Finding a Voice in Music
by Heather Wootton, Lead Teaching Artist PhilKids, Assistant Principal Horn As long as I have been a professional musician, it has been important for me to find ways to [...]
Building a Firebird with Michael Hope, Assistant Principal Bassoon
One of my favourite hobbies is building plastic model kits. Knowing this, my son Kevin gave me a great Father’s Day gift last summer: a 1/32 scale model of [...]
Orchestral Manoeuvres
by David Sussman, Assistant Principal Oboe One of my earliest memories of playing in an orchestra was the sheer thrill of participating in something larger than just me. Dozens [...]
Q + A with Tom McCaslin, Principal Tuba
Q Thinking back to the beginnings of your musical journey, what drew you to the tuba as an instrument you would want to study? A I had [...]
Calgary Phil marks 20th anniversary of European tour
Musikverein Golden Hall, Vienna (Photo: Anna Kozak, Violin) In November 2000, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra packed up and left town for a whirlwind tour of Europe, playing 12 venues in 12 cities [...]
Summer Series 2020
Our musicians usually spend their summers on the road, performing at festivals and teaching at workshops. This year, many will have some unexpected time on their hands as events are cancelled and [...]
Playing the Hits
No orchestra season would be complete without revisiting some of the great chestnuts of the repertoire. This week the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) will be playing just such a concert, and while the repertoire is [...]
Brahms & Mahler
This week at the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO), we perform two epic works from one of the greatest moments in Western Music. Brahms Piano Concerto Number 1, and Mahler’s 1st Symphony, both [...]
Holst’s The Planets: Astrology at the Symphony
If you're out enjoying the city this weekend (like for instance, at one of the CPO performances of The Planets this Friday and Saturday night!), make sure to check out the full moon. [...]
Warning: Earworms!
In 1954 the New York Herald Tribune ran a survey of its readers, asking them to name the compositions they found the most boring. The ‘Symphony in D Minor’ by César Franck came in at [...]