Skip to content
Sep 23 2023 - 7:30PM

New Season/New World

Fraser Auditorium

Sep 23
This event has already taken place
Event Details

Saturday, September 23
7:30PM
Entrance: 7:00PM

Fraser Auditorium
Frasier Auditorium
935 Ramsey Lake Rd, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6
Located in Fraser Building on Laurentian University Campus

Guest Conductor : Michael Hall
Guest Soloist: Nadina Mackie, Bassoon

  • Adult 18+ years old
    -
  • Youth 8-18 years old
    -

“This work is heavily influenced by baroque music, and is characterized by a redemptive and joyful spirit, celebrating the idea of forging a path through hard moments and finally finding a true way"

Cast


Guest Conductor

Michael Hall

Guest Soloist

Nadina Mackie, Bassoon

Program


Oddbird Concerto for solo bassoon, string orchestra and percussion, Opus 37 by Mathieu Lussier

Program

  • Introduction: the Bird and the Agitation of Life
  • Ending Worlds
  • III. The Tragic Bird Finds Its Way to Peace

About the conductor


Michael Hall

Conductor

Maestro Hall has been Music Director of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra beginning with the 2017-2018 season. He continues as Music Director of the Kennett Symphony in Pennsylvania and Principal Guest Conductor of the Space Coast Symphony in Florida. Previously, Hall has held the position of Music Director of the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra, Associate Conductor of the Pacific Symphony in California, Resident Conductor of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and Assistant Conductor of the Havant Symphony Orchestra in the UK.

Message from the conductor


“I am so excited to be a Music Director Candidate for the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra. I have programmed Dvorak Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World’ not only because it is a perennial favorite with audiences, it is also one of my favorite symphonies. It is by turns heroic and tender and is an absolute joy to perform.

Dvorak wrote it while he was visiting and working in America and was influenced by his impressions of the young country. “I should never have written a Symphony like I have, if I hadn’t seen America.” The music contains melodies inspired by African American spirituals; to this end, and especially touching, is the melody introduced in the 2nd movement by the English Horn. Another influence, Longfellow’s poem based on legends of the Ojibwe tribe, is reflected in the 4th movement, which opens with sounds of Native American heroism.

I am looking forward to working with the musicians of the Sudbury Symphony Orchestra and bringing this great program to all of you. ”

– Michael Hall
Music Director, Kennett Symphony
Music Director, Prince George Symphony Orchestra

Soloist bio


Nadina Mackie Jackson

Bassoon

Named Instrumentalist of the Year 2020 by Just Plain Folks, NADINA MACKIE JACKSON is the most widely recorded Canadian bassoonist in history with 13 solo albums, 8 chamber music recordings and dozens of albums with symphony, chamber, and historical instrument orchestras.

The first woman bassoonist to receive tenure in a major Canadian orchestra, Nadina spent a decade with the Montreal Symphony and the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra before developing a distinguished chamber music and solo career.

Eighteen new works for solo bassoon and orchestra have been written for Nadina by Canadian and American composers including Mathieu Lussier, Paul Frehner,

Eric Funk, Constantine Caravassilis, Lucas Oickle, Adam Scime and most recently, Chicago-based composer, Augusta Read Thomas.

Her solo recordings have been recognized with awards including Best Classical Album 2020 and 2009 from Just Plain Folks for Vivaldi Concerti Volume I and for Bacchanale with Nicholas McGegan and the Toronto Chamber Orchestra. Her Canadian Concerto Project was short-listed for the Canadian Juno awards for best solo with large ensemble.

A respected teacher, Nadina is the founder and president of The Council of Canadian Bassoonists, a nationally registered educational charity dedicated to the study and appreciation of the bassoon and bassoonists in Canada. She has taught at the University of Toronto, McGill University and Wilfrid Laurier University and gives masterclasses throughout Canada and the US.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Nadina began the bassoon in the band programs in Prince George, B.C. and was particularly inspired and encouraged by her wonderful high school band teacher, Garry Hartley.

Nadina is the author of Solitary Refinement, Chromatics, Chords and Scales, Concepts for the Committed Bassoonist published by Friesen Press 2020 and she has just released Book of Birds, Collector’s Edition, a vivid collection of her recent paintings.


Listen to the first movement of the world premiere done in 2013 with g27 and Eric Paetkau

Composer's Notes


“Nadina was a crucial figure in my life and career, always inspiring and encouraging me as a bassoonist and composer,” says the composer. “This work is heavily influenced by baroque music, and is characterized by a redemptive and joyful spirit, celebrating the idea of forging a path through hard moments and finally finding a true way.”

“The bassoon so perfectly expressed how resilient and capable this bird now understood itself to be. The strings quickened their pace to match the bird’s flight and the chimes now sounded like joy. The piece ended with such a glowing, triumphant and satisfying flourish that the entire theatre leapt to their feet in applause.” Heidi Klepsch, letter to editor, Prince George Citizen [June 2, 2022] for Mathieu Lussier’s Oddbird Concerto

Here are Mathieu’s notes about the concerto which he wrote for our Juno-shortlisted album, Canadian Concerto Project, Volume I:

Odd Bird Concerto for Bassoon, String Orchestra, Bass Drum and Tubular Bells, Op. 37

Mathieu Lussier: Though I had long wanted to write a bassoon concerto, many other projects intervened. Nadina had been such a crucial figure in my life and career that I felt, in 2012, that the time had come to offer her the concerto I had always wanted to write.

The nickname “Odd Bird” for this concerto comes from knowing Nadina, her paintings, her early record label, and of course, her world-famous cerulean hair. In my view, she definitely is a bird, though perhaps no more odd than any of us!

The first movement allegro section (The Bird and the Agitation of Life) is a nod to her recent Vivaldi album, with an opening figure derived from the baroque patterns used by Vivaldi. I could not resist adding a bass drum for dramatic impact. As with my trumpet concerto, I first wrote the slow movement, titling it Ending Worlds, which was written during the closing season of the beautiful Bavarian festival Klang und Raum, where I had the honour of performing for ten summers with Tafelmuisik Baroque Orchestra. The last movement (The Tragic Bird Finds Its Way to Peace) includes quotes from many other works I have written in recent years. I wanted to achieve a feeling of redemption in someone who has forged a path through hard moments and, finally, found her true way. I often feel musicians overplay the dramatic aspects of my music, but in the case of the Odd Bird Concerto, I intended all of the drama. Nadina is an inspiring artist who gave me the desire to fulfill all my artistic aspirations and also gave me the chance to become a composer. She says I gave her a repertoire but she gave me her talent and became my voice.