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Celebrating 35 Years of Making Music in KW!!
CON GUSTO 35th Anniversary Edition
As we rapidly approach a special milestone, it never ceases to amaze me how much the KWCO has achieved over the last 35 years. This has been done by part-time musicians who are full-time music lovers who saw opportunities, took risks and committed to a quest for lifelong learning and evolution both at a personal and organization level. We have learned so much over the years from projects that the KWCO has dared to imagine, then worked to bring to fruition. The Viennafest and Opernball dinner shows, the Kiwanis Youth Concerto Award concert, and our international excursions started as small ideas that grew, and which we continue to cultivate even now when they are better than ever before! I am always inspired by our new members who show up every year, with most of them leaving the first rehearsal feeling overwhelmed and exhaust-ed. They persevere, returning week after week, and are rewarded with the rush that comes with playing a great rehearsal or concert and knowing that something inside has changed between the final curtain call and the first time they unpacked their instrument at the rehearsal hall. These members remind me of my first rehearsal, and remind me that the most rewarding things I have accomplished in my own musical endeavours and in my life took work and perseverance to achieve. Today’s challenges elevate us to heights that enable us to see the world differently and achieve more than we could ever predict. The orchestra we see today is a result of 35 years of finding ways to love music, with many more to come! Erin Walker, D.D.S. - KWCO President
Music is everywhere. In the car, at the movies, at the mall, in restaurants, the dentist’s chair, even when you’re put on hold! This quick and easy
proliferation of music was not always the case. In the past, if one wanted to hear music, it had to be made yourself. Families gathered around the
piano, singing or playing instruments – and whether or not an individual had a knack for playing it, music was listened to attentively and with great
pleasure. Well the KWCO has been doing the old “gather by the piano” for 35 years now. At a time when technology seem to reign supreme in our
lives, our enthusiastic group of musicians gathers together on Tuesday nights, to dig into the wonders of Beethoven, Mozart and Dvorak and some-
times it feels as though we’ve journeyed back to those good old days to bring these composers back to life. No batteries, no wi-fi, nothing plugged
in. All we need is a quick tune up and to find your reading glasses to help us open the door to the wonder – yes WONDER!!! Of it all. With friends
and fellow music lovers from every walk of life we struggle, concentrate, sometimes fake (?!?) and ultimately recreate, “con gusto”, what the great
masters have left us only on paper.
Tuesday night. How can we live without it? Let’s be thankful that someone showed us the way to the gift of music.
Happy 35th Anniversary, KWCO!!
Dan Warren, KWCO Conductor and Music Director, 1998 to present
Every time I see the orchestra in action, I am bowled over by the flourishing organization it has become, really a dream come true! In the beginning the dream was such a modest one. The Summer Repertory Orchestra was established to provide playing opportunities during the time when almost all other performing ensembles were taking lengthy breaks between seasons. But music is a powerful force, and so the 60-odd musicians who had nowhere else to play after the summer's closing concert pressed for a permanent organization. By January of 1980, the basic necessities--a re-hearsal space, the loan of music stands and percussion equipment, and Raffi Armenian's permission to borrow music from the KW Symphony--were in place, and the KW Community Orchestra was born. A year later we celebrated our first anniversary in style with a concert of dances by great composers in a hall decorated with roses. While that first anniversary was the marking of an achievement, it also brought the realization that a young orchestra is a work in progress. Organi-zational work continued, musical ambitions grew, yet no one at that time had quite imagined the extent to which the orchestra would prosper. Here we are at 35 years – wow! Congratulations to all the players and conductors who have moved the orchestra forward over the decades, and in particular, to Dan Warren, whose innovative vision and long term commitment have brought it to full, vibrant maturity. I salute you all with admiration
and affection. My only regret is that I won't be around to help celebrate the orchestra's centenary!
Erna Van Daele, KWCO Founder, and Conductor, 1980-1985
KW COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2015
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In The Beginning….
