Music milestone

Five-hundred thousand dollars won’t sustain the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra for the second 50 years of its existence, but it will paint a much more comfortable future for the once-struggling musical troupe.

To mark its first half century, TBSO president Paul Inksetter said Thunder Bay is the only city between Toronto and Winnipeg to have its own professional, full-time orchestra, and community support is needed to keep the dream alive well into the future.

"Because it’s the 50th anniversary, and we want to be sure we have a sound financial basis going forward for our second half century, we have a special Music for Life campaign with a goal of $500,000. We’re going to raise that through voluntary donations and fundraising activities," Inksetter said Monday at the campaign launch, held in the music room at St. Patrick High School.

"That’s going to be one of the focal points of our 50th anniversary season. The money will be used to consolidate our balance sheet and to put some money into an endowment fund for future years and to expand our operations over the next three years."

The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra grew out of humble origins. Formed on Nov. 29, 1960, just prior to the British Invasion that forever hijacked the musical landscape, landing bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones into the mindset of music fans, the collection of musicians was originally known as the Lakehead Symphony Orchestra.

The name changed to its present moniker in 1970, when Port Arthur and Fort William amalgamated. The TBSO played at the Canadian Lakehead Exhibition centre until 1985, when the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium opened and the orchestra took permanent residency there.

Inksetter said a city the size of Thunder Bay is lucky to have a full-time orchestra that provides jobs for 40 people, something most city’s of similar size are lacking.

"It’s a remarkable tribute to the people of Thunder Bay," he said "Because we’re so far from any other major urban centre, those of us who live here say we want our symphony orchestra right here. We are certainly the smallest city in Canada to maintain a full professional orchestra."

The TBSO’s Pat Gregory said its through tenacity the orchestra has survived, telling a room full of budding high school musicians that they are the future of music in Thunder Bay and it will be up to their generation to preserve the symphony for the next 50 years.

Without similar thinking at the dawn of the ‘60s, the TBSO wouldn’t exist today.

"The leap of faith we took 50 years ago accomplished some amazing things," Gregory said. "But it did it by baby steps," she said, noting the symphony was once on the verge of bankruptcy and almost went out of business.

To help celebrate the anniversary, and to increase awareness, the TBSO is planning a number of special events for the 2010-11 season, under the watchful eye of first-year conductor Arthur Post, who made the first $1,000 pledge on Tuesday toward the campaign.

On Oct. 16 the symphony will be joined on stage by Tom Cochrane, a concert that will mark the Auditorium’s 25th anniversary.

The TBSO will also be inviting a pair of former music directors back to Thunder Bay, Glen Mossop and Stephane LaForest, as well as presenting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Handel’s Messiah during the course of the season.

Inksetter said while they are hoping to get 500 donations of $1,000, any amount is acceptable. For more information about the campaign, visit www.tbsomusicforlife.com.