Canada’s oldest, most venerable national orchestra and only radio orchestra has been axed by CBC Radio music chief Mark Steinmetz. Since 1938, the CBC Radio Orchestra has been an integral part of Canada’s music scene, and an important part of our cultural heritage. This last radio orchestra in North America has contributed to a deep and broad archive of classical recordings in Canadian music.
Plain ol’ economics is driving this decision and the CBC obviously did not consider more than that. CBC is “reshaping” its radio programming, and that reshaping has been the demise of many beloved classical and non-classical national broadcasts that we Canadians know and love, and now, it may mean the end of this unique Canadian orchestra.
The dismantling of the orchestra, formed in 1938, is the latest in a string of decisions that have seen classical music losing time slots on the public broadcaster’s airwaves. Recent decisions have moved classical music away from morning, afternoon, and evening slots. Popular classical CBC shows including Music & Company, Here’s to You, Studio Sparks, and DiscDrive have all been scheduled for cancellation. Last year, Music for a While, Two New Hours, Symphony Hall, The Singer and the Song, and Northern Lights were cut. The CBC Young Composers Competition was also recently terminated.
Jessica Werb- March 28 - Georgia Straight
The CBC may not have considered that many Canadians care about more than mere dollars and cents when it comes to preserving our cultural institutions. The CBC Radio Orchestra, and CBC’s once rich and diverse programming, are part of that culture. They are as Canadian as back bacon, hockey, maple syrup, and multi-culturalism. CBC Radio Canada and its orchestra are part of what makes Canada, Canada. Why is it that decisions made at the highest levels, affecting all Canadians, are made without consultation? Without consulting tax-payers like me, who pay the bills? Surely, someone should have asked me and the umpteen thousands of Canadians who care more about culture than blind acts of “fiscal responsibility” or “doing the hard thing” or whatever other euphemisms are used to describe rash acts of cultural barbarism.
Many Canadians would agree that the CBC Orchestra and what it brings to the Canadian cultural scene are worth at least the less than 1 million dollar budget. How about this notion? Instead of politicians voting themselves raises this year or next, instead of wasting time studying this or that, or forming working groups or commissioning studies, or studying commissions, let’s ask them to consider what is good for Canada, and not just easier for programming, or good management. These things are not all that matters in decision making that has deeper cultural impact.
Please, my fellow Canadians, fellow culture-hugging, maple syrup slurping siblings of Hockey Night and CBC, lets work together on this. We can do it! Really. Write a letter. Bombard the CBC with good old fashion Canuckian rantings about how you want this orchestra, good homegrown CBC programming and classical music, new music, and live performance. Let the band play on!
Write any or all of the following, and please sign the petition
CBC/Radio-Canada - English Services
Audience Relations
250 Front Street West
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
1-866-306-INFO (4636) Toll-free
416-205-6688 (TDD)
website: www.cbc.ca/contact/
CBC/Radio-Canada - French Services
Audience Relations
P.O. Box 6000
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3A8
514-597-6000 (General)
1-866-306-INFO (4636) Toll-free
514-597-6013 (TDD)
e-mail: auditoire@radio-canada.ca
CBC/Radio-Canada
Corporate Communications, Head Office
P.O. Box 3220, Station C
Ottawa, ON K1Y 1E4
613-288-6033 (General)
e-mail: liaison@radio-canada.ca
Write or call Jose Verner , Minister of Canadian Heritage (aka Ministry of Culture) at:
Canadian Heritage
15 Eddy Street
Gatineau, Quebec
K1A 0M5
Telephone
TTY*: 1 888-997-3123
In solidarity with the musicians of the CBC Orchestra, I have designed and posted two printable “Save CBC Orchestra” posters online in PDF format here.
The second of these has a list of officials & organizations I have compiled that people can write to.
Anyone who would like a higher resolution file for printing in larger format (e.g. gigantic
can contact me via http://www.claireart.ca/contact.htm. Available as a PDF or native Illustrator file.
I don’t know if the reasons for disbanding the CBC Radio Orchestra were financial. The InsideTheCBC blog author says: Anyone who has been in business understands that you always have the money if it’s a priority. What the CBC really means is this: “We have the money, but we have chosen to make this decision.”
