Chevalier and the Balloons

Audiences today don’t know enough Joseph Bolonge, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, and we need to change that because he was an important figure in music history who’s music is making a major comeback.

Chevalier de Saint-Georges was a champion fencer, classical composer, virtuoso violinist, and conductor of the leading symphony orchestra in Paris. Born in the French colony of Guadeloupe, he was the son of George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne dite Nanon, his wife’s African slave.

His father took him to France when he was young, and he was educated there, also becoming a champion fencer. During the French Revolution, the younger Saint-Georges served as a colonel of the Légion St.-Georges, the first all-black regiment in Europe. He fought on the side of the Republic. Today the Chevalier de Saint-Georges is best remembered as the first known classical composer who was of African ancestry; he composed numerous string quartets and other instrumental music, and opera.

The Chevalier played a key role in the aristocratic life of Paris in late 1700s, with close ties to the Palace of Versailles. The Chevalier often found himself the guest at the private musicales salons of Marie Antoinette at Versailles…with Chevalier playing his violin sonatas, with the Queen accompanying on the forte-piano.

Etching of the September 19th air balloon flight at Versailles

In the fall of 1783, the Montgolfier brothers made a major step in human history – and it all happened in front of the court of Louis XVI at Versailles. The first ‘aerostatic’ flight in history was an experiment carried out by the Montgolfier brothers; at long last, man could leave the surface of the earth below.

On the day, crowds filled the gardens to watch the magical lift off. The balloon took off on a warm September 19th afternoon, with animals instead of humans as its first passengers – and it was a total success. Just two months later the first balloon flight with humans was also success. After that, there was no looking back. It was the first time that humans had been able to take to the skies, and proved that Da Vinci had been right…there would be a way to fly!

Hot air ballooning took off in France, and before long passenger balloon rides were filling the skies above Paris.

Chevalier de Saint-Georges’ music was the toast of Paris and Versailles. During the 1780s, Saint-Georges’ star continued to get brighter and brighter. His output during this time was swift – operas, concertos, sonatas – but he also shaped the music that Paris was hearing. We have Saint-Georges’ to thank for the commissioning of Haydn’s Paris Symphonies, which the Chevalier conducted upon their premieres.

Paris was a place filled with innovation, fascination, ambition, and pre-revolution tensions. Historians know that the Chevalier de Saint-Georges was at the Versailles court in September of 1873, but it remains unknown if he was there on the day that the Montgolfier brothers made everyone dream about flying!

SSO in the Classroom

The SSO has a long history of engaging in music education, both through our programs and through the reach of the incredible musicians who play in the orchestra.

With school music programs facing a time of unique challenges, we’re wanting to step up and find ways that your orchestra can be a resource during this time.

To adjust to the pandemic, the SSO is creating a wealth of online resources that are designed at growing literacy and awareness in music. As such we currently offer Meet the Musicians interview videos, the information from our online Beethoven Festival celebrating the composer’s 250th anniversary year, an online class From Bach to Bartok taught by Music Director Eric Paetkau, and more.

This fall we’re launching a number of exciting educational initiatives that could be used as classroom resources.

Watch SSO Concerts Anytime!
We’re launching our Digital Concert Stream which will house each and every one of our performances in the season as concert films streamed on demand. The SSO’s new Digital Concert Stream allows for classrooms to watch performances at anytime. The concert films feature behind the scenes footage, interviews with musicians, and much more. Supplemental material is available for most performances, including a video discussion of the program with each conductor.

As well we have past performances available upon request, including Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.

Online Classes
After the success of our first online class in spring 2019 (From Bach to Bartok with Eric Paetkau, available on request), we are launching a series of online classes taking place throughout the year. In the fall we have Saskatoon composer Kendra Harder hosting Musical Herstory: a history of composers who happened to be women, in November Eric Paetkau presents Isn’t It Romantic: the big romantic hits, and in January of 2021 we launch It Ain’t Over: An Operatic Crash Course in partnership with Saskatoon Opera.
Class videos are available to watch at any time and can progress at any speed. Engagement with course hosts is available upon request.