KWCO—1980 Member Listing
Conductor—Erna Van Daele
Violins—John Bailey*, Philippe Elsworthy*, Anne-Marie Elijzen, Elizabeth
Fraser*, Fran Henderson*, Hette Hillsdon, Susan MacKinnon-Kesler, Marg
McKenzie (Assoc.ConcMast), Elizabeth McLaughlin
Florence Misener *(ConcMaster), Debbie New, Rick Prokopowicz, Rudy Roth,
Leon Thiry, Dora Waters
Violas—Angela Klauss, Fred Lenz, Ilona Scharer, Ron Read, Olga Kalyniak
Cellos—Lois Ball, Mary Harris, David Heath *, Elizabeth MacLeod, Heather
Rawlings *
Bass—Sharon Carter, Ader Hind, Miriam Shalinsky
Flute—Len Bradfield, Terry English, Elizabeth-Anne Finch, Randi Goddard,
Renee Hoops, Liz Leedham, Sarah Shortreed, Shawn White
It was the summer of 1979, and Erna Van Daele was running a program called the Summer Repertory Orchestra. The
SRO brought together people of all ages and occupations to play that summer. They performed Bizet, Beethoven, and
Britten, in the temporarily-vacant KW Symphony rehearsal hall. A variety of people participated – young musicians on
their way to music school, university music students facing autumn auditions; many were instrumentalists of surprising
abilities, who had chosen to work in other professions. It was realized that this last group of people represented a
musical resource rarely tapped in the community, and one that would rarely get a chance to play in an orchestra. Ms.
Van Daele, and KWSO conductor Raffi Armenian, realized that there was an opportunity for enthusiastic amateur mu-
sicians to come together and form an orchestra. In the KW area, there was the Symphony for professional musicians,
a Youth Orchestra for younger musicians, but nothing for the serious amateur to participate in. Here were the begin-
nings of what would become the KW Community Orchestra.
With support from the KW Symphony, and access to their music library, Ms. Van Daele and 40 or so local amateur
musicians came together, and became the KWCO. Their first official concert was on June 12, 1980. It was titled
“Meet Your Orchestra Night” and was held at the Adult Recreation Centre on King St in Waterloo. The programme
included Mozart’s Overture to the Magic Flute, a suite by J.S.Bach, Benjamin Britten’s arrangement of several pieces
by Rossini, and a suite inspired by Canadian folk songs – the Miramichi Ballad, by Kelsey Jones. The highlight of the
night was a classical guitar concerto by A.Vivaldi, with orchestra members Ron Read and Elizabeth Schwartz as the
soloists. There was also a performance by KWCO percussionist Mike Schuett, who performed Toshiro Mayazumi’s
Concertino for Xylophone! A few weeks later, the KWCO performed at the Waterloo Days event at Waterloo Park
Bandshell, and at the Canada Week event in Victoria Park, Kitchener.
The original orchestra established its new identity in matching black t-shirts sporting the orchestra motto and logo – a
cheery cellist in a hard hat, and the motto “non guisto ma con gusto”… loosely translated meant “we might not always
get it right, but we do it with feeling!” The KWCO still uses the motto “Con Gusto” We aren’t professionals, but we
play for the love of the music and still “with feeling”!!
Oboe— Leonard Coleman, Beryl Hultin
Clarinet—Louise Freyburger, Cathy Oille,
Mike Sichewski
Bassoon—Louise Riedstra, Mike Murase
French Horn—John Chapple *, Tacey Kobayashi, Barbara
Lippert, Beth Skirving, Lola Welwood
Trumpet— David Anstadt, Barry Daniels, Bob Snyder
Trombone—Chris Babey, Sue Munro, Andy Schoenhoffer
Timpani— Don Matthews
Percussion— Elizabeth Papas-Smith, Mike Schuett
Piano— Elizabeth Papas-Smith
* denotes member still playing in KWCO
Erna Van Daele conducting the first KWCO concert,
at the ARC, Waterloo
KWCO, May 29, 1983 - WLU Theatre Auditorium
Through the Years...
Through the following years, the KWCO continued to grow and mature. Many local professional musicians
became featured soloists – Margaret Metcalfe and James Mason of the KWS, violinist Victor Danchenko - to
name just a few recognizable artists, were some of those who gladly shared their talents with the KWCO
and the community. The concert with Victor Danchenko was performed in a joint venture with the Georgian
Bay Symphony Orchestra. Another joint venture featured Vivaldi’s Gloria with the Choirs of St.Peter’s Lu-
theran Church, Kitchener.
In 1985, Edit Haboczki was named the new conductor, and she ably led the orchestra through the next
nearly 10 years. There were concerts that featured Scottish Country Dancers, a cabaret-style concert with
opera singers, the 10th anniversary concert with Erna Van Daele as a guest conductor; a concert featuring a
bagpiper and Highland dancers, and (in another concert) a tuba soloist, Jane Noyes-Maness, of the KWS!
