Alain Trudel
Conductor & trombonist
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A new national classical orchestra is born in Vancouver
September 28, 2009, 12:00 am
Listen to the music: A new national classical orchestra is born
> in Vancouver
> By David Gordon Duke , Vancouver Sun
> September 15, 2009
>
> Conductor Alain Trudel conducts the National Broadcast Orchestra
> Tuesday at the Telus Studio Theatre in the Chan Centre on the
> Univeriity of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.
>
> Conductor Alain Trudel conducts the National Broadcast Orchestra
> Tuesday at the Telus Studio Theatre in the Chan Centre on the
> Univeriity of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C.
> Photograph by: Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
>
> VANCOUVER - It was the big scandal in the classical music scene:
> the head office decision to close down the CBC Radio Orchestra.
> The demise of the last surviving broadcast orchestra in North
> America, and the flagship national musical institution based on
> the West Coast, created a storm of protest and left a legacy of
> bitterness.
>
> Another chapter in the saga began Tuesday with the official
> launch of the newly established National Broadcast Orchestra. At
> the Chan Centre’s Telus Studio Theatre, plans were
> revealed for the new ensemble’s first performances and
> projects.
>
> The reconstituted ensemble no longer has administrative ties to
> the CBC, although it is said to enjoy a productive relationship
> that will extend to future broadcasts and other projects.
>
> Alain Trudel, conductor of the CBC Radio Orchestra in its last
> days, has put his reputation on the line backing the new model,
> which is supposed to “carry on the spirit of the disbanded
> CBC Radio Orchestra,” particularly its mandate to perform
> orchestral music by Canadian composers.
>
> “It’s not going to be easy,” Trudel said in a
> break right before the press conference, “but it is
> essential for Canadian talent: composers, performers, and
> conductors.”
>
> The ensemble intends to be a new orchestra for a new age,
> offering live performances and traditional radio broadcasts but
> adding high-definition video projects and Internet broadcasts
> into the mix. The whole idea is to redefine what a national
> broadcast orchestra is in a 21st century context: There will be
> public performances, but not in the accepted sense of a regular
> series of concerts in a specific locale.
>
> If all the details have yet to be worked out, it’s because
> nothing quite like this has ever been tried in Canada before.
> Classical music is still in its infancy as far as new media are
> concerned and, with all the goodwill in the world, the NBO will
> succeed — or fail — depending on how well it can
> capture new audiences.
>
> Although it has been almost a year since Trudel conducted the
> group, he found working with the ensemble “like we had
> rehearsed yesterday.”
>
> Then, after the briefest bit of speechifying, Trudel allowed his
> musicians speak for themselves, and in their most eloquent way:
> a cracking good example of neo-Neo-Classicism from contemporary
> composer Michael Oesterle, then the first movement from
> Prokofiev’s irrepressible Classical Symphony, every bit
> as polished and professional as one would have heard in the CBCO
> days.
>
> The orchestra plays on Saltspring Island tonight, a program
> featuring Prokofiev, Haydn ( his first symphony and the popular
> Trumpet Concerto, with Jens Lindemann) and Canadian works,
> including Rodney Sharman’s Scarlattiana.
>
> The formal debut — in the orchestra’s new home,
> the Chan Centre — is slated for Jan. 8, 2010, a concert
> to be broadcast by the CBC. Designed as a fundraiser for the
> “fledgling” ensemble, it will feature the premiere
> of a CBC-commissioned work from Oesterle plus veteran pianist
> Anton Kuerti in a performance of Beethoven’s so-called
> Piano Concerto No. 0, in fact a Kuerti-assembled compilation and
> orchestration from Beethoven sketches.
>
> Although ultimately the group will be in a position to apply to
> funding agencies, the emphasis at the moment is on grassroots
> support. As Trudel points out, more than 100,000 people
> denounced the decision to disband the Radio Orchestra. Those
> supporters are now critical to the ensemble’s success.
>
> “We’ve done what we can to this point,” he
> said. “Now it’s up to everyone to keep it
> going.”
>
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