Kids Show
2020 marks Beethoven’s 250th birthday, and we’re thrilled to present the film of our kids show Little Ludwig. This concert was created as part of our SaskTel Symphony in Schools tour – each year more than 10,000 students get to hear the SSO life thanks to the support of SaskTel.
The 30 minute film follows the life, talents, and challenges of Ludwig van Beethoven from childhood through his musical successes, his loss of hearing, and his lasting legacy. The video is available to watch on demand, and features the musicians of the SSO’s Chamber Ensemble and Maestro Eric Paetkau narrating. The show was the concept of SSO Principal Bassoon Stephanie Unverricht, and features artwork by Saskatoon educator Peter Cowan.

An educational package is available to compliment the performance.

Another children’s show will be launched online in Spring 2021.

Educational videos
A series of videos coming out in fall of 2020 that explore all sorts of musical ideas. Find out how a piano works, 12 things you never wanted to know about the oboe, the rhythms that fiddlers rely on, and how to write your first rap.

Our goal is to create an ever growing set of videos that help everyone explore music making from its most simple concepts to its most challenging excerpts.

Meet the Musicians in Your Neighbourhood
In spring 2020, Eric Paetkau hosted online interviews with a number of SSO and Saskatoon musicians. These are all available to watch in our online archive (available upon request), and we’ll be launching a new series of Meet the Musicians in Your Neighbourhood that also allows schools to book specific musicians to have for online interviews with classrooms.

And More…
We have a ton of ideas of educational programming we are considering, and we’re open to ideas! Maybe students would like to hear about how members of the orchestra balance careers in both music and other professions? Or get a chance to talk to a professional artist who grew up right here on the prairies who’s gone on to perform around the world? Maybe your students would benefit from hearing about the business of music? We’d love to find ways to help connect students to ideas.

If you’d like to get more information about the resources we’re making available, please fill out our form:

Music Education Programming

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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!

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 music. Born 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 FM’s Choral 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 Fox, Disney, Working Title, The 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 album, Requiem, was 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 Philharmonic, Requiem 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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What does “In Concert Live to Film” mean anyways?

As we get closer to our performance of Disney’s The Little Mermaid In Concert Live to Film we are getting a lot of questions about what that actually means. While this is a first for us there are several orchestras in North America, and really all over the world, who have a whole variety of these shows. The National Arts Centre Orchestra has Mary Poppins In Concert Live to Film in February, the Vancouver Symphony is presenting one of the Harry Potter films, several orchestras show Home Alone over Christmas, and there are several other In Concert Live to Film options from Disney available at any time if you are willing to do some travel.

But what does it mean? What is the actual concert experience? Here are some answers to your In Concert Live to Film Frequently Asked Questions (or ICLFFAQ for short).

Is it the full Little Mermaid film we all know and love?

Yes! The whole movie will be playing above the orchestra on a large screen. Here’s a mock-up so you know what it will look like.

Is there an intermission?

We will have an intermission at the halfway mark. Snack breaks are important.

Whose voices will we hear?

All the dialogue and singing is from the original film, so you can think of it as reverse karaoke! You will hear the 1989 cast of Jodi Benson as Ariel, Christopher Daniel Barnes as Prince Eric, René Auberjonois as Chef Louis (we see you Deep Space Nine fans), and all the other iconic voices you know and love being accompanied by your Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra.

We know Sebastian. It’s amazing what you can do these days!

How will the SSO match the movie playing above them?

Music Director Eric Paetkau will be leading the charge. Eric will have a click track, essentially a metronome, in his ear that is synched with the film, and there will be a special version of the film on a laptop next to him so he can keep all the cues in time. It’s the same set up we’ve had for other concerts with film so Eric is a pro!

Have any other questions about what to expect at The Little Mermaid In Concert Live to Film? Let us know!

There are a handful of tickets left for this show so make sure you stop by the TCU Place box office before they sell out!

Messiah Artist -Lisa Hornung

Lisa Hornung

Having performed across Western Canada, the United States, and Europe, Lisa is always happy to be close to home with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra. And so are we! Lisa has long been a favourite of SSO audiences for her emotionally deep performances of Messiah.

She has been acclaimed for performances in repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary composers; her voice has been called rich and powerful and her stage presence has inspired audiences and musicians alike.