I think Emily is right. In the CBC interview with George Zuckerman, he says it’s not about the money. And Mary Soderstrom’s blog notes that “the CBC just dropped about $30,000 trying to convince us how cool their new Radio Two programming will be. Saturday’s Globe and Mail included a full page colour ad in the Review section…”
In their bureaucratic sensitivity, they ran this ad a day or so after announcing their plan to axe the orchestra!
CBC Execs have been saying they can spend the orchestra’s money “more efficiently”, so it looks to me like they are reallocating funds, not just cutting back. It’s a political, ideological move more than a financial one. As Emily says, they have chosen this path. Now to watch the public choose a new one for them!
Thanks Emily and Bill for the clarification. I did also hear that it was not a money issue. That, is of course a little confusing. Reallocation of funds from one area to another, does, in a way, make it all come down to dollars and cents again: they want to spend the money elsewhere. Someone, somewhere has decided for some cloudy, murky reason, that the CBC Radio Orchestra is a dinosaur not worthy of expenditures.
This is just the latest step in a process that has been going on for over 15 years: the gradual strangulation of the CBC. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives have carried out this agenda whose obvious goal is to ultimately shut down or privatize our national broadcaster. This is the larger issue that must be addressed as we are now closer than ever to witnessing the end of the CBC itself.
The CP Rail was created to bind this vast underpopulated country from coast to coast in an era when the only communications between people was by mail. The rail delivered that mail. The CBC was created by the Conservative Government on Nov. 2, 1936 in the depression years and was mandated to reach every community in Canada, much of it reachable only by float plane and radio. The commercial radio services were not interested in broadcasting to remote communities else the Government would not have interfered. The CBC Radio Orchestra was founded in 1938 and expanded to many in-house orchestras across the country. Since the 1970s the various orchestras were cut back until the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra (later renamed CBC Radio Orchestra) was the sole survivor. Mark Steinmetz, Director of CBC Radio (now a division of CBCTV) and Jennifer McGuire, Head of Radio, created a final solution of their own for the CBC Radio Orchestra: one is too many. On March 27th, 2008 the two executives, in the company of the silent Mr. Keay, a public media relations person for the past two years and prior to that, a banking sector person, delivered their 70th birthday present to the orchestra members. Cultural vandalism doesn’t adequately express the scope of their act of irresponsible stewardship and gutting of this cultural icon of Canadian heritage. They acknowledge that the orchestra is world-class but the orchestra discovered on March 27th that its management most definitely was not. There is no word to express the genocide of an orchestra; orchestra-cide is too clumsy a phrase.
Please know that, as member of the CBC orchestra for the past 34 seasons, the orchestra is tremendously grateful for the astonishing and generous outpouring of support for its cause and mission. We are proud to be the stewards of your national heritage institution, Your Radio Orchestra has had excellent musical and programming stewardship under the baton of John Avison, John Elliot Gardiner, Mario Bernardi and Alain Trudel. We just hope that the CBC board of directors and President Hubert Lacroix can be persuaded that it has made a terrible decision supporting the Steinmetz/McGuire plan for taking the orchestra’s annual budget of $600,000 or less and committing to general revenues of television and radio. Must it take a child to say “the emperor has no clothes” for them to wake up? The final solution: one is too many and then there were none. As an orchestra I think we just got exterminated.
Vote out the conservatives, and you might get the CBC Orchestra back.
CBC has been an inspiration to me since 1963 and the CBC Raio Orchestra in particular. How dare you plan the demise of such an important part of our culture
The axing of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra is another example, indeed the worst so far, of the cultural barbarism that is rife within the top management of the CBC. The cutting of many serious music programmes and the termination of CBC Records shows that the policy is now one of ‘dumbing-down’. As a conductor of many broadcasts in the past with this orchestra, I am disgusted, ashamed and demoralised by this gross attack on Canadian culture, on its fine musicians and composers, and indeed on Canadian artistic influence in the face of rapidlyincreasing Philistinism in all areas of our public life. Simon Streatfeild
Double Bassist Robert Meyer posted several comments on his blog Musical Reminiscences, as “Requiem for an Orchestra”, He’ll be very pleased to see that there is a groundswell to keep it going. http://robertmeyer.wordpress.com
Dissolving the CBC Orchestra makes just as much sense to me as calling the Canadian dollar ‘Loony’. None! Mr. Steinmetz (if he is the one making all those drastic decisions) is living up to his name though I must say, it does sound German to me and translated into English does mean Stonemason. So he is chipping merrily away at the classics, so far he has been doing an excellent job! Many suburb programs on CBC 2 radio are now in the dustbin, so to speak. The CBC Orchestra is to follow that route as well and we, the Taxpayers, are paying him for it. Maybe quite handsomely! Now, if he is not the one who is robbing the Canadian classic music loving audience, their off-springs, and the future generations and (will be) classic music lovers and appreciators of classic music, then I humbly beg his apology. The question remains, who is minding the shop?
