Atlantic Sounds

I spent more time in the great country of Canada last week.  I am particularly envious of them right now, for their Prime Minister called an election some 4 weeks ago and, lo and behold, it will be done on Tuesday.  37 days for an election, as opposed to the nearly immoral 2 freakin’ years it has taken us in the States.  But that’s not really relevant here.  Instead of heading towards the oil flats of Alberta I found myself wallowing in the salty waters of the Atlantic.  It was my first trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I hope it doesn’t turn out to be my last.

Halifax is a charming old city which is home to the oldest Anglican cathedral outside of the U.K.  The Episcopalian in me was very taken by that charming wooden structure overlooking the harbor, and I felt that I was going to be very comfortable visiting this town.  The reason I was there, of course, was to work with Symphony Nova Scotia.  SNS is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and runs a budget a little over 3 Million, if I remember correctly.  I hope I don’t blow confidential information when I mention that they’re in the midst of an endowment campaign, like all smart orchestras that are adequately preparing for the future are.  This being my first time there I didn’t know what to expect.

What I found was a wonderful collection of folk keeping heart and soul together with spit and good humor. The program we came up with was a on the conservative side – Coriolan, Mozart #25, Reformation – but we worked on it with passion and verve.  It is especially scary to go to a new orchestra and play/conduct one of the Mozart concerti (or anything else for that matter) but to my joy they took to it like fish to the Atlantic.  This was a great relief since in recent memory I had done this exact same routine with another orchestra who shall remain nameless, and the looks of panic that were prevalent that week are seared into what’s left of my short term memory.  Not SNS, though – they got it right quick.

I have frequently said that the most passionate music making one can find is in the smaller orchestras of this world.  These ensembles labor in the shadows of those Über-orchestras that have budgets in the tens of millions and endowments that rival the GDP of some small Caribbean nations, but with the musicians in these smaller bands the music making seems very immediate, very real.  Given the opportunity to be inspired they will take it with both hands and leave whatever they’ve come with on stage.  That’s what I felt with SNS.  Kudos to them.

And here’s one of those interesting side-effects to being a traveling conductor – I spent most of Friday fighting off my fellow travellers who were attempting to abscond with the two live Atlantic lobsters that I had promised my wife I was going to come home with.  I am pleased to mention that Abbott and Costello (my nicknames for them) ended up as dinner Friday night.  Yum yum yum!!!