After completing a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at the University of Saskatchewan (Professor Dorothy Howard), Lisa went on to further her studies at the Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy. This was followed by an intensive study time at Southern Illinois University (Mr. Richard Best). Later she completed a year of study, with the support of the Saskatchewan Arts Board, working with Mr. Nico Castel, Dr. Everett McCorvey, Dr. Cliff Jackson, Dr. Bill Cooper, Professor Micheal McMahon, Professor Tedrin Lindsey, and Mr. Richard Best.

Lisa believes that every child deserves the opportunity to sing, and runs a non-audition Community Youth Choir that provides this place. For several years she directed the Meota Men’s Choir, a non-audition men’s choir that was very active in the Battlefords and surrounding area. Lisa has gained a deeper appreciation and love of choral arts through her continued work as vocal coach for Cantilon and Belle Canto, professional touring choirs based in Edmonton, Alberta, under the direction Heather Johnson.

Lisa is the founder and director of Summer School for the Solo Voice, a week long study and performance opportunity for singers, choral conductors, accompanists and voice teachers of all ages and abilities. Growing from a local to a national, and now, international program, SSSV celebrated its 20th Anniversary in July, 2017.

In October of 2017, Lisa was presented with the Saskatchewan Music Educators Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award. She has also been bestowed as one of the University of Saskatchewan’s Arts and Science Alumni of Influence.

Lisa lives in North Battleford with her husband John.

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A Child’s Christmas in Wales

Part of our exciting celebration on December 7th will be telling of A Child’s Christmas in Wales.

The popular prose of Dylan Thomas‘ recollection of Christmases past were made famous by Caedmon Records in 1952 as being one of the earliest commercial audiobooks, with Thomas’ own voice telling the story. The reminiscent lines were a last minute addition to the LP that opened the general market for audio recorded books. This time it will be Dr. Garry Gable returning to help us bring the tales to life.

Selected excerpts of these childhood stories are further imagined with Gary Fry‘s orchestrations.

Fry’s version was commissioned not as long ago back in 2003 for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. You will be able to hear the familiar tunes “Good King Wenceslas” and an exuberant Celtic version of “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” sung by the returning choirs – University Chorus (James Hawn) and University of Saskatchewan Greystone Singers (Dr. Jennifer Lang)!

There may, or may not be some sleigh riding going on later in the concert, too… But you will just have to come to find out!

See you at the Symphony, and Merry Christmas!

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Come join Elly Thorn and Dean McNeill in the Holiday Cheer!

With holiday preparations in full swing, the SSO would love to give you some Christmas cheer on Saturday, December 7th! Our cocnert Christmas with the SSO will feature many guests with the orchestra, including two very special people…

Dean McNeill – trumpet

He should look familiar!

Dean McNeill has been with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years, and it is our pleasure feature him in this concert.

Our local trumpet player and composer is a Full Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, directing the University of Saskatchewan Jazz Ensemble, the Saskatoon Jazz Orchestra, and leading the Saskatoon Jazz Society’s Jazz Workshop program. He has received the University of Saskatchewan Department of Music’s Dwaine Nelson Teaching Award for his past administrative service as Department Head in 2004-2009, and a Special Recognition Award from the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival for his contributions to jazz in Saskatchewan. You can hear his stellar playing on the album O Music as soloist with the composition Kalla which won the 2012 Western Canadian Music Award for Classical Composition of the Year.

As a Yamaha artist, Dean has performed as a guest artist with the National Youth Band of Canada, as well as with professional ensembles such as the Winnipeg, Edmonton, Vancouver Jazz Orchestras and the Calgary Creative Arts Ensemble. He has performed alongside the likes of Kenny Wheeler, Pat LaBarbera, Michael Cain, Hugh Fraser, Tom Banks, Brad Turner, Kelly Jefferson, David Braid, Bob Mintzer, Denzal Sinclaire, PJ Perry, Ingrid Jensen, Jon Balantyne, Campbell Ryga and many others.

You can hear more of him on his two albums Prairie Fire: Large Jazz Ensemble Music of Dean McNeill and Mélange: New Music For Trumpet and Piano, and most recently composed repertoire on Complete Rebirth of the Cool.

Elly Thorn – vocalist

Performing artist Elly Thorn was raised in the small Saskatchewan community of Saltcoats. Typical of rural life, Elly took music lessons as a way to fill the long, hot prairie summer and cold winter days that keep you stuck indoors. She began her musical career touring with Saskatchewan Express, as well as the Canadian Heritage Society’s Spirit of a Nation.

