became founding director of the University of Saskatchewan Chamber Orchestra.

Toews has created a number of resources for his fellow educators including an elementary music theory booklet, a clarinet resource book, a bass guitar book and several curriculum guides. He has also created several computer programs including Subjective Tones and An Introduction to the Saito Conducting Method.

On top of all his incredible work in the music community, numerous awards, and dedication to continued music education, Toews has made time to compose several works. He’s written music for soloists, small ensembles, and full orchestra. It is clear to all who know him that Toews does things with his full heart, and composing is no different.

When we sit back and listen to Contemplating Clouds on a Prairie Sky we can all close our eyes and picture the beautiful views that come to life in the music. What colours and shapes will open up in our mind’s eyes? From the shimmering opening created by the percussion section, until the very last note fills the air, we hope you join us in our gratitude to the man behind the music – Wayne Toews.

The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel of the same name, directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney. The plot centers on a mysterious, disfigured man who lives beneath the Paris Opera House, known as the Phantom. He falls in love with Christine Daaé, a beautiful young soprano, and developed an obsession.

It is worth to note that the film is known for Chaney’s self-applied dramatic make-up, altering his appearance for the setting’s eerie atmosphere.

In 1925, the president of Universal Pictures Carl Laemmle went on vacation in Paris and met the author Gaston Leroux. Leroux gave Laemmle his 1910 novel, and Laemmle read it all in one night and decided to buy the film rights as a vehicle for actor Lon Chaney. Soon later, the production was scheduled for late 1924 at Universal Studios.

The production began and it did not go smoothly. The ending of the film was revised for multiple times, and the star and crew did not have a great time with director Rupert Julian. A score was prepared by Joseph Carl Breil, “”Presented with augmented concert orchestra” according to Universal’s release, but not much more information were to be found. After the third and final version, the film was premiered in New York. It received a mix of reviews, and the public demanded for an improved version.

Therefore, instead of making a sequel, Universal opted to reissue The Phantom of the Opera with a new synchronized score and sound effects track, with a few new dialog sequences on top. The sound version of Phantom opened on 15 December 1929 and achieved a financial success despite the controversial reviews.

Music Talk – Enigma

Music Talks are back and in a new format!

Maestra Tania Miller sat down with SSO CEO & Creative Producer Mark Turner to talk about the upcoming season 94 opener Enigma.

Thank you to Black Fox Farm & Distillery for letting us film in their space.

Frenergy

The bulk of the musical material found in this piece comes from sketches for my Triple Concerto. These sketches were to be part of the proposed final movement for the concerto, a fast-paced scherzo to bring the piece to a wild close. However, for various reasons, this ending did not make it to the final draft. Not one to waste, I decided to mount this music on its own for orchestra.

The title comes from an amalgamation of the words “frenetic” and “energy” which were the two qualities I desired for the ending of the concerto. The tempo for this short concert opener is brisk and the pacing of melodic ideas is often a bit frantic as befitting the title.

It begins with a thunderous introduction by the percussion who establish the infectious 6/8 pulse. After an orchestral tutti, the winds introduce a chromatic melody that is quickly tossed back and forth from pairings of instruments. This quirky little melody often complements an ostentatious tune frequently performed by the brass. The third melody, introduced by a solo flute, is perhaps the most substantial tune of the piece and is strongly characterized by the 6/8 lilt of the piece.

A harmonically restless string passage leads into a return of the opening material and the piece concludes with a full force orchestral tutti along with the pounding drums of the opening.

John Estacio

Controlled Burn

While raging forest fires made headlines all summer and will likely increase in the coming years due to climate change, Cree composer Cris Derksen’s work is about controlled burns, a traditional Indigenous practice used to manage wildfires. This practice involves burning certain parts of the forest in the spring, before temperatures rise and while the ground is still wet, to keep flames from burning out of control. Indigenous peoples determine where to intervene based on centuries of observation. By clearing out the twigs, dead trees and pine needles covering the forest floor, they protect their land and help preserve the ecosystem. As a result, flames are transformed from threat to tool—two aspects of fire that Cris Derksen explores in her work.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1

The Piano Concerto No.1 in Bb minor, Op. 23 was composed between 1874-1875 and revised three times until 1888. The premiere of this concerto would mark ten years after Tchaikovsky’s first public performance, so he was determined to make this work a big hit. However, after he showed the work to his desired pianist, Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky received much criticism from his friend that he turnt his head away and reached out to Hans von Bülow, who adored Tchaikovsky and this work very much.

The premiere took place in 1875 in Boston, and it was so successful with the audience that Bülow was obliged to repeat the Finale. Although it was not initially welcomed, Rubinstein later had a change of heart and became a fan of the work. Now, this piano concerto is one of the most popular of Tchaikovsky’s works.

Fans of Monty Python’s Flying Circus will recognize the piano concerto’s iconic opening from a sketch featuring Terry Jones as world-famous soloist Sviatoslav Richter. It is announced that “during the performance, he will escape from a sack, three padlocks, and a pair of handcuffs.”

Here’s a breakdown of all of the movements.

