Canadian public broadcasting to fire its radio orchestra - ?

[Anonymous75966]

From the pile of emails I've just received, it looks like the CBC (Canadian public radio / tv) is about to cancel its radio orchestra. The CBC radio orchestra is the last radio orchestra in North America (see below), heavily involved in performing contemporary music. FYI.

If you're in Vanuckistan I might see you in an hour.

From: Richard Kurth (director of the University of British Columbia school of music)
Date: March 27, 2008 1:47:10 PM PDT (CA)
To: [snip]

Dear Colleagues,

Many of you will already have heard about the meeting this afternoon at 4:30 pm, concerning the CBC Radio Orchestra. The expectation is that the news will be bad.

I just received a telephone call from the Globe and Mail, who informed me that the orchestra is indeed being cut, and asking for my comment. I called it a tragic event, both culturally and economically, for the musical life of the region and of the nation. I pointed out that being the last radio orchestra in North America had to be put in context, and that radio orchestras continue to play vital roles in European nations. The CBC is apparently planning to use the money to record and broadcast other Canadian orchestras; I said we would have to wait to see whether they would actually do that, beyond the degree to which they already do, and I pointed out that they were cutting the orchestra just as it entered a period of renewed vitality with a dynamic new conductor.

As you'll see below, Colin Miles is working to rally a communal presence in support of the orchestra at the meeting venue (Georgian Court Hotel, 4:30 this afternoon). I encourage those who can make it to attend.

I'm sorry to relay news of this very unfortunate decision by the CBC.

Sincerely,
Richard

-- 30 --

On 27-Mar-08, at 1:21 PM, Colin Miles (Director, Canadian Music Centre - BC Region) wrote:

Dear Friends,
I have talked with CBC Radio New and CBC-TV News and emailed a message to LLoyd Dykk at the SUN. I predict there will be cameras and microphones there.

The fact that Mark Steinmetz calls this an internal CBC matter and is not planning any public meeting following makes me suspicious.

It is important that a lot of people congregate outside the meeting at the Georgian Court. at 4:30

If there is good news we can celebrate,
If they are choosing to harm our national treasure we can tell them they can't.
This orchestra belongs to all Canadians and to posterity.
No orchestra in Canada has done more for Canadian composers
This event can focus all our concerns about classical music on CBC.
I would urge you and your friends and colleagues who value this to re-arrange your schedule to be there.
IT IS TIME TO TAKE A STAND!
I sent you the official mandate of the CBC.
One of our options if they refuse to meet with us is to read that mandate in unison.
Yes, it is street theatre but in doing so we are affirming the Broadcast Act.
Colin Miles

[LM Bass]

Globe story here:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...rtainment/home

A tragedy.
Don't know what to say.
Laurence

[neal davis]

what a shame, the cbc is really going to crap, canadian culture is really going to crap, where are the corporate sponsers to help us out? In Zurich I recently played at a small club that was privately run where we could play whatever we wanted, it was sponsored by Audi, the Canton of Zurich, Migeros(food place) as well as many local people you wouldn't even have come out to modern compositon/improvised music in Canada, it is such a shame we are pissing are culture away

[Bass Boy]

This is unbelievable.

Chip away at it until it's all gone. Pump the oil south. Import the "culture" north. Our fearless "leaders"

[nathanmcnathan]

Canadian culture sucks - I'm one of maybe 10 people in my high school who listens to jazz - maybe one of 3 who listens to avant garde/modern music - everybody else listens to the same old ****. It doesn't matter if it's metal, or rock, or whatever you call it, it's still stupid pop music that's ruined our culture. Everything's about being cool, nobody appreciates classical music!

[mapleleaf4evr]

This is an outrage, plain & simple. The CBC will spend millions on trash like "The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives", or whatever that garbage was, yet they'll cut this.
I'm e-mailing my MP & the CBC.

[Anonymous75966]

For the record, I'm forwarding this letter written to the CBC and forwarded by the artistic director of Vancouver New Music:

-- 30 --

Vancouver, March 27, 2008

Jennifer McGuire
Executive Director
CBC English Radio
P.O. Box 500 Station A
Toronto, ON
M5W 1E6

It is with great sadness and consternation that I received tonight the news about the decision of dismantling the CBC Radio Orchestra. It seems absurd and even redundant to remind ourselves how this wonderful Canadian ensemble has been an extremely vital and productive force to the service of Canadian musicians, performers, to new and experimental ideas in composition and to the CBC Radio audiences in all the provinces of our country and internationally.

The CBC Radio Orchestra has been fostering dialogue, exchange of ideas and has been extremely important in making contemporary music practices a vital part of Canada’s cultural life. The CBC Radio Orchestra is and represents something more than just an orchestral ensemble; it embodies that desire of exploration that is so much lacking in so many national and international orchestral ensembles. It embodies and fosters the desire of sharing and assimilating older and newer music traditions together with the purpose of understanding various contemporary music styles and ideas, presenting them to the national collective appreciation while working to the advantage of an enriched awareness of the value of difference. This is the real value of a living tradition that Canadian musicians, composers and artists at large still feed with great passion and imagination, this is a real value, which no corporate profit will ever be able to buy or even produce.

I am appalled and frustrated by this insensible decision that undermines the real values of creative work, and in the conviction that the importance of difference is the flower of any society that is able to value creativity, beauty, personal expression and the power of imagination I strongly ask you that this decision be revoked. I ask you to address the issues related to the CBC Radio Orchestra in a public debate, in a discourse open to all the productive forces who have been contributing to the relevant work that the CBC Radio Orchestra have been producing, supporting and presenting in the last 70 years.