Elly studied at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, B.C, performed aboard Norwegian Cruise Lines, has acted in TV series like Rabbit Fall and Corner Gas, and appeared in stage adaptations of Evita and Toon Town with Saskatoon’s Persephone Theatre.

With the performance on December 7th as Elly’s debut with the SSO, we will welcome her original compositions and hope to share her excitement with the audience as she lives through this songwriter’s dream. You will even have the opportunity to take home her newest album of Christmas music, releasing the night of the concert!

Spoiler – one of the songs that will be featured that evening will be “There’s a Heaven”, and will be great reminder to cherish all the good family moments that you can:

I wrote is this song almost four years ago, two days after I heard about a young family whose lives were taken in a car accident. The tragedy shook me to the core because we also had little ones of similar ages. We were in the midst of putting away Christmas for the year, feeling that excitement and love as the festive season once again comes to a close when I heard the news. I felt broken and shaky, without even knowing who they were. We are all so connected, even more than we realize – we feel each others pain, energy, joys and brokenness… but we heal together too. I am a great believer that music heals.

Check out this recent tribute of Elly’s to what can often be a very “busy” time of year.

Christmas with the SSO

Homecoming – The return of SYO and their Featured Alumni

On November 16th, the SSO will see the return of the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra alongside them onstage. It has been nine months since these forces have last joined, playing the Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz in February. This time, it will be the Slavonic Dances of Antonín Dvořák that will open the evening. There will be more than 60 additional musicians combining with the SSO to bring this music to life.

Within their identity statement, the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra say that they strive to allow its participants to grow as community members and create lifelong friendships. This is clearly realized in our Homecoming concert considering that all three of our guest artists have played in SYO!

William Rowson (our guest conductor) was in the youth orchestra during the last Side-by-Side concert featuring the same Slavonic Dances in January of 1993! He was a member of the SYO violin section throughout the 1990-1993 seasons, starting as one of the youngest members at the time. He vividly remembers walking into the rehearsal room when they were beginning to play a piece he composed himself, being swept up in the soundscape:

Our piccolo player practicing the sleigh ride tune from Prokofiev’s Troika […] I was very nervous and excited. I saw everyone looking through my parts that my Mom and I had stayed up all night preparing. When ever I hear a piccolo play that tune […] I’m instantly brought back to that moment of being so nervous and excited to hear an orchestra play something I had written.

William says he would often bring borrowed scores home to study, so that he was able to better hear all the parts come to life in the group rehearsals each week.

Whether I knew it or not at the time, it was these formative years that really helped shape my life and career.

He was in the SSO’s violin section in the 2001-2002 season, overlapping with Carissa’s time in the orchestra, as well!

On Tuesday, November 12th, William will be at the McNally Music Talk at 7:00pm.

Carissa Klopoushak, like William, has been with us before as a member of SYO (1996-2000), SSO (1998-2006 as our Principle Violin II for the latter 3 seasons), and as a guest artist (in March of 2017). Her fondest memories of her earlier years with the SYO were of the Rosthern retreats, a tour to Langley, and the Banff International Festival of Youth Orchestras (BIFYO) in 1998. She also participated in the Side-by-Side performances during these years, with the first in April of 1996:

My first side-by-side with the SYO and SSO was the most incredible – we played Mahler 1 and it was an absolute life-changing experience for me. I still love that piece so very much and have such fond memories of it.

It is no doubt these experiences helped her see her goal of becoming a professional musician see come closer into her grasp. You will find Carissa playing “like a rockstar” in this upcoming concert in Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto, as indicated in the score! Following that, she will be leading a masterclass at the University of Saskatchewan for music students and members of the SYO. In the bit of downtime she will get, Carissa hopes to see as much family and friends as possible, getting to places such as Hearth and Museo – but also practicing her orchestra music for NACO’s concert next week!

Ryan Cole, in addition to being in SYO for the 2004-2005 season, was an extra with the SSO in 2009. He was seated beside our Principle trumpet player, Terry Heckman, for the infamous Symphonie fantastique by Hector Berlioz.

