Orchestra photo (above):
Larry Folliott
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Warm greetings from the Stratford Symphony Orchestra.
Con Spirito enables us to carry on a conversation with music lovers in the Stratford community and beyond.
Please feel free to send us an
email with your thoughts or comments.
Send this edition of Con Spirito to your friends.
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Mark your calendar
A Celtic Celebration
Saturday, January 28
Knox Church
7:30 p.m.
Featuring
Canadian Métis fiddler
Anne Lederman
Followed by the
SSO Celtic Night
Silent Auction
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| Volunteers needed for SSO activities
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Snapd
Stratford Live
Quinlan Road
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Sunday afternoon concert welcomes 2017
The SSO presents: 'New Year in Vienna'
Can't get to Vienna for the New Year's street parties, balls, concerts, champagne and fireworks?
There's no place like it, for sure, but all is not lost. The very same wonderful music that the Viennese and their international guests will enjoy on New Year's weekend will be performed right here in Stratford on New Year's Day.
Welcome to "New Year in Vienna," presented just for you by the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. Emperor Waltz? Of course. The Beautiful Blue Danube? Naturally. Voices of Spring Waltz? Yes indeed. And more.
Bask in the warmth and sparkle of Johann Strauss Jr.'s best-known waltzes (plus his Pizzicato Polka!). Add Strauss Sr.'s Radetzky March and Franz von Suppé's Light Cavalry Overture - what could be more fun and uplifting?
Speaking of sparkle, the SSO will pop the champagne corks
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Scott Wentworth
Marion Adler |
for post-concert toasts by Stratford Festival stars Scott Wentworth and Marion Adler. Prost! Santé! To your health!
All this will be waiting for you at the SSO's first-ever New Year's Day concert at Knox Presbyterian Church on Sunday, January 1, beginning at 3 p.m.
Maestro William Rowson (see his comments below) will conduct. Here is the complete program. It's not a long concert (a little more than an hour), so there's no intermission.
Tickets are available at Fanfare Books, Blowes Stationery (downtown) and Lyric Flowers (St. Marys), as well as on the SSO website. Tickets are $40 for adults and $10 for students (with a valid ID). Children 12 and under are admitted free.
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A note from William Rowson,
the SSO's principal conductor
The Viennese New Year's music was, at the time it was first performed, the "pop" music of its day. It's meant for dancing and celebrating, though it is also crafted with sophistication, wit and enduring melodies.
It's a beautiful tradition, done nowadays in major cities all over the world. This show includes all of the waltzes that are traditionally played on New Year's Day in Vienna, and we've also added some other polkas and upbeat dances that are a lot of fun.
It's a light afternoon matinee complete with champagne toasts in the reception hall, which rounds out a leisurely holiday. Work and day-to-day concerns are miles away.
I look forward to performing this music, as it's a lot of fun for the performers. It requires a high degree of style to achieve its gravity-defying elegance.
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Next Cushion Concert:
Fiddle music
Sunday, January 22
This Cushion Concert is all about Métis fiddle music and culture.
SSO musicians Kirby (fiddle) and Barb (bass) Julian will present an interactive program involving movement (dancing), playing rhythm instruments, as attendees learn about the Métis and their culture in Canada.
This Cushion Concert is related to the SSO's "Celtic Celebration" concert January 28, which features Anne Lederman, a world-reknowned fiddle player and expert on Métis music.
The Cushion Concert, designed for 5-to-10-year-olds, is free and will be held at the Stratford Public Library (a change in venue from Gallery Stratford) from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
Another Cushion Concert, this one focusing on the woodwind section of the orchestra, will be held February 19. More about that in the next edition of Con Spirito.
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