Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a symphony orchestra from the Canadian city of Vancouver . It was founded in 1919 and is now Canada's third largest orchestra, with an annual operating budget of CAD 16 million . The VSO gives around 140 concerts for up to 250,000 visitors each season. It usually plays in the Orpheum Theater in Vancouver, but also in other venues in the Metro Vancouver area .
Occasionally the VSO also plays live albums with nationally known pop musicians. Examples are Open Heart Symphony with the folk rock band Spirit of the West (1995) and Jann Arden Live with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra with the pop singer Jann Arden (2002).
One of the highlights of recent history was the 2007/2008 Grammy win in the Best Instrumental Soloist (s) Performance (with orchestra) category .
history
The VSO was founded by the Vancouver Symphony Society in 1919, with great support from its patron Elisabeth Rogers. But as early as 1897 there was an orchestra by Adolf Gregory of the same name, but only for one year. The orchestra had to take a break from 1921 to 1930 due to financial problems. Between the 1940s and 1959 the orchestra performed in the Georgia Auditorium and then in the Queen Elizabeth Theater.
Between the 1960s and 1970s the orchestra served for the Vancouver Opera until the latter founded an orchestra itself in 1977. In 1988 there was another financial crisis, which caused it to take a five-month hiatus and run a financial deficit of $ 2.3 million. Then they started working on a new concept. From now on they played some outdoor summer concerts every year and hired their own composer.
In 2008 the VSO received the Grammy Award for the best instrumental soloist performance with an orchestra. In the same year the Juno Award for the best classical album of the year was won.
Music directors
- Allard de Ridder (1930-1941)
- Jacques Singer (1947–1950)
- Irwin Hoffman (1952–1963)
- Meredith Davies (1964-1970)
- Kazuyoshi Akiyama (1972–1985)
- Rudolf Borissowitsch Barschai (1985–1988)
- Sergiu Comissiona (1991-2000)
- Bramwell Tovey (2000-2018)
- Otto Tausk (2018 – today)
Composers
- Rodney Sharman (1997-2000)
- Jeffrey Ryan (2000-2007)
- Scott Good (2008-2011)
- Edward Top (2011-2014)
- Jocelyn Morlock (2014-present)
President
- Victor White (1963-1972)
- Michael Allerton (1972–1985)
- John Smith (1985-1986)
- Ed Oscapella (1986-1989)
- Diane Hoar (1989-1992)
- Graeme Page (1992-1993)
- Howard Jang (1993-1995)
- Ron Dumouchelle (1995-2000)
- Jeff Alexander (2000-2014)
- Kelly Tweeddale (2015-2019)
- Angela Elster (2020-present)
Recordings
- Open Heart Symphony , a live album in cooperation with the folk-rock band Spirit of the West.
- Jann Arden Live with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra , a live album in cooperation with pop singer Jann Arden .
- Violin concertos by Samuel Barber , Erich Wolfgang Korngold and William Walton