The GSO Pop-Up Orchestra Festival 2
What’s a Pop-Up Orchestra Festival? From January 19th to February 8th, members of the Guelph Symphony will mount a series of free concerts, in imaginative, unexpected and less formal settings, throughout our city, designed to engage, entertain and to be interactive. Watch for announcements on our website, social media and on Guelph Today, and join in the fun!!
GSO – An Afternoon of Wizardry featuring music from Harry Potter
January 19, 2020 @ 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
To accommodate all visitors there will be two performances, 3 p.m. and another at 4 p.m. Free admission starting at 2 p.m. at the Guelph Civic Museum.
Guelph Symphony Orchestra presents musical magic, specially tailored to young families.
GSO- Coffee Cantata at a Coffee Shop!
Coffee was once thought to be a devilish drink unfit for children, women and man concerned about their virility! Come and hear excerpts from Bach’s work with reimagined and updated lyrics.
Red Brick Cafe, 8 Douglas St
Friday January 31, 2020 @ 12pm-12:30pm
GSO- Violin and Harpsichord Virtuosity
Guelph-born violinist Edwin Huizinga is quickly establishing a reputation as one of North America’s most versatile violinists, performing with musicians from all kinds of genres, worldwide.
Joined by virtuoso harpsichordist, Elliot Figg, this dynamic duo will share their a passion for presenting concerts in re-imaged ways!
Red Brick Cafe, 8 Douglas St
Tuesday February 4, 12pm-12:30pm
GSO- Masterclass with Edwin Huizinga
St Georges Anglican Church, 99 Woolwich St
Join us as talented young violinists from the Guelph Youth Symphony Orchestra and our city perform for Violin Master, and GSO Guest Conductor, Edwin Huizinga!
Tuesday February 4, 6:30-8:30pm
GSO- Hockey Night at the Sleeman Centre!
Listen as the brass section of our orchestra presents fanfares and sports inspired music in Guelph’s Sleeman Centre!
Wednesday February 5, 2020 @6:30pm-7pm
GSO- at the Guelph Public Library
Downtown location, 100 Norfolk St, Main Floor
Thursday February 6th @ 11:30 am
GSO- at the Guelph Community Health Centre
176 Wyndham St N
Thursday February 6 @ 12:30pm
GSO- at DanceTheatre David Earle
Be inspired to move to the music at the home of the nationally renown Dance Theatre David Earle, 42 Quebec St. Led by Edwin Huizinga, violinist and the dance soloists DanceTheatre David Earle will present a ‘container’ of material based on musical & choreographic phrases from the Four Seasons for students (and interested audience members) to create & perform together.
Thursday February 6th, 2020 @ 8:30pm
GSO- at the University of Guelph
Friday February 7th- noon, at the University Centre, in the Centre Courtyard.
GSO- Barber of Seville in a Barbershop!
Saturday February 8th, 1pm, Black and White Barbers, 55 Wyndam St N
GSO will also be performing a Pop Up Concert for the students of Sacred Heart School on Wednesday February 5th!
The Guelph Lecture—On Being 2020
Literary reading by Taqralik Partridge, spoken word poet and writer
Keynote Lecture by Eric Fischl, neo-expressionist painter and educator
Concert by Marianne Trudel and the Guelph Symphony Orchestra
Concert: Marianne Trudel
In performance with the Guelph Symphony Orchestra, the Gryphon Singers, and others
Co-presented by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI)
Premiering a new work for the Guelph Symphony Orchestra: Au coeur du silence: la lumière (orchestra, choir, piano trio)
From Marianne Trudel:
With this piece, I was aiming for something luminous, something that fills the soul, brimming over and radiant, like the Laurentides Park in the middle of winter, under the sun, with the evergreens draped in snow.
In the middle of this forest, suddenly: silence. The silence that takes hold and fills the soul with profound joy. Suddenly, completely: we let down our guard.
Body, heart, and spirit are reunited. With both feet planted in the silence, we can breathe again. At long last.
Experiencing silence has become a rarity. Yet, as much as oxygen and water, human beings need silence. Why so much noise? What is hiding behind this wall of sound?
A musician in love with silence: contradiction? A seeker of silence in love with music: contradiction? How is it possible to still want to compose in a world where the sonic landscape is so saturated?
At the heart of silence: light. Manifesto for a quieter soundtrack.
Last Season
What’s a Pop-Up Orchestra Festival? In February, 2019, members of the Guelph Symphony mounted a series of free concerts, in imaginative, unexpected and less formal settings, designed to engage, entertain and to be interactive.
The Festival launched on Family Day weekend and culminated in a main series highlight concert, for our patrons, at Harcourt United Church, on March 3rd at 3pm.
*Two costumed performances of , “Carmen and the Bubblegum Factory”, at the Civic Museum free admission to the Museum that afternoon, Sunday February 17, 3pm and 4pm. Narrated by Joe Ringhofer.
*Orchestra Karaoke at the Sleeman Centre, Monday February 18, Family Day-Come Sing with Us! 1:15 pm. Is it your dream to sing live with an ensemble from the GSO? Click here to win a chance to sing with us at this event!
*Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll performed on the staircase (as originally intended), with people at the top of the stairs- Cosima’s perspective and people at the bottom of the stairs- husband and composer Richard’s perspective). Saturday March 3, MacDonald Building, University of Guelph, 11am.
* An Orchestra sing-along and opportunity to try percussion), at St Joseph’s Health Centre, featuring our Second Violinists and Music Therapist, Amy Behrends. Monday February 25, 6:30pm.
On Sunday February 17th, an ensemble from the Guelph Symphonyperformed at a fundraiser for Family and Children’s Services.
War Memorial Hall was the setting for this wonderful afternoon of Harry Potter inspired activities and music! All proceeds went the Children First Fund, Family and Children’s Services of Guelph and Wellington County.
GSO has been operating youth outreach programs for eight years and in that time we have observed the strong desire in parents of young children give them opportunities to experience live classical music. We see such overwhelming joy in reaction to our KinderConcerts and Museum concerts. (Parents call to ask how they can prepare for the next show, and children regularly dress up as the characters in the shows we are presenting, and leave singing the beautiful melodies). We think that in presenting a series of engaging and participatory concerts as a Pop Up Orchestra Festival, we can reach out to an even broader demographic.
What’s in the works for the GSO’s Pop Up Orchestra Festival 2020?
Guelph Symphony is thrilled to have violinist and multi-genre artist, Edwin Huizinga, to co-curate our second festival!
More details to follow!