Honourable Chairman and members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, I submit to you that the last radio orchestra that exists in North America is worth keeping.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a witness before you today. I am Dr. Calvin Dyck, concert master of the Vancouver Island Symphony orchestra in Nanaimo, conductor of the Abbotsford Youth Orchestra, an instructor at Kwantlen University College, and a freelance violinist who occasionally has been hired as an extra player with the CBC.
I want to thank you and the Government of Canada for your wholehearted support of Canadian culture and the arts. I am a grateful product of the culture of excellence in creativity that you have helped foster in Canada. Canada has a reputation for producing outstanding artists, from Céline Dion and Anne Murray to Ben Heppner and Ian Parker. Many of our Canadian artists were helped along in their careers by the CBC, especially when they were given air time. Ian Parker directly credits the CBC for getting his career off the ground. Even as recently as this spring, one of my own students was involved in the CBC-sponsored Beethoven competition for pianists.
CBC radio has in the past fostered excellence in the classical arts, promoted Canadian artists, provided opportunities for Canadian musicians to perform for a wider audience, and introduced Canadians to new repertoire. In fact, some of the repertoire that I have chosen for my own recitals and my own youth orchestra is based on music heard on CBC radio.
The CBC Radio Orchestra has also pursued excellence, recorded music by emerging composers, featured new Canadian artists and conductors, and through its CDs provided a public record of Canadian musicians and Canadian compositions. I personally have appreciated the variety and good taste of programs on CBC Radio 2, especially Jurgen Gothe. As Maestro Taurins has pointed out, great art and music express profound beauty, intellectual complexity, and a transforming power.
I do have some concerns about the economic viability of the CBC orchestra, but I suggest that instead of canning the orchestra, we should think outside the box and look at ways to reinvigorate the orchestra. As a classical artist and a concert producer, I am constantly looking for ways to make my art pay.
Now, I know some would say that we should just do art for art's sake and that the mandate of the CBC orchestra is not to pander to public taste or stoop to merely entertain, but to nurture the arts, to explore new music, to take artistic risk, regardless of audience response. On the other hand, perhaps we should ask why some classical organizations are experiencing such success. Why is it that the Vancouver Opera is so successful? Why does the Vancouver Island Symphony consistently play to sold-out houses? What draws over 3% of the population of Abbotsford to the Abbottsford Youth Orchestra? What makes André Rieu such a successful commercial enterprise? Perhaps there are a variety of reasons.
These organizations connect their art to the public. Their music is of the people, by the people, and for the people. These organizations use a variety of modern technology to make the music acceptable to their audiences. They encourage their members to be creative and innovative. They involve the audience in the performance and break down that invisible fifth wall. They recognize that the most prominent art form of the 21st century is visually based, the movie and the video. Many people in our time hear with their eyes, so we must make classical music visually accessible. These organizations embrace a wide variety of musical genres, recognizing that classic music exists in a number of forms.
Perhaps you wonder why these musicians are so passionate about classical music. I think for me it is primarily because it is a spiritual experience. I am never so fully alive as when performing great music. I can hardly express to you the exuberant joy that I feel in a Mozart symphony or the heart-wrenching pathos of Michael Conway Baker's Canticle. He's a composer who lives here in North Vancouver. I've experienced the oppression of the Stalinist regime through the music of Shostakovich and have been inspired by the uplifting music of Handel.
CBC Radio 2 is in the process of cancelling 11 shows. Why is there this great hurry for wholesale change? If classical music is not available on CBC radio, what other station in the Vancouver area offers it? The answer: none.
I believe there is great value to preserving our musical heritage and keeping it alive through excellent live performances. It informs us and challenges us. It causes us to reflect on who we are and where we have come from. It connects us to our past and it inspires us for the future.
I find it interesting that yesterday, Monday, the producers of the Calgary Stampede came to Vancouver to record their mainstage show. Many of the musicians they hired for the session were from the CBC Radio Orchestra. Two weeks ago, Anne Murray was in town. Who did she hire? A number of strings who have played with the CBC orchestra. Members of the CBC orchestra have played for Céline Dion, Bryan Adams, and the rap group KAOS for various recording projects. These same musicians have played on Disney films, CBC-TV specials, and many other projects.
You might ask yourself why these people seek out the musicians who play with the CBC Radio Orchestra. Might it be because they are some of the finest musicians in the country?
Chris Boyce, director of programming at CBC radio, has said, “Cost effectiveness had a direct bearing on the decision to disband the CBC orchestra”. So what of the cost?