The concerto follows the traditional form of three movements:

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito (B♭ minor – B♭ major)
Andantino semplice – Prestissimo – Tempo I (D♭ major)
Allegro con fuoco – Molto meno mosso – Allegro vivo (B♭ minor – B♭major)

The first movement introduction starts with a short theme in french horn’s and the following accompaniment suggests a “wrong” key of Db major. The exposition begins in the tonic minor, with a Ukrainian folk theme, followed by a call and response section between tutti and the piano. The second subject consists of two alternating themes, one has a melodic contour from the introduction, the other is more gentle and sets the subtonic key. The woodwind and piano arpeggios together builds a stormy climax in C minor, and closes the exposition in Ab major with a variation on the second subject. The upper register twinkling in the piano seems to foreshadow Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker ballet which will come in later in his career.

The development contains snapshots of the first subject material: first in Eb major after a flurry of piano octaves, followed by a second repeat in G minor. Then the piano and strings play it in E major for the third repetition. The recapitulation builds excitement with reapperance of a powerful orchestral build from the exposition in Bb major, but was quickly cut short. The piano cadenza soon appears, followed with snatches of the first theme and led to a triumphant coda with the full orchestra.

The second movement begins with the flute singing over strings’ pizzacato, which becomes the main motif for the rest of the movement. The melody is past onto the piano with a modulation to F major, echoed by instruments from different spot in the orchestra, then later cello and oboe return with it in Db. The second section becomes more active and contrasting with light and bouncy piano passages demonstrating the soloist’s virtuosity. Following glides in the piano, the music return to the opening melody again, and this time it resolved in Db in a conversation between the piano and oboe. The final movement is in rondo form with a brief introduction, followed by two themes with one being uplifting and the other being more lyrical. A third theme later appears with modulation through different keys with dotted rhythm. Finally, the orchestra and pianist respond and challenge each other, and build towards a heroic ending.

The Drama of the Johannes Passion

Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion stands as a testament to the power of music to convey profound emotion and drama. Written in the early 18th century, this sacred oratorio continues to captivate audiences with its rich harmonies, intricate melodies, and poignant text. In exploring why this masterpiece remains deeply moving, we uncover Bach’s genius in capturing the essence of the dramatic narrative through music.

At the heart of the St John Passion lies the retelling of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, as depicted in the Gospel of John. Bach masterfully weaves together scripture passages, poetry, and chorales to create a compelling musical narrative that transports listeners to the heart of the Passion story. Through his intricate composition, Bach captures the range of emotions experienced by the characters, from the anguish of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane to the despair of Peter after his denial.

One of the most striking aspects of Bach’s St John Passion is its ability to evoke a visceral response from listeners. The music is imbued with a sense of urgency and intensity, mirroring the emotional turmoil of the events unfolding. In the opening chorus, “Herr, unser Herrscher” (Lord, our Ruler), the dissonant harmonies and driving rhythms set the stage for the impending drama, drawing listeners into the story from the outset.

Throughout the oratorio, Bach employs a variety of musical techniques to underscore the emotional depth of the text. The use of chromaticism, sudden dynamic shifts, and dramatic pauses all serve to heighten the tension and convey the sense of conflict inherent in the Passion narrative. In the aria “Es ist vollbracht” (It is accomplished), for example, the hauntingly beautiful melody and sparse accompaniment convey both the solemnity of Jesus’ sacrifice and the profound sense of fulfillment.

One of the most moving moments in the St John Passion is the chorale “Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine” (Rest well, you holy limbs), which concludes the work. As the choir sings this tender farewell to Jesus, Bach’s music offers a sense of solace and consolation, providing a glimmer of hope amidst the darkness of the crucifixion. It is a moment of profound beauty and reflection, inviting listeners to contemplate the deeper meaning of Christ’s sacrifice.

While listening to a recording of Bach’s St John Passion can be a transformative experience in itself, there is truly nothing quite like witnessing a live performance. The immediacy of the music, combined with the energy and emotion of the performers, creates an immersive experience that is unmatched by any recording. In a live performance, the audience becomes an integral part of the drama, swept up in the ebb and flow of the music as it unfolds before them.

Moreover, attending a live performance of the St John Passion allows listeners to connect with a centuries-old tradition of sacred music. Bach’s oratorio has been performed countless times since its composition, yet each performance offers a fresh interpretation, breathing new life into the timeless story it tells. Whether performed in a grand concert hall or a humble church setting, the St John Passion continues to resonate with audiences of all backgrounds and beliefs, transcending the boundaries of time and culture.

Bach’s St John Passion remains a masterpiece of sacred music, moving listeners with its profound emotional depth and dramatic intensity. Through his inspired composition, Bach captures the essence of the Passion narrative, inviting audiences to experience the timeless drama of Christ’s sacrifice in a profoundly personal way. To witness a live performance of the St John Passion is to embark on a journey of musical and spiritual discovery, one that promises to leave a lasting impression on the heart and soul.

Composer Series Handel

The Phantom of the Opera

Music Talk – Enigma

Frenergy

Controlled Burn

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1

Here’s a breakdown of all of the movements.

The Drama of the Johannes Passion

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