Windsor Symphony Orchestra celebrates 75 years


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It all began for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in 1947 with a modest performance of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony at a local high school.

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Flash forward to 2022 and the WSO is bringing Beethoven back to kick off its 75th anniversary season at the Capitol Theater home.

After two years of virtual pandemic concerts followed by a season of primarily limited-capacity shows, maestro Robert Franz said he’s thrilled to welcome back more live audiences. While the anniversary season will celebrate coming together again in person and the longevity of the orchestra, he said it’s also about the success of the community.

“The fact that a community like Windsor can support a professional orchestra for 75 years is nothing short of extraordinary,” Franz said Wednesday following a season launch event at the theatre.

“We are so proud and grateful for the people of Windsor and Essex for being that support mechanism for us.”

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For me, it’s my lifeblood

The WSO’s 75th-anniversary jubilee will also celebrate diversity. So far, the lineup includes five Canadian composers, four women composers, five composers of colour, and two guest artists of colour, Franz said. At least one other guest artist is a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community.

The season will open with Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, one of the best-known compositions in classical music, on Oct. 17 as part of the Tepperman Masterworks series.

Other masterworks shows will include World Connections through Music, a Celebration of Oscar Peterson, Mendelssohn’s Italy, and Bringing Two Worlds Together.

In the Toldo Pops series, Quartetto Gelato will perform 75th birthday bash concerts, and cabaret singer Randy Roberts will pay tribute to Cher, Carol Channing, and more. Also on the schedule are “Grinchy” Holiday Pops with Reggie Smith Jr., Charlotte Knight Sings Broadway, and I Love a Piano with Mark Payne.

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The OnStage and Cafe Concerts shows will see the audience join the WSO on stage for coffee, spirits, and snacks during the show.

Ending the year will be performances of Handel’s Messiah, with a WSO Rocks concert featuring the music of Moody Blues, ELO, and more to start 2023 in mid-January.

What Franz looks forward to most this season is making music on a regular basis with his colleagues and connecting with audiences.

“For me, it’s my lifeblood — to tell a joke and hear people laugh, to tell a story and have people (understand), it’s incredible. It’s everything to me.”

During the pandemic, when public health restrictions prohibited in-person performances and gatherings, the WSO performed and shared digitally five major series of music, created and shared a digital music educational series for kids in school boards across Ontario, and more.

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“There was such a push inside of us to keep making music and to share our music with people,” Franz said. Performing during the pandemic “was really a labor of love, and it was also what helped keep our sanity — once you get cut off from your audience completely, what do you do as a performing artist? We created content.”

This performance season, the WSO will continue its educational series, do classroom visits to Windsor and Essex County schools, and do teacher visits from Franz to high school band programs. It will also perform three educational concerts for young students, establish artist in residency programs at two schools, and continue partnerships with St. Clair College and the University of Windsor.

The Windsor Symphony Youth Orchestras will hold two public concerts in the winter in spring, as will the Windsor Symphony Community Orchestra.

visit windsorsymphony.com for tickets and concert details.

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