Alain Trudel
Conductor & trombonist
Artist page |
|
THe NBO Maiden Concert
January 15, 2010, 12:00 am
By David Gordon Duke, Vancouver Sun
January 7, 2010
VANCOUVER — A new year, a new decade, a new business plan,
and a new name. But for many observers of the Vancouver music
scene, our new National Broadcast Orchestra will forever be
connected with the late CBC Radio Orchestra.
The good news is that the NBO begins its life as a free-standing
orchestra for a new era Friday, at the Chan Centre, with a
benefit inaugural concert featuring classic and contemporary
repertoire. (Watch a video of the orchestra at work here.)
But its struggle for a place in our national music scene is a
heroic one, and the circumstances of its birth tumultuous.
Not since the bad, black days of the Vancouver Symphony
Orchestra's troubles in 1988 has Vancouver seen such a musical
commotion. The Radio Orchestra (né the CBC Vancouver
Orchestra) was clumsily willed out of existence by the CBC
brass. North America's last surviving radio ensemble was,
admittedly, something of an anachronism, but it was anything but
a costly outfit to keep going, and its service to Canadian
artists and Canadian composers earned it well-deserved respect.
According to flautist Brenda Fedoruk, the orchestra's musician's
contractor, "There were never any contracts signed saying we
were members of the CBC Radio Orchestra; it was viewed, by the
musicians, as a gentleman's agreement."
The disbanding of the orchestra came as a shock to orchestral
players. "The decision was kept absolutely quiet; we had no
inkling this was coming on," Fedoruk recalled. News came at a
hastily called "special meeting" six months before the orchestra
was to play their last concert. "When we were all summoned by
telephone to that special meeting, it was an utter shock."
Protests were loud and long, and won't easily be forgotten. A
significant groundswell of support failed to persuade the head
office to change its plans. In November 2008 the orchestra once
led by John Avison, John Eliot Gardiner and Mario Bernardi
performed its last concert. Fedoruk said: "Playing the last few
bars at the last concert felt like the end of an era: We all
hugged and wept."
Listeners such as Dr. William Bruneau, a University of B.C.
professor emeritus with a particular interest in Canadian music,
came together in various grassroots actions to protest not only
the dissolution of the ensemble, but also what they saw as the
dumbing down of CBC programming. According to Bruneau, "It was a
double disaster when the CBC canned the Radio Orchestra and
began The New Radio 2. So we thought that the people who did
this to us should be held accountable. We have come to see that
there is no way to hold anybody accountable for CBC
programming."
Heaven knows they tried. When CBC officials visited Vancouver
last month, "We asked why the corporation chose to spend just
under $4 million on advertising in the Globe and Mail, on
Toronto bus and subway panels, and on roadside signage in
Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The Radio Orchestra could have
continued for eight years with that money! [CBC President
Hubert] Lacroix said the $4 million showed that CBC was `where
it was at' in Canada, and attracted attention in a busy
marketplace. Somebody said, `But we want to know your
priorities!' So . . . next question?"
Just before the end Alain Trudel was assigned the unenviable
task of becoming the orchestra's last conductor.
Unlike the captain of a ship, he had no intention of going down
with his band. Indeed, Trudel refused to allow the ship to go
down at all, patching together a coalition of supporters made up
of musicians, listeners, patrons and the UBC.
According to Fedoruk, "Alain Trudel has tremendous support. He
has the magical combination of musical insight with personnel
smarts and political smarts. Right off the bat he told us, `I
want you guys to take risks.'
"His approach is musically liberating, allowing us to be more
creative than we might have dared on our own.
"And we're particularly happy that he is not positioning the NBO
to compete in any way with the Vancouver Symphony, but to
explore new media opportunities."General manager Rob Gloor was
brought in to direct the orchestra's affairs almost exactly one
year ago, having honed his managerial skills with the Edmonton
Symphony and Orchestra London. He is cautiously optimistic about
the fledgling organization's future, particularly as regards its
"innovative use of the Internet."
How are relations with the CBC? "Under the circumstance, very
positive. Officially we are at arm's length, like every other
orchestra in Canada. But history informs our relationship, and
they will be an important partner in disseminating what we do,
especially in helping us commission new works. We have access to
the CBC library of scores and orchestral parts, and to rehearsal
space when the Chan Centre is not available. The local CBC staff
have been wonderfully supportive - they exemplify
professionalism."
Gloor foresees three basic categories of NBO activities: live
concerts at the Chan Centre for local audiences, with subsequent
CBC broadcasts; tours of smaller communities, beginning in
November; and a considerable presence on the Internet (see
factbox). Rather than recording CDs and DVDs, the orchestra will
concentrate on "content delivery through on-demand streaming and
downloading," which Gloor says will likely parallel iTunes'
established pricing structure. High-definition video content
will be recorded during "two or three weeks in off-season when
we have access to both the musicians and the Chan." He adds that
"Educational outreach is an important part of our mandate, but
we are still discussing the best ways to package and deliver it
online."
In the arts, of course, form follows funding. The NBO received
official charitable status last summer, and donations are slowly
mounting, particularly through CanadaHelps online giving. "Our
January debut concert is also of course an important
fundraiser." Stingray Digital Group, a Montreal-based big player
in the digital music world, has just come on board as a sponsor,
and there are hopes for further important corporate support.
Major print advertising is still beyond the budget, so the NBO
is relying on electronic forums, such as its own YouTube
channel.
But Friday evening at the Chan will be a live concert aiming to
re-channel the righteous indignation of all those betrayed
listeners into support for the new endeavour. The program
certainly looks like the CBC Radio Orchestra at its best.
Pianist Anton Kuerti is soloist in his re-construction of the
so-called Concerto No. 0 by Beethoven, a youthful work written
when the composer was in his early teens. A classical connection
plays out with Prokofiev's popular Classical Symphony and a new
four-movement symphony by Michael Oesterle called The Sparrow's
Ledger. Works featuring trumpeter Jens Lindemann round out the
evening: Kalla, by Edmonton-based Allan Gilliland, and Preach,
by conductor Trudel.
For all those NBO supporters nationwide who can't make it to the
Vancouver gala, the program will be broadcast Jan. 17 on CBC's
In Concert, hosted by Bill Richardson.
© Copyright(c) The Vancouver Sun
Vancouver Sun
|