This is a day later and I have read a little more about the axing of the Orchestra and more about CBCRadio2. Was in tears and lost my appetite! Also it seems, saving money has nothing to do with changing the repertoire on CBC radio2. If there had to be a change, why not change to a 24 hr classic program? It does not cost more but would make a whole lot more sense! Where did they get their information as to what their listeners like, I was not consulted, were you? The people minding shop at CBC really think that they are doing us a favor by mucking up the CBCRadio2 programming. Goody, goody, they will still be presenting us with a few hrs. of classic music during the day, but what about the evening when one needs to unwind from a busy day, and at night when the sandman has missed ones home and Rick Phillips will not be there to advise as to which CD to purchase? Oohh CANADA!!
Jennifer McGuire made the statement that the new programming will blow new listeners away, well, well I say, will it blow them right over to King FM, a Seattle station so they can get an ear full of classic music! Here on the West coast King FM is the only station where one can hear classic music around the clock. Too sad that we have to shop across the boarder for it, but our souls need to be nourished and since the sound of classic music has a calming effect on the central nervous system, so be, it!! CBCRadio2 was a good provider for that, once upon a time, though. Sadder jet is that we, here on the West coast of Canada, have to feel as the forgotten ones! For in the East (when I lived there) there were quite a few radio stations broadcasting classic music, maybe they still are. One did not have to rely on CBC Radio! But at least here in the West we do have the CBC ORCHESTRA AND INTEND TO KEEP IT TOO, I PRAY!!!!!
Brie.
Dear Bill Horne. Thank you for designing the posters, my husband printed one of them and we will display it proudly in the rear window of our car. Would like to let you know that I have written a letter and send it via email to people who have the power to stop the distraction of the CBC radio Orchestra. Also opted for a 24hr classic repertoire on Radio2 presented with more decorum. The Prime minister’s did send an acknowledgment and I pray that it will be read also.
Thanks, Brie - I’m very glad to hear you are making us of the posters! Great idea
If anyone wants a higher res version to print in a larger format than super A3 for the nation wide protests on April 11, I can email bigger PDFs - just let me know the output dimensions.
I’ve now designed a button and posted it here.
Or, download the PDF of the button designs directly, here:
http://www.claireart.ca/CRObuttons.pdf (requires Acrobat Reader)
Download the PDF file, print as many as you want on an RGB desktop printer, then give the sheets (there are 6 buttons on a page) to a button maker to trim and crimp onto 2 1/8″ buttons (The design bleeds beyond the 2 1/8″ perimeter and will be folded around to the back.) Enjoy!
To send an email to the Prime Minister pm@pm.gc.ca
To send an email to Jose Vernier go to http://www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/pc-ch/min/verner/contact/index_e.cfm
If you complained to CBC and asked for a response, which you did not get, send an email to ombudsman@cbc.ca
Please listen to our comments!! - WE, the CBC listeners , DO NOT WANT the CBC Radio Orchestra disbanded! - WE DO NOT WANT more new programming without consultation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Carol. I managed to read some of Robert Meyer’s writings and was disappointed that the CBC radio Orchestra had to record under such poor conditions for such a long time. Canada’s governments did not treat the States Orchestra well at all it seems. Thanks for the listing.
Fotos I shot of the 2008/04/11 demonstration outside of CBC/Radio Canada in Vancouver can be seen here:
Save the CRO protest in Vancouver
In solidarity,
PK