Friday evening dress rehearsal

Thanks to Rob Cook of Photo Fredericton for capturing the orchestra in action preparing for concerts in Woodstock and Fredericton. In his note to me he says:

Thanks for the invite to shoot the rehearsal but most of all thanks for the opportunity to hear the marvelous music.
Congratulations to the Orchestra and Choirs for a very well done and powerful performance.
All the best,
Rob Cook

Click on any of the photos for a larger version or go to here to see all the photos from this event.

The Fredericton Symphony Orchestra To Perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony!

Forty years ago a handful of Fredericton musicians got together to play classical music. They called themselves the Fredericton Chamber Orchestra. Today that little group has grown to sixty-plus members, and has changed its name to the more appropriate “Fredericton Symphony Orchestra”. The group is celebrating its fortieth year with its second performance of Beethoven's ninth and final symphony. There will be two concerts: April 2 in Woodstock and April 3 in Fredericton.

“The Ninth” is Beethoven's most magnificent symphony. It's often called “The Choral Symphony” because Beethoven added a full choir, as well as a quartet of vocal soloists, to its last movement. The choir for the performances will be the combined forces of The Fredericton Choral Society and The UNB Chorale. The soloists will be Woodstock native and Fredericton resident Sally Dibblee, soprano; Paula Rockwell, alto; Colin Frotten, tenor and Paul Bustin, baritone.

The April 2 Woodstock performance will be in the Woodstock Baptist Church at 7pm.
The April 3 Fredericton performance will be in Wilmot United Church at 3pm.

Tickets are available from orchestra and choir members as well as at Read's Newsstand & Cafe, Fredericton; MES Music, Woodstock; Nevers Pharmacy, Hartland; Andrew & Laura McCain Library, Florenceville and at the door.

Ticket prices are: adults $20, students $10, children 12 and under free.

Preparing for Beethoven's 9th requires lots of work.

The viola section decided to get together recently for a sectional rehearsal and potluck. Sula provided the place—Ed M. provided the photo.

(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

With a new name comes a new logo

Congratulations to violist Valerie Sensinger for having her design selected by the members of the FSO. It is eye-catching, and, is based on an actual photograph of our orchestra. Yes, that is Richard Hornsby on the podium in action.

A wonderfully successful concert in every way!

        The Fredericton Symphony Orchestra played to a packed audience at Christ Church Cathedral on December 6th. Our guest soloist Chelsea Ahn treated us to a beautiful performance of the Mozart Concerto N0. 24, and the orchestra did not disappoint with its performance of Salieri's Les Danaides Overture and Haydn's Symphony No. 103.
        Success also was demonstrated by very good video and audio recordings of the concert. The challenges presented by the Cathedral were overcome by Andy Shi, Brian Cassidy and Sebastian Gomez, and thanks to them, the following are available to you:

• The YouTube videos are available here.
• An audio file of the concert can be downloaded from here. 

And even more photos from our rehearsal.

An instant in Chelsea's performance, captured by Aldo

Earlier in this blog, I posted photographs by Jacques Nadeau and Peter Lovell. In case you were wondering why all of these photographs, I should tell you that members of Photo Fredericton enjoy working their visual artistry while we work on our aural artistry. If you click on the photograph to the left, you can see shots by Aldo Bongiorno. Aldo has shared many of his fine photos with us over the years.
For those of you who are not photographers, let me tell you that the Cathedral presents many challenges including lighting, and subjects who are packed together quite tightly — most of whom are always moving their hands and arms. I have been very impressed with the excellent results from these three photographers. I thank them for sharing with us.
     Come to the concert and hear these photos come to life!
- David N.

Don't miss FSO's December 6th Concert!

Chelsea in rehearsal (photo by Peter R. Lovell)

One of the joys of being a musician in the Fredericton Symphony Orchestra is being treated to the wonderful musicianship of our special soloist Chelsea Ahn during our rehearsals. You can witness her beautiful phrasing and mature interpretation of the wonderful Mozart Piano Concerto No. 24 at our concert this Sunday at 3:00 at Christ Church Cathedral. Although I think Chelsea's performance is worth the price of admission, we also are performing Les Danaides Overture by Salieri and Haydn's Symphony No. 103.
I hope we'll see you there!
- David N.