Inspector Tovey Investigates Composing on May 18th

Vancouver BC ’Äì Intrepid sleuth Inspector Tovey examines the art of composing on Sunday, May 18^th, 2pm at the Orpheum Theatre. VSO Music Director Bramwell Tovey reprises his role of ’ÄúInspector Tovey’Äù in the final concert in the 2007/2008 Spectra Energy Kids’Äô Koncerts series. The Inspector has already investigated the hidden treasures of an orchestra, the nature of rhythm and the importance of harmony in past seasons. This year the Inspector takes children on a journey to discover the critical role of composing in music-making.

The Spectra Energy Kids’Äô Koncerts series is a 5-concert series held in the Orpheum on Sundays at 2pm. This enormously successful concert series has its philosophical roots in Leonard Bernstein’Äôs Young People’Äôs Concerts series: the programs are fun and educational, each one taking children on a musical journey that teaches them important musical concepts through participation, audience interaction, and the performance of great classical music by the full symphony orchestra. The Kids’Äô Koncerts series presents some of the best children’Äôs entertainers around; next season’Äôs series features Al Simmons, Magic Circle Mime Co., Dandi Productions, Platypus Theatre, and of course, Inspector Tovey.

The hugely popular VSO Instrument Fair will be held from 1pm to 2pm in the Westcoast Energy Hall lobby of the Orpheum Theatre lobby. The VSO Instrument Fair allows music lovers of all ages (but especially the kids!) to touch and play real orchestra instruments. An array of instruments will be featured throughout the season, one family at a time. Music students and members of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra are on hand to help the kids get a handle on the instrument they choose to try. There is also the Composition Table, where kids can ’Äúwrite’Äù their own music’Äîand have it played by a member of the VSO! All instruments are generously provided by Tom Lee Music.

CONCERT INFO

Spectra Energy Kids’Äô Koncerts Series

Inspector Tovey Investigates Composing

Sunday, May 18, 2pm, Orpheum Theatre

Bramwell Tovey conductor/inspector

Ticket prices: $26 (Kids $18; Student, Senior and Subscriber discounts available)

Tickets Available at VSO Customer Service, 604.876.3434; Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone, 604.280.3311; online at www.vancouversymphony.ca

Series Generously Sponsored By:

Spectra Energy

BIOGRAPHIES

Bramwell Tovey, conductor

A musician of striking versatility, Bramwell Tovey is acknowledged around the world for his artistic depth and warm, charismatic personality on the podium. Tovey’Äôs career as a conductor is uniquely enhanced by his work as a composer and pianist, lending him a remarkable musical perspective.

His tenures as Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony, Luxembourg Philharmonic and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras have been characterized by his expertise in the opera, choral, and British repertoire. Tovey recently garnered a 2007 Grammy Award and a 2007 Juno Award for his recording with violinist James Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony. Recently named Principal Guest Conductor for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, he works frequently with the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Royal Philharmonic and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestras, among many others. He has presided as host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic’Äôs Summertime Classics series at Avery Fisher Hall since its founding in 2004.

A champion of contemporary music, Tovey developed the highly regarded New Music Festival in Winnipeg, during his tenure as Music Director. As a composer, he was honored with the Best Canadian Classical Composition Juno Award in 2003 for his Requiem for a Charred Skull. Upcoming new works include a co-commission for the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics’Äô respective 2008 summer seasons as well as a full-length opera for the Calgary Opera, The Inventor, to premiere in January of 2011.

Tovey has been awarded honorary degrees, including a Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Music in London, honorary Doctorates of Law from the universities of Winnipeg and Manitoba, and Kwantlen University College, as well as a Royal Conservatory of Music Fellowship in Toronto. In 1999, he received the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, a Canadian prize awarded to artists for outstanding contributions in the performing arts.