Yours truly,

Giorgio Magnanensi
Artistic Director
Vancouver New Music

[Damon Rondeau]

Honest to God, I'm not writing this to stir anything up. But I'm a cultured Canadian in his mid 40's who has listened to the CBC radio his entire life. (I give "Gilmore's Albums" a huge place in my early influences file.) Now, admittedly, my dial has been stuck on the AM version of the Ceeb forever. I gotta say: I've never knowingly heard this much-lamented orchestra. Could anyone fill me in on where I would have heard it?

[Jake deVilliers]

If you've been listening to what they now call 'Radio One' for a long time, you've heard the Orchestra many, many times on Morningside and its various replacements.

Its also been on 'Radio Two' on various classical programs over the years.

I don't listen to the CBC as much as I used to, but its still comforting to have that national tie connected coast to coast.

Sad news for sure.

[Damon Rondeau]

Sad news, no doubt.

I don't know what I'd do without the Ceeb. Think for myself, I guess...

[Anonymous75966]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

... Morningside and its various replacements.

I think many of us think of the AM morning show that way - ain't it the truth. Actually I'd happily listen to Tremonti for 3 hours.

IMHO the value of the CBC orchestra is in having a really good, professional orchestra that isn't as strictly market-driven in its programming as many orchestras are. They're probably the only Canadian orchestra I can think of that premieres a commissioned contemporary piece at almost every concert, plays the heavy classical repertoire, and does 'pops' material in a way that's above average (Joni Mitchell instead of, I dunno, the theme from Indiana Jones).

I wasn't as automatically outraged by the network's big programming shakeup last year as a lot of people were. The way I remember it - a certain proportion of letters to the editor, web comments, and so on seemed to be from stodgy, boring, snotty people lamenting the demise of stodgy, boring, light, poppy, classical music. (If I had to pick between Feist and Vaughan Williams on radio in the afternoon - I'd pick neither. Just MHO.) I'd even say that shows that were formative and valuable to me - Brave New Waves or 2NH - had started to seem tired and cronyist at that point.

So - maybe the network was ripe for a change. But I don't see very much originality in the way things seem to be going, or any sort of vision for anything other than the bottom line. I've heard a few people saying that the push to make the CBC more 'mainstream' is ideological - in effect, making it a less successful, less lucrative version of a commercial network. At which point, the neoliberal hacks of whichever interchangeable political party happens to be in government at the time will be justified in privatizing the whole thing and closing it down. This seems a little bit paranoid to me, but not so paranoid that it couldn't be true.

[Damon Rondeau]

I often listen to "Q" in the afternoon -- also the show that preceded it, can't remember the name. I gotta say, that's where I hear new Canadian music. It comes from the pop spectrum, for sure, but they've got new music -- very often they've got new acts -- on there every day of the week.

That's how they should be earning their keep, in my opinion. Back in the 70's, commercial radio and CanCon used to do the job but they sure don't anymore.

It's a different CBC but I have a hunch ANY kind of CBC is better than none.

The French CBC almost single-handedly kept jazz in Canada alive for decades, as far as I can tell.

[Bass Boy]

Originally Posted by Dave Chokroun

So - maybe the network was ripe for a change. But I don't see very much originality in the way things seem to be going, or any sort of vision for anything other than the bottom line. I've heard a few people saying that the push to make the CBC more 'mainstream' is ideological - in effect, making it a less successful, less lucrative version of a commercial network. At which point, the neoliberal hacks of whichever interchangeable political party happens to be in government at the time will be justified in privatizing the whole thing and closing it down. This seems a little bit paranoid to me, but not so paranoid that it couldn't be true.

Bingo. I wouldn't say this is paranoia. There have been many corporate and government entities (some would say they're the same thing), especially the current regime here, who have been hinting at this for a while. Just look how well it's worked with the health care system!

On a related note, do you remember when cbc television pre-empted Mansbridge on the National with that lovely show The One. I guess they never learn

[Anonymous75966]

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

I often listen to "Q" in the afternoon -- also the show that preceded it, can't remember the name. I gotta say, that's where I hear new Canadian music. It comes from the pop spectrum, for sure, but they've got new music -- very often they've got new acts -- on there every day of the week.

That's how they should be earning their keep, in my opinion. Back in the 70's, commercial radio and CanCon used to do the job but they sure don't anymore.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with that. And I actually prefer the concept for a new show like "The Signal," which is supposed to present cutting-edge stuff across genres, to the way some of the programming used to be really departmentalized: Jazz over here, Modern Classical over here, Indie over here. I think that at least has the potential to expose listeners to something completely new in any given week. At least in theory. That's the thing public broadcasting has the power to do that commercial networks often can't or won't.

Originally Posted by Damon Rondeau

The French CBC almost single-handedly kept jazz in Canada alive for decades, as far as I can tell.

The French network's music programming is generally way more interesting and diverse, period.

[Jake deVilliers]

"The French CBC almost single-handedly kept jazz in Canada alive for decades, as far as I can tell."

And it still is, at least out here, in the form of Radio L'espace. The programming is mostly jazz from 9 am to 7 pm, with intermittent half hours of classical. Its what I listen to after Anna Maria Tremonti goes off the air.

More importantly, I wanted to pass on this URL for an online petition to save the CBC Orchestra. It came to me from Heidi Krutzen, harpist.

http://savecbcorchestra.com/petition/

Anybody who'd like to help, please visit and sign. Thanks.

[Bass Boy]

Thanks for the link. Signed and forwarded.

[Damon Rondeau]

Me too.