The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) may have pulled funding for its Radio Orchestra in November 2008, but the musicians have found a new outlet and will be on air — and online — in 2010.
Working out of the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of Vancouver and rechristened as the National Broadcast Orchestra, the new orchestra continues with Alan Trudel as its music director. Funding for the new orchestra is coming from Montréal-based venture capitalist Philippe Labelle.
The CBC will carry NBO performances, including the orchestra’s formal début at the Chan Centre on 8 January 2010. That performance is designed as a fundraiser for the orchestra and will feature the première of “The Sparrow’s Legend” by Canadian composer Michael Oesterle, which was commissioned by the CBC for the NBO.
High-definition videos of rehearsals are being shot for online promotions of the NBO, and the orchestra plans to make multimedia studio work for its Web site and YouTube part of its operations.
In addition to four or five public performances a year, the NBO plans to distribute multimedia recordings via the Web with a focus on Canadian performers and composers.
