With great pleasure, I invite you to discover our 2023/24 Season, one that features local and international artists and celebrates tradition—and innovation—in symphonic music. Rich and diverse, our programming this season highlights beloved works by Mahler, Mozart, and Ravel, and gives you the opportunity to hear many exciting pieces for the first time in Kamloops.
You’ll be at the edge of your seat with some of the most riveting American music, such as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, and immersed in the tragic love story of Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet. Your young ones will even have a chance to discover the KSO with a special Family Concert, the Canadian premiere of author Dan Brown’s The Wild Symphony.
Celebrate the festive season with Christmas with the KSO, then come on a Hypnotic Journey with a multi-sensory experience featuring the music of Julie Thériault. We will then bewitch you with music from the Red Violin, and Light the Night will carry you into Alma Mahler’s world through projected illustrations, in a symphonic graphic novel. You’ll also get to hear a different side of your orchestra when we perform the music of Pink Floyd with Jeans n’ Classics, mash up expressions of struggle, mourning, and hope of the future when Mozart Meets Margit Sky, and share the stage with versatile Juno Award winner Jeremy Dutcher.
From celebrating the 100th birthday of the Kamloops-born “Dean of Canadian Jazz” Phil Nimmons, to sharing the stage with our very own KSO Chorus, we will also collaborate with stellar artists from our region, including Rachel Casponi, Heidi Muendel, Martin Krátký , and Margit Sky Project.
We can't wait for you to join us for this exciting season!
Dina Gilbert
Friday, September 22, 7:30 pm A special presentation Sagebrush Theatre
Ahead of his performance with the orchestra, pianist Daniel Clarke-Bouchard, our guest artist for Rhapsody in Blue, presents a solo piano recital of evocative jazz-inspired works.
Saturday, September 23, 2:00 pm Saturday, September 23, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre Sunday, September 24, 3:00 pm A Salmon Arm Series Performance The Nexus at First
Enter into Autumn with musical musings on summertime, an attractive piano concerto composed by one of the first female African-American composers to find success in her lifetime, and a tribute to Kamloops-born jazz clarinetist and composer Phil Nimmons. Cap it all off with Gershwin's immensely popular Rhapsody in Blue.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Daniel Clarke-Bouchard, piano Rachel Casponi, soprano
PROGRAMME Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 George Gershwin: Summertime Florence Price: Concerto for piano Phil Nimmons: Arrangements of Original Tunes George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
Saturday, November 4, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre
Music from Prokofiev's classic ballet is paired with a ground-breaking cello concerto that is taking the world by storm—performed by our very own Principal Cellist Martin Krátký. Ravel's stunning masterpiece, his Mother Goose Suite, opens the concert.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Martin Krátký, cello
PROGRAMME Maurice Ravel: Ma Mère l'Oye (Mother Goose Suite) Anna Clyne: DANCE, for cello & orchestra Sergei Prokofiev: Romeo & Juliet (selections from the ballet)
Sunday, November 5, 3:30 pm A Family Concert Sagebrush Theatre
Travel through the trees and across the seas with Maestro Mouse and his musical friends! You'll meet a big blue whale and speedy cheetahs, tiny beetles, and graceful swans. Each has a special secret to share. #1 New York Times bestselling author Dan Brown makes his picture book debut with this mindful, humourous, musical, and uniquely entertaining book, narrated with live orchestra!
Dina Gilbert, conductor
PROGRAMME Dan Brown: Wild Symphony
Saturday, December 16, 2:00 pm Saturday, December 16, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sunday, December 17, 2:00 pm A Kelson Group Pops Performance Sagebrush Theatre
Get into the holiday spirit with our annual celebration of the festive season! Featuring the KSO Chorus and students from the Kamloops Symphony Music School, this concert boasts a sparklingly jolly programme with traditional hits from the Baroque to today.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Ingrid Mapson,vocalist KSO Chorus, Tomas Bijok chorusmaster
PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 Leopold Mozart: Toy Symphony Johann Strauss: Radetzky March Robert Shaw: The Many Moods of Christmas And more festive surprises!
Friday, January 12, 7:30 pm A Kelson Group Pops Performance Saturday, January 13, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre
A concert like no other. Take a stunning and transformative journey with music from Canadian composer Julie Thériault. Her solo piano, the orchestra's strings, and electronics are seamlessly woven into one continuous multi-sensory experience with masterworks by minimalist pioneers Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Julie Thériault, pianist & composer
PROGRAMME Original works by Julie Thériault, woven continuously with works by Philp Glass and Arvo Pärt.
Saturday, February 10, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre Sunday, February 11, 3:00 pm A Salmon Arm Series Performance The Nexus at First
Virtuosity shows up in many forms in this evocative concert featuring the dazzling violinist Lara St. John. Music from the film The Red Violin is paired with Shchedrin's stunning reinterpretation of classic tunes from Bizet's forever-loved Carmen.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Lara St. John, violin
PROGRAMME Milica Paranosic: Roma Suite John Corigliano: Red Violin Suite Rodion Shchedrin: Carmen Suite
Saturday, March 9, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre Sunday, March 10, 3:00 pm A Salmon Arm Series Performance The Nexus at First
Ahead of International Women's Day, this unique audiovisual experience will bring you close to often overlooked Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler's talented wife. Illustrations by Pauline Stive stitched together as a symphonic narrative by Catherine Varvaro will guide you through the defining moments of this incredible woman, who sacrificed her career for the benefit of her husband's.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Heidi Muendel, soprano
PROGRAMME Alma Mahler: Bei dir ist est traut / Die stille Stadt (arr. Kelly-Marie Murphy) Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (reduction by Klaus Simon)
Friday, March 22, 7:30 pm A Kelson Group Pops Performance Saturday, March 23, 7:30 pm Sagebrush Theatre
As time goes by, Pink Floyd simply gets better and better. Our audiences adore the music, we love to perform it, and there is no question it has found a very sweet spot with the orchestra. Jeans n' Classics returns to Kamloops to present highlights from The Wall plus Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety.
Jennifer Tung, guest conductor Jeans n' Classics
Saturday, April 27, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sunday, April 28, 2:00 pm Sagebrush Theatre
Filled with all the drama and humanity of his stage masterpieces, Mozart's Requiem, his monumental final work, grapples with the mystery of death in the same way his operas grapple with the beauty and complexity of being alive. This magnificent masterpiece is paired with songs by local folk-rock duo, Margit Sky Project, expressing similar concepts of struggle, mourning a loss, and a sense of hope for the future.
Dina Gilbert, conductor KSO Chorus, Tomas Bijok chorusmaster Margit Sky Project
PROGRAMME Margit Sky Project: Reflections on Requiem Wolfgang Mozart: Requiem
Friday, May 17, 7:30 pm A Kelson Group Pops Performance Saturday, May 18, 7:30 pm A Fairfield by Marriott Kamloops Signature Performance Sagebrush Theatre
Vocalist, pianist, and composer Jeremy Dutcher exploded on to the Canadian music scene following his sensational debut album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa which won the Polaris Music Award in 2018. Based on century old traditional Indigenous melodies from the Wolastoqiyik Nation, the songs are re-imagined and reinvigorated with elements of pop, rock, opera—and of course live orchestra—to create a dramatic and unique musical experience.
Dina Gilbert, conductor Jeremy Dutcher, tenor & pianist
PROGRAMME Jeremy Dutcher: Various works
Season subscriptions sales will begin on Friday, May 26. Learn more about our subscription packages
Single ticket sales will begin in September.
All ticket sales are through Kamloops Live! Box Office.