TIMMINS - It's a season of auditions as the orchestra looks for a new leader.
The Timmins Symphony Orchestra's 2024-25 season starts this Saturday, Oct. 26. With Josh Wood leaving his role as conductor at the end of the last season, the group is auditioning new music directors.
It means three hopefuls will visit Timmins and take the stage to lead a performance. At the end of the season, an orchestra committee will select the new conductor.
Réjean Campbell is the first guest conductor lined up. He's in town for this Saturday's The Magic of the Flute performance, which includes guest flautist and Timmins native Katie Kirkpatrick, and the Timmins Symphony Chorus.
Campbell flew in from Calgary earlier this week and has been working with the orchestra and choir to prepare.
As a clinician, Campbell is used to working with new groups of people every week. The performance being a flute concerto is a bit intimidating, though.
“As a brass player, those are the ones that often ... I would sit out for because they're smaller orchestras. So it's exciting for me to get in and be doing that this time,” he said.
Having two choir works on the program is where he feels the strongest.
"I've conducted many, many theatre orchestras, but it's really working with singers, with that storytelling and the power of the human voice. You know that's just an amazing combination, and it's wonderful to go see the orchestra play and hear all the beautiful sounds that the orchestra can do. But there's something about adding voices that just makes that whole experience,” he said.
While he lives in Alberta now, Campbell is originally from Ontario.
Through the years, he's met many performers from Timmins.
"Obviously there's a pretty passionate community there because you seem to punch above your weight class in terms of in terms of producing people that make performing their career,” he said, noting Kirkpatrick's achievements.
"You are a small place, but you seem to have a fair impact on the arts community across Canada."
Having guest conductors is a chance for the orchestra to see if the person is a good fit for the orchestra and community, said Sara Wigelsworth, TSO director of public relations.
"This also gives the audience a chance to give some feedback as well and we see what they think because we want to find someone who's passionate about Timmins and really into the music scene. It's kind of like a test run, if you will,” she said.
The other guest conductors are James Wu on Feb. 15 and Andrei Popkov on May 10. Wood will be back in town to conduct the Dec. 7 and March 29 concerts.
“We're just really looking for someone who's going to be passionate about the community. We have high expectations for the candidate, we're expecting them to move to Timmins and just really be involved in anything music here. There's some big shoes to fill when Josh left,” she said.
After each guest conductor performance, the audience can provide feedback. There will be a QR code on the program that takes people to a survey. After each of the audition concerts, there will be a draw from the completed surveys for a season's pass to the 2025-26 performances.
This Saturday's performance is at St. Anthony of Padua Cathedral, 274 5th Ave., at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $45 or $18 for people under 30. They can be bought online here or in-person at the Timmins Museum: NEC.
