Symphony going strong in its 70th year

Published in the Telegraph Journal

G.Reid Parker Commentary

A black-and-white photograph from Dec. 12, 1950, shows a line snaking down the sidewalk outside of Saint John High School, the women in fur coats and heels, the men in suits and hats.

The sold-out crowd had come to see history being made: the debut of the Saint John Symphony Orchestra, our province’s first such group. Now, 70 years later, we are celebrating the anniversary of the musical legacy that evolved into Symphony New Brunswick, our province’s professional orchestra.

With so much history to stand on, it’s easy to take the organization’s survival for granted. But while, in 1950, the idea of forming a civic symphony orchestra here wasn’t new, it’s no small triumph that vision has endured to this day.    

Back then, Saint John may have been the least likely small city in North America to spawn a symphony orchestra. Financially challenged and ageing badly, most people thought it too small, too unsophisticated, for that kind of cultural asset.  

 But, luckily, not everyone. 

Evelyn Collins, a charismatic community leader, decided that Saint John would have its orchestra. Working her local network, she rallied the musical and administrative talents needed to make it happen. She was the first of many leaders over the decades to step up.

That night, 70 years ago, as 47 players in black tie took the stage to a standing-room-only audience of more than 1,400, they accomplished something no other Maritime city and only a few much larger Canadian centres had. The debut, which was the first symphony concert hundreds in attendance, had ever heard, was a success.

“Saint John Symphony Thrills Great Audience with Master Concert,” read the headline in

The Times-Globe. As an editorial from the paper made clear, it was immediately embraced by the community, albeit one that would need local backing to survive. 

“It goes without saying that the symphony will need wholehearted public support if it is to remain alive ...All who enjoy the best in music, and who know what a stimulus it can be to the cultural development of a city, should be ready to do their part in making the orchestra a permanent institution.” 

Those prescient words are as valid today as they were 70 years ago. 

Symphony New Brunswick and the orchestras that preceded it have only ever existed and will only continue to exist if they are embraced and supported by New Brunswickers. This is ourorchestra, after all.

 On the occasion of this milestone, I'm happy to report that our provincial orchestra is stronger than ever. Today, it is a thriving, essential and dynamic contemporary arts organization with a solid plan moving forward. 

Anniversaries prompt us to look forward as well as back. In a year when live performance was brought practically to a standstill by the global pandemic, and when arts organizations across Canada and, indeed, the world faced existential crises, we have had plenty of time to contemplate our future. What does it mean to be a classical music organization in a small province in the digital age? 

Today, a symphony can and should be much more than a performing arts organization. It’s an economic driver, both as an employer and by helping to attract people and organizations here. It’s a source of pride and an expression of our identity and culture. 

We have the privilege and the responsibility of reflecting the times in which we live. Just because we like to play old music (and new), we aren’t stuck in the past. If anything, we’re always looking around us and looking ahead, by commissioning and performing contemporary work, by providing a platform for emerging talent, by representing our increasingly diverse and cosmopolitan society, by collaborating within and beyond the classical genre. 

Our crossover concerts, with pop artists such as Jeremy Dutcher, Steven Page, Matt Andersen and David Myles, are some of our most popular. We regularly partner with other provincial arts organizations. And there’s our core musicians’ spinoff activity, including the Saint John String Quartet, Ventus Machina, a woodwind quintet, and Resonance New Music, which presents experimental music. 

We take our music outside the concert hall and into the community, playing in nursing homes and libraries, parks and schools. Our outreach musicians play to more than 12,000 students in a typical year, exposing them to an art form they might not have ever heard. Along with opening their eyes, ears and minds, it nurtures the next generation of audience members, musicians and supporters.

In short, we defy the stodgy old symphony stereotype. And as technology continues to develop and the world moves ever more online, we will explore how to create compelling digital experiences. 

So what does it take to honour our past and ensure the organization will endure? As president of both Symphony New Brunswick and Symphony New Brunswick Foundation, I see it as a balance between financial stability and artistic excellence. That’s why we’ve launched an anniversary fundraising campaign to grow our endowment fund, so there is steady funding for the next generation and the next 70 years. 

G. Reid Parker, 

President, Symphony New Brunswick and Symphony New Brunswick Foundation Inc. 

Photo: New Brunswick Museum – Musée du Nouveau-Brunswick, www.nbm-mnb.ca, SJSymphonyScrapbk-pg8