Truly a wide variety of musical experiences that the KWCO was able to share with the Kitchener community!
Fabio Mastroangelo led the orchestra from 1995 to 1998.
In 1998, Dan Warren, trumpet player and resident conductor with the KW Symphony, became the latest
conductor for the KWCO. He remains the orchestra’s biggest fan and supporter! Under his baton, the
orchestra has taken on more and more complex music, been involved in an exchange concert with the
Cambridge Community Orchestra, and brought back the thoroughly enjoyable Viennafest dinner show, with
great support from the community. He also led the orchestra on their first European tour, the first of three
that have now been taken!
In 2013, the KWCO performed a concert to feature talented young local pianists, all under the age of 15, in
tandem with the KW Kiwanis Festival. The winners of the 2013 Kiwanis Festival Piano Concerto classes
were awarded with a debut premiere with the KWCO at our February 2014 concert. In March 2015, we will
showcase the Kiwanis Piano Concerto winners again, and we plan to feature young wind and string players
in the next few years.
Under Mr. Warren’s baton, more young professionals have joined us as soloists – violinist Lance Ouellette,
pianists Richelle Kruisselbrink and Heidi Wall, saxophonist (and KWCO clarinetist) Danielle Beck,
bassoonist Ian Hopkin, and violinist Marcus Scholtes - some of whom have roots in the KW region.
All have delighted both the players and audience with their enthusiasm and talent. James Mason continues to share his talents with us, as our featured
soloist at least 4 times over our 35 years, as have soprano Caroline Dery,(at least 4 solo appearances, and soloist on our Vienna trip) and violinist Jerzy
Kaplanek, who returns as our featured soloist at our 35th Anniversary Concert. We have also been dazzled by the many KWS players and countless
other professionals who have shared their music and passion with us.
In 1980 Erna [Van Daele] founded the
KWCO and saved my musical life. Starting
out in my high school orchestra I had Iona
Brown as concertmaster, so the bar was set
high. When I came to Canada I had to
leave my lovely viola with its real owner. I
joined the U of T Symphony and Milton
Barnes was so glad to have a viola player
that he bought a viola for me to use. The
orchestra morphed into the Faculty of Music
orchestra and for 15 years I had no orches-
tra and no viola. I moved to Waterloo and
one day in 1980 I saw the "Come Play With
Us" poster in the Waterloo library. I over-
came my fear and phoned Erna, who was
so encouraging and also so pleased to have
another viola player that she found me a
viola to borrow. 35 years later I have my
own viola and I have played in nearly 100
concerts with a variety of excellent soloists
and professional conductors. One highlight
was the concert we did with the Georgian
Bay Symphony in 1982, with Victor Dan-
chenko, who had studied with Oistrakh and
recently immigrated from Russia, playing
the Sibelius violin concerto. He played so
beautifully and we got to do it twice! I have
made some wonderful friends. We have
shared personal experiences, had fun and
sadness - played chamber music, had
lunches, dinners, pub, parties, baby show-
ers, weddings, travels, and funerals. Al-
though the ravages of age make playing a
struggle, I still marvel at my good fortune to
have been able to enjoy playing so many
beautiful and challenging works of classical
music over the years.
10th Anniversary - 1990
KWCO, 1985 - ARC, Waterloo Photo - Tracy Fewster, KWCO cellist and photographer
Strangely enough the moments I remember most are
the low points, not the high points of our concerts. We
used to play in St Mary’s Hall (it was affordable) but
things usually turned out a bit scary. One time, for
example, we hadn’t set up enough chairs, so people
were sitting on tables- one of which collapsed in a quiet
passage of the music. That was the same hall where
one long time member had an epileptic seizure as we
were playing a very modern concerto. Very disturbing
for us all! On the other hand, it was the same location
where we once played a world premiere. The compos-
er, [Greg Trice] who was very ill, came by stretcher with
a nurse to our performance. He lay there with tears
running down his cheeks. That was quite a compliment!
Once when we were playing in Maureen Forrester
Recital Hall, I was having a really hard time getting and
keeping my cello in tune. I spent the intermission trying
to make everything right. Imagine my horror when I
realized that the doors to the stage had closed and the
orchestra was already starting the piece! The most
chilling time of all was the time when we were playing in
the Humanities Theatre at UW. Suddenly the soloist
skipped twenty bars-but somehow we survived- no
doubt Dan still has grey hairs from those few seconds!
