CCO ANNOUNCEMENTS APRIL 3 2025
- Lee-Ann
- Apr 3
- 6 min read
I. SPECIAL MEMBERS MEETING 7:30-8:30 APRIL 7, 2025
The CCO By-Laws, Article V (b) allows members to call a Special Members Meeting, in the ways provided in the By-Laws. On behalf of over 10% of the membership, musician Tai Chan (flute) filed such a request, setting out the “business to be brought before the meeting”. As required, the Board sent a Notice to Members including the details provided. That Notice is reproduced below, as is a link to the CCO By-Laws.
Under the By-Laws, only persons who were members in good standing of the CCO on March 7, 2025, are eligible to attend and participate in the meeting this Monday. It will be held at the 519, starting at 7:30pm. We look forward to a good discussion.
If you were not a member in good standing on March 7 be aware that the rehearsal on Monday does not start until 8:30pm; if you arrive early, please do not interrupt the meeting. We hope to finish in time for cookies and set-up at 8:20pm. Under the By-Laws neither the Music Director nor the Concertmaster are members; our scholarship musician is not a member; persons who have not paid membership fees by March 7 2025 are not "members in good standing" for the purposes of the Special Members Meeting. Anyone who requested and received a waiver from paying fees is a full member and is eligible to attend. If your name is not on the Musicians’ List but you believe it should be, please bring proof of paying dues and discuss this with the Door Volunteer.
II. REHEARSAL APRIL 7, 2025, 8:30 to 9:30pm
Music Director Andrew Chung requests that we rehearse for this Monday:
Gaelic Symphony, 4th Movement
Clarinet Concerto.
He also urges us to listen to recordings of the music we will be performing, both available on Youtube.
This season, we are featuring on each concert’s programme a work by at least one female composer. If you would like to know more about the Amy Beach symphony, here is a link to Sticky Notes, a podcast by Joshua Weilerstein:
Amy Beach, "Gaelic" Symphony
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Amy Beach is a name that might not be familiar to you. She was born in 1867 and died in 1944, and her life was one of the most fascinating and varied in musical history. She was a child prodigy, became a successful pianist, and then pivoted to composing at her husband’s request. She was one of the first successful composers without any training from Europeans, and when her Gaelic Symphony was performed for the first time in 1896, it became the first symphony by an American woman to be published or performed. This symphony, and Beach’s whole career, is inextricably linked with the history and mores of the time, from the influence of Dvorak on American music, to Beach’s stop and start relationship to performing. The Gaelic symphony is a remarkable amalgamation of American symphonic brilliance, some European influence(especially from Dvorak), and the music of Beach’s own heritage. It’s a symphony that was very popular in its time and then was forgotten, but now is finding itself on the stage more and more often. This week on the show we’ll go through this beautiful symphony, a pillar of early American classical music, and a piece that certainly deserves to be better known than it is. Join us!
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/sticky-notes-the-classical-music-podcast/id1215386938?i=1000698034165
The CCO’s Sheet Music is available on the CCO website, ccorchestra.org, Musicians Only portal with links to the music:
The CCO’s music distribution system has changed. Musicians are expected to print their parts from the IMSLP links, which will be provided in advance. If you really can’t print them, please email the CCO Librarian Bob Mitchell at robertmitchell@rogers.com with a lot of notice and ask him to bring a copy for you. The Librarian will not have parts for all instruments. You must print your own. Please login before accessing the sheet music - you will not be able to access pdfs, unless you are logged in
CCO 2024-2025 Season
Click the name of the pieces to access sheet music.
2025 June 7th
Intermission
III. IMPORTANT CCO DATES
Rehearsals are normally Monday nights, 7:30 to 9:30 at The 519 Community Centre unless otherwise indicated. Musicians are expected to bring their own music and stand. Snacks are provided in rotation by section: first violins, then seconds, then viola, cello and double bass, then winds, brass and piano.
