Welcome to the Calgary Civic Symphony’s 50th Anniversary Season!

This is our 50th season, an occasion that calls for a year-long celebration! We have assembled a season that brings together stellar elements that brilliantly illuminate our past, present and future. 

We feature two soloists who represent the best of our past Rising Stars and Calgary-based friends who have shared the stage with us before. Cellist Luka Coetzee was an RC3 winner 10 years ago, at the tender age of 12. Today she is one of the brightest young stars on the international scene. Violinist Sasha Jorba-Wu was also an RC3 winner, playing an apparently effortless Paganini concerto. A celebration like this would be incomplete without an appearance by our good friend, periodontist and brilliant pianist, Thomas Yu, who, by sharing the amateur musician status of most of our orchestra members, is “one of us.” Likewise, we include the remarkable voices of our friends, Anna Pompeeva and Barbara King, along with the massed forces of some of Calgary’s best choral groups for our epic and inspirational season finale.

To further mark our 50th, we have commissioned two concert opening works from John Estacio and Arthur Bachmann. Additionally, Rising Stars will feature a performance of a work Alan Gordon Bell wrote for our 40th anniversary season.

On behalf of all our musicians, our board, our collaborators, soloists, and composers, I invite all of you to join us for our 50th anniversary season-long party! It’s going to be fantastic!

Rolf Bertsch

Music Director & Conductor

Calgary Civic Symphony