Thank you also to Bryan Deans (our fearless leader) as always for the extra one million things you do.

Gracious thanks to our longtime venue Christ Church Cathedral for the incredibly beautiful and gorgeous sounding space making every concert special.

#orchestra

Special shout out to our Front of House volunteers led by violinist Anita Zaenker and to George Whyte, our archival recording videographer. It takes a lot of dedication and teamwork to make all the parts of this orchestra function.

Please come enjoy! Tickets to French Masterworks: www.eventbrite.com/e/french-mas...
#vancouverevents

Featured in this clip is renowned pianist Barry Tan warming up the keys on this opening cadenza at rehearsal last week. Come hear Barry's magnificent rendition of Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand this Saturday Nov. 15th at Christ Church Cathedral, 8pm by donation. youtube.com/shorts/E2Weu...

May we live to see the world come together with love instead of hate, so we can move on from our destructive patterns and build something beautiful from something tragic.

On this day of Remembrance, we meditate on the vast number of people affected by war. From direct physical losses to losing loved ones and family. In war everybody loses. How we recover and how we remember matters.

Of them all, Maurice Ravel's concerto shone most brightly and became the most acclaimed. A stunning piece, it gives the impression that there may be two or more hands playing it if one closes their eyes during a performance.

Grab your seats today: www.eventbrite.ca/e/french-mas...

Program:
Berlioz: Overture to King Lear, Op. 4, H 53
Ravel: Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, M. 82*
Dukas: Fanfare pour précéder La Péri
Debussy: La Mer

Bujar Llapaj, Conductor
*Barry Tan Piano Soloist

Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/1578896123...

Cathy and Ken celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary this past May 26th. A month later, Cathy suffered a debilitating stroke and on July 18th she passed away. Our hearts go out to Ken and their many friends. Cathy will be greatly missed by so many.

For 14 years she was the “Front of the House” for the orchestra. She loved greeting and welcoming people attending our concerts, only relinquishing those duties when heart issues made it too difficult, but she still continued to support the orchestra from her seat in the audience at every concert.

Cathy became involved with the WCSO when Ken joined the French horn section in 2003. Although not a musician herself, she was very much a people person and really enjoyed being around all the other orchestra members and immersing herself in the orchestra family.

Avid sailors, they lived and breathed the live-aboard life style for 34 years while living at Heather Marina in False Creek here in Vancouver. They only moved ashore when Cathy lost her leg due to complications of Type 1 diabetes, which she had had since she was fifteen.