When I think about it, we haven’t had any nightmare
concerts lately. Maybe after 35 years we’ve grown up?
“May the orchestra have another 35 successful years and remain committed to amateur musicians in the KW
community.” Nancy Norman - retired KWCO Violinist, long serving board member, and former ConGusto editor
The Fall of 1979 was a unique time in the history of amateur music making in Kitchener-Waterloo: never had it been so easy to join a classi-cal orchestra; and never has it been as easy since.
Conductor Erna Van Daele had started a pop-up orchestra for the summer months-the Summer Repertory Orchestra -SRO, that rehearsed every week in the old KWSO rehearsal hall on King Street, now the Night School nightclub. I ventured forth on the first night, and a few minutes after the first down beat, knew I did not belong there.
Three years earlier in London , at the age of 33 , never having played a note, I had started cello lessons with Christine Newlands-now the principal cellist of Orchestra London. Two years later, I moved to Waterloo and continued lessons with Ifan Williams-then the principle cellist of the KW Symphony. So, here I was-after three years of lessons and what little practising I could squeeze in between a busy psychiatric practice and raising four sons, trying to keep up with these seasoned players zipping through pieces, sight reading effortlessly .
I left at the break-but not without first writing down my contact information on the sign up sheet at the door.
How amazing it was then, some time later, to receive a call from Erna asking me to join the KW Community Orchestra - an orchestra that she was forming, this time, based on the success of the SRO, with long term funding from the recreation department of the City of Waterloo.
An unlikely scenario led to my being asked to join an orchestra—the SRO musicians had all dispersed to their respective universities, col-leges and regular music groups, leaving Erna scrambling to get this newly funded orchestra off the ground. It was open to all comers, with no auditions; if you had an instrument you were in.
From the first rehearsal, there was such a welcoming atmosphere. We were a rag tag bunch: me, sitting next to Heather Rawlings-a veter-an of the London Youth Orchestra, professional musician Florence Meisner (now Hanson) as concertmaster, and raw amateurs like myself; at our first concert at the Adult Recreation Centre we got so lost that Erna had to stop in the middle of the piece.
For 35 years the KWCO has been such an important part of my life and I still get a thrill from observing myself, as it were, playing a well-known symphony; playing most of the notes-in tune- and no longer getting lost.
Such is the power and mystery of music that at times, while in the middle of a spine tingling piece such as Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variation, I’m surprised by a need to mutter a thank you under my breath.
Into the digital age… In 2004, Werner Lindschinger set up the KWCO’s first website, and managed to scoop up the domain
name ‘kwco’ for us! For a few years, he maintained the website, adding information and photographs taken at concerts.
When the site needed a reboot, 2nd violinist Art Prudham took on the job, re-designing and maintaining it. Recently, the
digital baton has been taken up by Dan Clements, who has given the site a complete overhaul—concert information and
dates, links to other music groups, a members-only section, and we hope to add on-line ticket sales to the site in the near
future. We also have a Facebook community page, which is kept up-to-date with photos and current concert information.
Visit our website at www.kwco.org Visit our Facebook page— Kitchener Waterloo Community Orchestra
Erna Van Daele:
1980-1985
Fabio Mastroangelo:
1995-1998 Daniel Warren:
1998 to present
Edit Haboczki :
1985-1995
And-a one, and-a two...
KWCO Conductors
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KWCO Goes International!!!
When Dan met Dvorak
In 2005, the KWCO celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a special concert at the Waterloo Christian Reformed Church, with 4 soloists - Renee Ellis,
soprano; David Wadley, viola; Virginia Scarfino, clarinet; and Dan Warren, trumpet. Erna Van Daele was the guest conductor. Ms. Ellis and Mr. Warren
performed Handel’s Let the Bright Seraphim; Mr. Wadley performed Telemann’s Presto from Concerto for Viola in G; Mrs. Scarfino delighted with the
Adagio from Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, K.622; and Ms. Ellis sang O luce di quest’anima from Linda di Chamounix, by Donizetti. Conductor Dan Warren
orchestra performed Mendelssohn’s Symphony #5, ‘Reformation’, and a reception was held for the audience and the orchestra.
