K-W Symphony cancels season

Orchestra cites ‘financial challenges’ for move, leaving dozens of musicians without work

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony has cancelled its 2023/24 season two days before it was set to begin, leaving about 50 musicians without work and ticket holders out hundreds of dollars.

The symphony cites “financial challenges” in a notice posted to their website as the reason for the season’s premature end. The symphony’s long-term future is not clear, but the notice said more announcements will be made in the coming days.

“I can speak for everyone involved when I say that we are all absolutely devastated,” Heather Galt, former chair of the symphony, told The Record in an email.

“This is a terribly difficult time for musicians, staff, our music director, our youth orchestra, our board, and many others.”

Multiple symphony offices did not respond to emails and requests for details by press time.

Ticket buyers, musicians, and parents with children in youth programs were notified on Saturday and Sunday. The symphony said it will not refund tickets, but will send tax receipts for all ticket purchases and Youth Orchestra tuition paid to date.

Kendra Grittani was going to play the season as a permanent section cellist — musicians who rotate in the seats behind the frontline players. Her contract was to begin Sunday, but a day earlier, she was told about the season cancellation.

The news was a “complete shock and surprise,” said Grittani, who has been playing with the symphony in different capacities for about three years.

“I had requests for weddings and other events that I had to turn down because according to my schedule (with the symphony), I would not be available,” she said.

The cancellation came so close to the season’s start, that musicians

had already started rehearsals.

“We were also not informed prior to that that there was significant or severe financial issues.”

Grittani is frustrated the symphony did not reveal how dire its financial issues were.

The symphony is headed by music director Andrei Feher and performs more than 200 concerts a year.

Since its inception in 1945, it has gained national renown and become the third-largest orchestra in Ontario, behind the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

The symphony has struggled financially for years, with an aging audience and the pandemic’s hit on ticket sales.

The symphony has tried to attract a younger audience, by appointing Feher, 32, as music director six years ago.

The average symphony-goer are baby boomers or older, the symphony’s director of audience engagement told The Record in early August.

“That really changed over the pandemic. A lot of that generation is not coming back.”

But Devon Klaas said ticket sales for the 35-and-under crowd were showing promise, with interest in classical music sparked by apps like TikTok.

The symphony was seeing that younger audience triple, Klaas said.

The 2023/24 season was set to launch Wednesday, with a concert called “Uncomposed.”

The show was meant to cater to a younger generation of listeners — Gen Z and Millenials — with loosened etiquette and a mix of classical and pop songs, such as Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” and Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida.”

Genevieve Schirm-Joyce’s sevenyear-old son was supposed to rehearse on Sunday for a Youth Orchestra concert in December. She was notified about the cancellation in an email on Saturday.

“You think about being devastated and sad, but we’re also very angry that this has happened with no warning, no chance for the community to step in, nothing,” said Schirm-Joyce, whose other two children perform in the youth choir and were set to dance at the Yuletide Spectacular event.

The mother, a private cello teacher, said she hasn’t been able to find other options for her son to play in a local orchestra at the same level and calibre.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic said the city is saddened by the news and has been in touch with the K-W Symphony leaders.

Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis described the symphony as an integral part of region’s culture.

Kitchener Centre MP Mike Morrice said the symphony reached out to his office a year ago, asking for help from the federal government.

Morrice brought the symphony’s financial crisis to the House of Commons in February.

The K-W Symphony received a direct promise.

“We will work with this organization to find the solution to the issues they’ve raised,” said Chris Bittle, the parliamentary secretary for Canadian Heritage.

The symphony did not receive funding in the budget.

“They received a very small amount from FedDev earlier this year, but nothing at the scale that they required,” said Morrice.

Earlier this year, the region agreed to grant the symphony $385,725 as part of a “key cultural institutions” grant. The Museum, located in downtown Kitchener, is the only other to recipient of the grant, in the same amount.

This is not the first time the symphony has dealt with a deficit.

In 2006, it raised $2.5 million in a Save Our Symphony campaign.

Morrice said it is not too late to show support to the symphony.

“There’s still an opportunity for our community to rally around the symphony to advocate for these interim plans that are needed until audiences return to pre-pandemic levels,” said Morrice.