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The CLC sends out periodic newsflashes to keep our membership informed of CLC activities and composer opportunities. We currently send out materials in the language in which it is received; our intention in the future, once we have sufficient resources, is to send out messages in both official languages.
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- For Immediate Release -
March 28, 2008 -
Canadian
Music Centre and Canadian League of Composers
Shocked By Decision to Disband CBC Radio Orchestra
March 28, 2008, Toronto, ON – Today, the Canadian Music Centre and the
Canadian League of Composers are trying to come to terms with the CBC
Radio’s decision to disband its orchestra – the last radio orchestra still
functioning in North America. This announcement, made privately yesterday
in Vancouver with less than a 24 hour notice to the orchestra’s musicians,
has left much of the Canadian musical community questioning the
broadcaster’s commitment to both classical music and its own broader
cultural mandate.
Elisabeth Bihl, CMC Executive Director, believes that “the decision to
disband the CBC Radio Orchestra must have been a decision made with little
to no input from the Canadian public or our music community. The orchestra
may have been around for some 70 years - but since when is longevity equated
automatically with having already served its purpose?”
She further states that “the need for CBC Radio to fulfill its mandate to
showcase Canadian talent has not evaporated with time. If CBC management
can simply destroy such a vitally important infrastructure for Canadian
talent, then it must be held publicly accountable. As a government funded
institution, it must see beyond its immediate actions of budget cutting and
pursue its mandated cultural role – for the benefit of all Canadians.”
Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of CBC English Radio, indicated
yesterday that the money “saved” as a result of this decision will be used
more efficiently by spending it on other Radio 2 musical programs. While
also asserting that CBC Radio was still committed to innovative and creative
Canadian music, she made no concrete indication that this funding would be
used to directly support future classical music programming.
As organizations focused on the promotion of Canadian composers and their
work, the Canadian Music Centre and Canadian League of Composers see this
most recent CBC Radio announcement as yet another in a series of decisions
made without input from the communities to which the broadcaster is
ultimately accountable – both its listeners and the broader Canadian public.
James Rolfe, President of the Canadian League of Composers, stated: “This is
one of Canada’s finest and most-loved orchestras. It has served as a
showcase and launching pad for our best composers (for example, Claude
Vivier), conductors (Yannick Nezet-Séguin), and performers. The CLC deplores
this short-sighted measure, which diminishes the cultural life of all of
Canada, and makes a mockery of the CBC’s own mandate to promote Canadian
culture.”
Ms. Bihl feels that the following statement made today (via e-mail) by Sarah
Davis Buechner, a piano professor at the University, all too accurately sums
up this situation: "It is a sad day in the history of this country when
artists have to stand up to defend their contributions against the very
institutions which were founded to foster cultural understanding, emotional
connection and pride in the Canadian national character."
____________________
Established in 1959, the Canadian Music Centre exists to stimulate the
awareness, appreciation and performance of Canadian music, making the music
of its Associate Composers available through its music libraries and through
various promotional and outreach activities. The CMC is Canada’s primary
information resource, producer, distributor of concert music and sound
recordings.
Founded in 1951, the Canadian League of Composers is the oldest organization
in Canada that speaks for professional composers in an official capacity.
It represents the interests of composers, monitoring and influencing the
conditions that affect their livelihood and public image.
For further information, please contact:
Steven W. Foster
Manager of Communications & Resource Development
Phone: 416.961.6601 ext. 303 Email: sfoster@musiccentre.ca
Recommendations of the CLC National Council:
1) Please
write a letter or email to the CBC:
Mark Steinmetz, Director, CBC Radio Music
mark_steinmetz@cbc.ca
P.O. Box 500 Station A, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5W 1E6
Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of CBC English Radio
jennifer_mcguire@cbc.ca
P.O. Box 500 Station A, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5W 1E6
Hubert T. Lacroix, President and CEO, CBC
P.O. Box 3220, Station C,
Ottawa, Ont.,
K1Y 1E4,
hubert_lacroix@cbc.ca ,
Phone: (613) 288-6000
Timothy Casgrain, CBC Board of Directors Chair
P.O. Box 3220, Station C,
Ottawa, Ont.,
K1Y 1E4,
timothy_casgrain@cbc.ca ,
Peter Herrndorf, Member of the CBC board of directors
P.O. Box 1534, Stn B
Ottawa Ontario Canada K1P 5W1
pherrndo@nac-cna.ca
Phone: 613-947-7000 ext. 200
2) Please write a letter or
email to Members of Parliament:
GOVERNMENT OF CANADA MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT
Your Member of Parliament's contact information can be found at:
http://canada.gc.ca/directories-repertoires/direct-eng.html
All can be reached by regular mail, free of charge, at this address:
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Josée Verner, Member of Parliament,
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and
Official Languages
Telephone: (613) 996-4151
Fax: (613) 954-2269
E-Mail: Verner.J@parl.gc.ca
E-Mail2: Min_Verner@pch.gc.ca
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Telephone: (613) 992-4211
Fax: (613) 941-6900
E-Mail: Harper.S@parl.gc.ca
OPPOSITION PARTIES
LIBERAL
Mauril Bélanger, Critic for Canadian Heritage, La
Francophonie and Official Languages
Riding: Ottawa--Vanier
Belanger.M@parl.gc.ca
Constituency Office:
168 Charlotte St, Suite 504
Ottawa, ON K1N 8K6
(613) 947-7961
Web: http://www.mauril.ca
NDP
Charlie Angus, Culture Critic
818 Justice Building, House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A OA6
Tel: (613) 992-2919
angusc@parl.gc.ca
Constituency:
60 Wilson Avenue, 2nd Floor
Timmins, ON P2H 2S7
Tel: (705) 268-6464
Fax: (705) 266-9125
web: http://www.ndp.ca/charlieangus
3) Please feel free to cc:
your correspondence and messages to:
The Canadian League of Composers/Ligue canadienne des compositeurs
20 St. Joseph St.
Toronto, ON
M4Y 1J9
Tel: (416) 964-1364
Fax: (416) 961-7198
info@clc-lcc.ca
web: www.clc-lcc.ca
4) Please express your
concerns to:
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
attn.: Ian Morrison
Box 200/238
131 Bloor Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1R8
Fax: (416) 968-7406
E-mail: friends@friends.ca
web: http://www.friends.ca/
5) An on-line petition of
protest to changes to Radio Two can be found at:
http://www.radio2forum.ca/
6) Please also consider joining the Facebook group "Save the CBC
Radio
Orchestra"
_________
Recent national media coverage
- Disbanding of the CBC's
Vancouver Radio Orchestra and
CBC Radio 2 programming changes -
CBC
scraps radio orchestra
MARSHA LEDERMAN - Globe and Mail Update, Thursday, March 2, 2008
-article also available at Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Radio
2 plans less weekday classical music
GUY DIXON - Globe and Mail, Wednesday, March 26, 2008
"No
classical? Then kill Radio 2 and get it over with"
RUSSELL SMITH - Globe and Mail, Thursday, March 13, 2008
Media interview with Colin
Miles, Canadian Music Centre, BC Regional Director
The Canadian League of Composers/La Ligue canadienne
des compositeurs
Chalmers House -- 20 St. Joseph St./20, rue St. Joseph , Toronto , ON
M4Y 1J9
www.clc-lcc.ca ~
[416] 964-1364 ~ Fax: [416] 961-7198 ~ info@clc-lcc.ca
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