In 2005, some KWCO members were ready to share their music a little further afield… quite a bit further! Plans commenced for taking the orchestra to Europe, and what a trip it was!! The inaugural trip in July 2007 was to the magical city of Prague, Czech Republic. With an enthusiastic committee of orchestra members and the guiding expertise of tour planner, Maggie Dyck, we enjoyed a wonderful week-long tour. Since not all of our local players could go, we were able to swell the ranks with interested and enthusiastic members from other community orchestras – Oakville, Mississauga, Etobicoke, Owen Sound, London and Stratford. In total we had about 65 members, players and others.
We played two concerts to full houses in the Museum of Music (Prague) and in a rural church in the town of Zlonice where Dvorak once played the organ. The sound of the music of Dvorak, Smetana and others rose to the heavens and Dan was pleased! For the last night there, we cruised down the Moldau River with the stars twinkling overhead.
KWCO playing at the Naradni Museum in Prague
2007 KWCO, Prague
Now, it’s 2015, and the little start-up organization that began with a bit more than a dream and a conductor in 1980, is 35 years old. We’ve taken our music all over
Ontario (and now, to Europe as well!) featured seasoned professionals, and bright-eyed young talent. For some of us, we’ve had our dreams of playing in an
orchestra, with REAL professionals, realized! If you ask any member, they’ll have a different story to tell, of favourite pieces performed, of dreams fulfilled, of new
friendships made, and they’ll tell you what a difference the KWCO has made in their lives. For many of us, Tuesday night rehearsals are our escape from the fran-
tic-ness of modern life, where the music of the ages helps to soothe our fraying nerves, and makes it easier to face the rest of the week.
We must thank all of the composers who’ve made this possible - from Beethoven, Bruch, and Brahms, from Bach to Mozart to Vivaldi, Dvorak, Handel, Haydn,
Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Debussy… all of these and more! They’ve left us a legacy to keep for them, to share for them, and to show our contemporaries what
wonderful music really is all about… and we plan on continuing to do it…. that’s right…
Continuo...
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25th Anniversary - 2005
KWCO, Vienna, 2011
With the memories of the first trip as inspiration, we began to plan a second tour. With the help of Ellison Travel, we made plans to tour Vienna and Salzburg in July 2011.
With about 75 participants, players, spouses and interested friends, we landed in Vien-na and bussed to Salzburg the first day. From Salzburg, we made our way back to Vien-na, playing two concerts to fair sized audiences in two charming small towns nestled in the Austrian mountains. We travelled by cruise boat down the Danube, past towns and vineyards crawling up the riversides. From boat to bus we made our way back to Vienna. Once installed in the magnificent city of Vienna, we proceeded to sightsee, listen to music, eat rich foods and drink beer and wine. We concluded our trip with a visit to a local winemaker where we liberally sampled the local harvest and made our way to our farewell dinner destination at a traditional Austrian Heuriger (a wine tavern in which the wine growers serve the most recent year’s wines grown and bottled locally).
We left the Austrian Alps with great memories of the countryside, the sounds of music, the sobering reality of Hitler’s bunkers, and the camaraderie of travelling companions very much alive and ready for more.
KWCO in concert at Gros-Siegharts, Austria
KWCO in concert in Dokkum, Netherlands, 2014
Cdn. Ntnl.Vimy Memorial,
Vimy, France
Our third trip, to The Netherlands and Belgium, took place in July 2014; again with the help of Ellison Travel. This time, we had over 90 participants, players and supporters. We needed two large coaches for travelling.
Unlike the mountains of Austria or the rolling pastoral countryside of the Czech Republic, this area provided a much different terrain and set a different pace. We spent considerable time on the busses travelling to pic-turesque small towns in Belgium and the Netherlands, enjoying many canal tours, and enjoying the wonder-ful friendly people. On a long and somewhat anxious trip to Brussels, we found our concert venue sadly dis-appointing, and our audience lacking in numbers. However, according to Dan, we played beautifully despite the physical deficits. We did another long bus ride to our second concert in Dokkum where the venue was quite spectacular, the sound wonderful, the weather vile and audience size, once again, disappointing.
The highlight of this trip for many was the trip to Vimy Ridge and Ypres where our orchestra laid a wreath at the Menin Gate Memorial in memory of the Commonwealth soldiers who died there and whose bodies were never found.
We concluded this trip with a wonderful dinner in an historical restaurant, the Five Flies in Amsterdam, which by Toronto safety standards, would be closed by the fire department!
We are planning another trip for 2016 or 2017. Where would you like to go?????
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