Cambridge Symphony Orchestra set to start season with high hopes for future

The Cambridge Symphony Orchestra is set to begin its seven-concert season on Saturday and its board chair and president says they're excited to welcome audience members new and old.

That includes people who might have wanted to take in concerts by the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, but can't after the organization cancelled its season days before it was set to begin last month.

Michael Lawrie says he hopes they'll see more people enjoying music at their concerts this year.

"We don't like to do that on the backs of the K-W Symphony," Lawrie said. "But certainly we do have capacity for a lot more people to attend our concerts. Most of our venues will accommodate 300 to 400-plus people and so we will welcome any folks that want to give us a try."

The situation for the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra is different than that of the K-W Symphony, Lawrie noted. The K-W Symphony employed its musicians full-time and had staff members. Cambridge is a community orchestra, which means some musicians are paid while others are not and it's run by a dedicated team of about five volunteers.

"We have a relatively small salary that we pay some of our major principal musicians and we have a solid core of amateur players that might get some traveling expense, but play for the joy of the music and getting together with some elite musicians," he said.

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony abruptly cancelled its 2023-24 season four days before it was set to begin in September. A week after that, on Sept. 21, the board of directors resigned and the symphony filed for bankruptcy.

The impacts of that cancelled season and subsequent bankruptcy filing has been felt across the province.

Ryleigh Dupuis, executive director and general manager with the Thunder Bay Symphony, told CBC News it's been top of mind for them as their season got underway. They've launched a 50/50 draw to help raise money for the organization.

It's "a difficult time in the arts," Dupuis said.

"You look at Kitchener-Waterloo … We don't want to be in that position. So anything we can do that will encourage people to support us and also maybe have a little fun at the same time is a good thing."

It's not just an issue in Ontario, either. The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is facing a $1.3 million deficit and other Manitoba arts groups say they also face budget shortfalls because of inflation and fewer ticket sales. The Regina Symphony Orchestra says it's also working to get audience numbers up to pre-pandemic levels after it had to cancel three concerts this past spring because of financial concerns.

Katherine Carleton is executive director of Orchestra Canada, national association for Canadian orchestras, told CBC Radio's Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud that she worked for the K-W Symphony for five years and says she cried when she heard the news of the cancelled season.

Many orchestras faced a "massive disruption" because of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. While there was a "big digital pivot" for many to try to retain audiences, that also came with some problems — the big one being financial.