Monday April 7, 7:30 to 8:30PM - Special Members Meeting, 519 Community Centre
Monday April 7, 8:30 to 9:30 - rehearsals resume at the 519 Community Centre. Snacks second violins. Next rehearsal: viola, cello, double bass
Thursday April 10, 7:30pm - Board meeting by Zoom. Members are permitted to attend. Email for a Zoom invitation emitchell1727@gmail.com
Monday April 21 - no rehearsal (Easter Monday holiday) (possibly will hold a vote about rehearsing this date)
Thursday April 24, 6:30pm - Tour of the Ar-Quives, optional restaurant dinner to follow. Reserve at payne.danny@gmail.com
Monday May 19 - no rehearsal (Victoria Day)
Friday June 6 - Dress Rehearsal, 7:00 to 10:00pm - Eastminster United Church
Saturday June 7 - Concert, 7:30pm - Eastminster United Church.
In July and August, 2025, there will be two outdoor concerts in Allan Gardens Park, on dates yet to be determined, one in July and one in August. The featured performers will be small ensembles (at least one member must be a CCO musician). CCO musicians will perform as a group as part of the afternoon programme, or with a smaller ensemble if invited. If you would like to perform as a small ensemble, please apply to Daniel Payne, payne.danny@gmail.com.
IV. OTHER MUSIC AND CCO MEMBERS
If you personally are performing somewhere and you would like others to know, you can:
(i) post it in the Musicians Only portal of CCOrchestra.org;
(ii) leave your promotional materials at the entranceway to the rehearsal hall (also OK to leave information there about performing opportunities);
(iii) send details to emitchell1727@gmail.com for including in the CCO Announcements.
ATTACHMENTS TO APRIL 3 ANNOUNCEMENTS: NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEMBERS MEETING, BY -LAWS
NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEMBERS' MEETING
APRIL 7, 2025, 7:30-8:30PM
THE 519 COMMUNITY CENTRE
March 29, 2025
To: CCO Musicians including Eligible and Ineligible Musicians
The Board has received a written request from a group of musicians, asking for a Special Members’ Meeting on April 7, 2025.
The request appears to have been properly made under the CCO By-Laws. The CCO By-Laws, as adopted at the AGM on October 3, 2022, are attached. Accordingly, there will be a Special Members Meeting as follows:
DATE, TIME, LOCATION: April 7, 2025, 7:30 to 8:30pm, at the ballroom of the 519 Community Centre, 519 Church Street, Toronto. (It is expected the regular rehearsal will commence at the end of the meeting).
AGENDA
Welcome by the Board
Requesting Members’ representative explains the reason for the meeting
The business to be brought before the meeting according to the Requesting Members:
Discussion of Transparency and Communication
Concerns regarding the Board’s communication with orchestra members
Discussion on the recent suspicions regarding the the Board’s actions toward the Music Director
Future of the Music Director Position:
Clarification on if and when there’s ever a search for a Music Director, what that process will look like
Discussion on how orchestra members will be involved in the decision-making process.
Related business
ELIGIBLE MEMBERS
In “good standing” as of March 7, 2025 - ie, 30 days before the meeting (Art. IV, (i))
Votes may be held at this meeting and Eligible Members only may vote (Art. IV (i))
Eligible Members may attend, speak and exercise other rights under the By-Laws at the meeting (Art., IV (ii))
Can exercise the other powers and privileges set out in Art. IV (e)
To be recognized as a member in good standing, the person must have paid fees by March 7, 2025 (or had fees waived by the Chair prior to March 7)
A Door Volunteer will be at the entrance to the rehearsal hall on April 7 with a list of all Eligible Members, including a record of the dates on which fees were paid. Anyone attending on April 7 who believes their name has been improperly left off the list of Eligible Members can tell the Door Volunteer (if possible, please bring proof of the date for payment of fees); the Door Volunteer will so advise the Board. The Board will make a determination of eligibility before the meeting begins. A list of the CCO Members as of March 3, 2025 is attached.
The actual rehearsal on April 7 is expected to begin at 8:30pm for everyone, whether they attend the meeting or not.
We look forward to seeing all Eligible Members at this Special Members Meeting on April 7. The issues raised are important and we look forward to discussing them with you.
Sincerely, Board of Directors:
Elizabeth Mitchell, Chair
Daniel Payne, Vice Chair
Kevin Seymour, Treasurer
Jessica Fernando, Secretary
David Brownstone, Director
Russell Westkirk, Director
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