February 2007
THE BIG BIG BENEFIT: RIGHT TO CHOOSE!
Michael Schmidt, Artistic Director, Symphony in the Barn and the Chamber Orchestra
No fewer than 400 people crowded into the warehouse of the Cilento Winery in Woodbridge for this benefit concert in support of the Raw Milk Legal Defense Fund as a result of Michael Schmidt's farm having been raided by the Ministry of Natural Resources last November.
For more details on Glencolton Farms' struggle, please go to www.glencoltonfarms.com
Orly Dinar, the event's coordinator and her able collaborators brought together an event space where people demonstrated their support for Michael Schmidt and for the raw milk values he champions; a space where they took heart from seeing and meeting so many other people who obviously feel the same way.
The climax of the auction event of the evening was the lively bidding for the one last remaining teat in the Glencolton herd. Who would have thought that the demand for cow share memberships is now such that someone would be willing to pay more than $4000 for the opportunity to get raw milk from Glencolton Farms?! I guess the current Ontario Finance Minister Greg Sorbara wasn't kidding when he said that his wife had bought their cow share membership "as an investment".
The various filmmakers who have been collecting material for documentaries on the story obviously thought it would be a special evening because they seem to have all rented hi-def cameras for the occasion. A rather dramatic working title on one laptop read: "Michael Schmidt - Organic Hero or Bioterrorist?" The media did its part to contribute to the "whole world is watching" tone of the event. A journalist from San Francisco, writing for an American magazine, talked to people and took notes. He's been following the Ontario raw milk story for the past three months and is actively tracking a number of similar situations across North America.
Another indication of the event's great success is the combined revenues from concert tickets, live auction, silent auction, and food and beverage sales. At the time of writing, a net amount of $21,266.45 has been deposited into the Raw Milk Legal Defence Fund trust account that is helping to cover the cost of Michael's lawyers. Our heartfelt thanks to each and everyone of you who participated in this event . . . together we shall prevail . . .
Summer 2004
A full festival of events, called the Beethoven Project, was scheduled for the summer of 2004, to feature the composer's only opera, 'Fidelio', but had to be postponed due to the lack of the necessary financial support. Instead, to thank all of those who have supported Symphony in the Barn in the past and would like to do so in future, a string quartet concert was performed at the end of July, called "In Celebration of Symphony in the Barn Spirit". Admission was by donation, open to all and very well attended. The Lloyd Carr-Harris String Quartet, comprised of Emmanuel Vukovich and Aya Ito on violins, violist Frederic Lambert and celloist Hannah Addario Berry. All four members have received scholarships from the Lloyd Carr-Harris funds for the continuation of their studies at McGill University. The quartet will be working with CBC Radio on a CD and a live broadcast concert in 2005. To celebrate Symphony in the Barn spirit, they played selections from Haydn, Cherney and Beethoven, the latter to the sound and smell of a summer rain that was over before the audience left the Symphony Barn.
Summer 2003
During the summer of 2003, a full orchestra of approximately 40 young professionals lived on the farm for four weeks, participating in all aspects of farm life along with their rehearsal and concert performances. This experience enabled the artists to appreciate the communal nature of the farm and the benefits of living sustainably in a rural area, while connecting with each other on a musical, personal, intellectual, and emotional level. Many of the musicians who have performed with Symphony in the Barn are now playing chamber music concerts in Ontario and abroad.
The first week of the festival featured Haydn's Creation, performed twice by three soloists, a 35-voice community choir and the 30-member Symphony in the Barn Chamber Orchestra. Woven into this production were the dances, drumming and storytelling by Nawash First Nations artists as they unfolded their own unique creation story. The event was made even more magical by the ambient spectrum of stage lighting by renowned lighting designer Glen Davidson. By juxtaposing aboriginal arts and Western music, the musicians and audience experienced a new perspective and genre of classical concert performance. Presenting the Creation set the quality standard and provided the inspiration for the remainder of the festival. It was this performance for which Symphony in the Barn received Community Arts Ontario's 2004 Best Practices Competition and Awards in the Equity and Diversity Achievement category.
The following weekend, Schubert's Unfinished Symphony, Prokoviev's Classical Symphony and the rather unknown, but beautiful String Serenade by Josef Suk, were performed under the direction of Ernst Dunshirn, conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Vivaldi's and Piazzolla's Four Seasons were performed in the third week of the festival, under the direction of concertmaster, Emmanuel Vukovich, in the Vivaldi, and bandoneonist and composer Denis Plante. During rehearsals, the musicians actively participated in shaping and phrasing the music. The lighting design changed with each season and the musicians painted each other's faces and arms with designs to represent the seasons.
The production began with the violins exchanging "bird calls" in various parts of the Barn and a different violin soloist was featured for each season, giving four members of the orchestra a chance to shine. A movement of the Piazzolla, during which dancers Barbara Glazar and Tim Spronk expressed the tango through their original choreographed movement, followed each movement of the Vivaldi. The juxtaposition of dance, light, sound, and costume created a new way of experiencing the seasons.
During the final week of the festival, a full Beethoven program, conducted by Ernst Dunshirn, was performed, including the 6th Symphony, the Coriolan Overture and the aria "Ah Perfido!", featuring the Ontario-born soprano, Donna Trifunovich. The music was played by candlelight to reflect the natural surroundings and serenity that the absence of electricity can inspire.
In addition to these orchestral concerts, several Sunday chamber music performances were held in the Barn. These concerts were called "Sunday Surprise Serenades", the musicians surprising the audience by announcing the program during the performance. Along with the music, the people in the audience were served complimentary farm-fresh baked goods and refreshments.