Photo by Dominick Gravel.
Director: Alexis Hauser
Ensemble Resource Supervisor: ensembles.music [at] mcgill.ca (Christa Emerson)
Participation: Entrance is by audition (see audition schedules). This ensemble is open to music students, and McGill University students from other faculties. If you are a member of this ensemble, find your schedule on the ensemble hub website.
The McGill Beethoven Orchestra serves as workshop ensemble for the graduate conducting students. It meets once a week and works on a broad selection of repertoire. The core of the orchestra is classical sized and the repertoire focuses primarily on works of the Viennese classics, but frequently delving into the romantic era and occasionally also into 20th century music. Members of Schulich School of Music as well as qualified instrumentalists from other McGill faculties sit side by side in these sessions to improve their sight-reading skills and widen their knowledge of standard repertoire while adapting to the different styles of various young conductors. Annually, the ensemble presents one public concert in Pollack Hall, conducted by graduate conducting students.
Alumni and Guest Conductors
The regular practice and experience gained by McGill graduate conductors with the Beethoven Orchestra has been fruitful: all alumni are currently employed in important conducting positions, either as music directors or as resident conductors. Some of them have also won prestigious international awards and participated actively in international master classes, while others are travelling regularly as guest conductors. The Beethoven Orchestra has benefitted from the insight and experience of several guest lecturers from the OSM, such as former concertmaster Richard Roberts and conductors Peter Eötvös and Kent Nagano.
