The Organization of Canadian Symphony Musicians
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From Una Voce, June 2025, Issues in Focus: Audience Engagement; Social media in Vancouver and a podcast in Calgary.
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President Robert Fraser welcomes new OCSM members.
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OCSM President Emerita Francine Schutzman looks back at past Unity Conferences and ahead to this summer’s in Toronto.
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Douglas “Pace” Sturdevant (1948–2025) performed with the National Arts Centre Orchestra as Principal Trumpet for 23 years. He died on January 14, 2025 at age 76. NACO violinist Winston Webber submitted this remembrance of his colleague and friend.
“It’ll never last!” That’s what they said when Pace Sturdevant and Nancy Denner got married, still at university, the same year the Beatles released Abbey Road. Famous last words. I’ve never seen anyone love someone like Nancy loved Pace and she still loved Pace heart and soul fifty-six years later when he died in her arms. Cancer, heart – “he had a whole phonebook of things” one of his doctors said – but until the end you wouldn’t know.
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Let’s be clear: OCSM Conferences are fun! Here are some photos from our 2024 Conference, paired with other fun activities.
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By Matthew Heller, Una Voce editor
Few saw it coming, and those who did saw no way around it: as of 2024, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS) would cease to exist. Founded in 1945, the KWS had been a pillar of the arts community in a thriving region known as a tech hub with two prestigious universities.
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Adapted from an article by Michelle Flowers; Excerpts reprinted with permission from the International Trombone Association Journal
The International Trombone Association Journal recently profiled the Saskatoon Symphony’s low brass section for their “Perspectives on Longevity” column. The full article is available to ITA members; here are some highlights:
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Among our OCSM Conference guest presenters were Jaime Martino (whom I interviewed in the June issue of Una Voce) and Michael Mori, executive leadership at Tapestry Opera. They are the co-founders of Women in Musical Leadership, a program offering mentorship and support for women conductors early in their careers.
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By Ethan Balakrishnan, 1st Vice President
Who is a “freelance musician”? Defined most broadly, probably all of us are; nearly every OCSM musician gigs or teaches on the side. For our purposes, we might narrow it down to subs and extras — those colleagues on stage one week who may or may not be there the next. They are the unsung heroes of our orchestras.
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On these pages, we pay tribute to the people who order, edit, and schlep so many pages: our amazing orchestra librarians.
- From the President: Remembering Alan Willaert
- Conducting change: Women in Musical Leadership
- Update from Kitchener: April 2024
- Disruption by Candlelight
- From the President
- The Role of Occupational Therapy in Musicians’ Mental Health
- Eight Key Mental Skills for Performing Artists
- Perspective: Finding a Millennial Voice in the Union
- Photo Gallery: Alberta in harmony