I recall trying to read the part while Terry played, and having no idea how he was doing it. I remember trying to stay focused on my part while being amazed at how effortlessly he played such a difficult solo. This comes to mind because I recently got to perform this exact part for the first time here in Victoria, and I had very vivid flashbacks of this experience sitting beside Terry.

For this upcoming concert, Ryan will be showcased in Marcus Goddard’s Trumpet Concerto, a piece which was specially composed for him. While he is here, Ryan will also be making stops at the University of Saskatchewan for masterclasses, and to give a talk to music students detailing his path to becoming a professional orchestral musician. He will also make a few visits to high schools to a similar presentation to aspiring students. When it comes to food, Ryan is planning to make it to some key places in the city, namely Ayden for a special family supper, Hometown Diner so his expecting wife Kayleigh can have her requested chicken and waffles, and to Alexander’s for some traditional post-performance nachos!

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Saskatchewan’s Laura Pettigrew

The SSO has decided we want to be the change we want to see in orchestral music – so this year we’re highlighting the music of living female composers…in fact, every Masters Series concert has a living female Canadian composer on it! And we knew we had to feature a Saskatchewan composer to start the whole year off. You’re going to love Laura’s music!

Laura Pettigrew’s contributions in Canada are well known but her influence and achievement have now expanded to all over the world. Her works have received world premières by Toronto Symphony Orchestra, (Canada) GRAMMY® Award–winning I Solisti Veneti (Italy), Regina Symphony Orchestra (Canada), Massive Brass Attack (Portugal), Nicole Gi Li and Corey Hamm (Piano Erhu Project or PEP), and Foothills Brass (Canada), Borealis Brass (USA) among others, and featured on recordings by national and international soloists and ensembles as well as in the international award-winning short film, The Sky Came Down, Laura Pettigrew is making her mark on the world stage. Her music has been praised as “spectacular, breathtaking, inspirational” (Reel Rave International Film Festival 2013); “sublime with a style reminiscent of the television show Game of Thrones…patrons were drawn in by the composition…simply put it was awesome” (Regina Leader Post); “Bellissimo” (LA9 SAT Television Station, Padua, Italy): “Dòchas enveloped the Roy Thomson Hall, entrancing the audience immediately with a lavish, calming sound” (Broadway World)

She has been the beneficiary of many scholarships and grants from: Saskatchewan Foundation for the Arts Artist Awards, Regina Artist, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Creative Saskatchewan, Canadian Music Centre, Saskatchewan Film Tax Credit, and been honoured with awards for her commitment to the arts, community and philanthropy: Mayor’s Arts and Business Award, Living the Arts ; University of Regina Alumni Crowning Achievement Award – Distinguished Humanitarian and Community Service ; YWCA Women of Distinction, Jacqui Shumiatcher Arts Award, nominated for the Lieutenant Governor’s Award 2013 and included in the newly published international COMPENDIUM MUSICAE FLAUTA, Encyclopedia of Flute Works by Women Composers.

Today, Laura has become a much commissioned, published and performed symphonic, solo, ensemble and choral composer as well as an accomplished teacher and clinician. She received Two commissions for Canada’s 150th celebration in 2017: Manotick Brass Ensemble AND Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Canada Mosaic Project, Her Sesquie titled “Dòchas” was premiered December 5, 2017 by Toronto Symphony Orchestra and November 25, 2017 by Regina Symphony Orchestra, partner orchestra for Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Canada Mosaic Project.

Her works include: orchestral, chamber, wind ensemble, vocal/choral, piano, solo instrumental, film score and
orchestral arrangements.

She is an avid supporter of the Adkins Chiti Foundation, Donne in Musica (Women in Music), Associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre,: Member of : Canadian League of Composers, SOCAN and International Women’s Brass Conference promoting and encouraging composers and musicians to ensure equality prevails for women and men alike.

Laura believes we are all born with a gift and driven by her passion she derives great joy sharing her knowledge and talent. Inspired by historical events, people, landscape, mythology and literature it is the emotional melodic expression that resonates throughout her works.

Tying music events into a wide range of philanthropic endeavours she has also become a voice for those enduring difficult times. Growing up grounded in community she understands the intrinsic value of being one part of a sum and states “without community we are but one alone in the world”.

Hear Laura Pettigrew’s Dochas with the SSO on September 21st for Opening Night.

Chevalier and the Balloons