Musicians call for support as Regina Symphony Orchestra works to get attendance up to pre-pandemic levels

In March, the Regina Symphony Orchestra's musical director told CBC News that audiences at concerts had been much smaller than they were pre-pandemic — so much so that the orchestra had to cancel three of its April shows.

Musical Director Gordon Gerrard said the cancellations would allow the RSO to mitigate some of the financial risk that it is feeling "very acutely."

As the RSO plans out its next season and looks at how to return its attendance to pre-pandemic levels, orchestra members are reflecting on their love for Regina and why orchestras are so instrumental in their community.

Jeff Looysen has been a violinist with the RSO for nearly 30 years, and lives and breathes music.

"In high school I was just all in on music and thought that would be my whole future," Looysen said.

Looysen's involvement with music is not limited to the symphony. He is also a music teacher at Scott Collegiate in Regina's north central neighbourhood.

"I started teaching violin lessons as I was playing in the orchestra to supplement that income. Year after year my passion became more for teaching than it did for for playing," said Looysen.

The violinist had what he calls an "amazing" opportunity to build a program at Scott Collegiate that did not exist before.

"The principal in the interview asked me what a [music] program would look like, and I knew that the community was smaller, that your concert band and concert choir programming wasn't going to be the successful way to go here," Looysen said.

"So I just thought we got to go to hip-hop, we got to go to small rock band type ensembles."

Looysen had the opportunity to sit with architects and design his teaching space.

"They built us two recording studios and mixing rooms so the kids really get to learn composition. They also get to learn audio engineering and sound mixing … the theory and what constitutes a melody or a beat."

The nature of orchestra musicians

Looysen is just one example of how orchestra members across Canada are not just classical musicians, but also actively work to foster musical literacy and excellence within their communities.

Katherine Carleton, executive director of Orchestras Canada, said this is partly how orchestras "enable" organizations around them.

"You look pretty much anywhere and you'll see there's an RSO musician who is somehow involved. Musicians are by their very nature curious, questing, interesting people," Carleton said.

"And it's not just classical music that they're playing. They're engaged in a kind of wide range of types of music-making and they're teaching people from age two to 92. That's just part of how they're wired and it's also part of how they put together a living and a life."

Marie-Noelle Berthelet, principal flutist for the RSO, moved to Regina from Quebec 18 years ago for her first full-time professional symphony job.

"For me it was very clear that if I ever had the chance to get a position in an orchestra, it didn't matter for me where it was going to lead me. You pack your bags, you move and you make your life from there," said Berthelet.

In addition to the RSO, Berthelet works at the University of Regina's Conservatory of Performing Arts, and said she's not alone.

"The vast majority of people who teach there are actually RSO musicians. And look at different community programs that RSO supports, for example, Music Makers. We provide instruments, books and education."

Post-pandemic struggles

Carleton has been closely monitoring the post-pandemic recovery of symphony orchestras across the country, and said so far it's been a mixed bag. But for the most part, Orchestras Canada saw a dip in concert subscribers.

"Pre-pandemic we saw orchestras generating about 70 per cent of their income from a combination of ticket sales and fundraising," said Carleton.

While some orchestras are managing to catch up to those numbers after not performing live for some time, others are moving at a slower pace.

"What was broken was the habit of concert attendance," Carleton said.

"Part of it was they've been burned. They'd invested, they'd believed. And then guess what? Another wave of COVID, and there we go. So what we had was orchestras returning to what they hoped would be a full and appealing season, but that didn't necessarily happen."

She said orchestras have historically depended on long-term relationships with people who are passionate about the music. She said Orchestra Canada surveys indicate that if a person is an orchestra subscriber, they are also more likely to be a donor.

"But in many places, the idea of the regularity and the consistency of attendance and participation in orchestral activities has been broken," Carleton said.

Most importantly, she said orchestras have not only lost touch with some of their committed audience members due to COVID-19, but lost out on years of audience recruitment. That's when orchestras attract new people to a concert, then entice them to come back to a second and third show.

"If that cycle has been broken, if there's a a break in the pattern, we've essentially lost three years of audience development. So through this period of time, I think everybody's peddling as fast as they can to catch up."

Berthelet said that, coming out of the pandemic, when the RSO does free concerts they often sell out. So now, she said it's all a matter of figuring out how to get people back to paid concerts.

"We do need the support," she said.

WATCH | Musicians call for support as Regina Symphony Orchestra works to get attendance back up:

RSO part of Regina's 'social fabric'

Berthelet said she is optimistic about RSO's future, but that if the opportunity for its musicians to play professionally did disappear, Regina would lose a lot in terms of musical knowledge, passion, culture and musicianship.

"Basically we are like the heartbeat of the musical culture of the city," Berthelet said.

"Some of my students, the vast majority actually, teach band in the high school system, teach band in the primary school system. We are forming incredible musicians here, and surprisingly we're very well recognized in the other provinces for it."

Looysen shares Berthelet's belief that the younger generations would be affected by the loss of a local orchestra.

"It would certainly remove that opportunity for [professional musicians] to play for an audience, which takes away the opportunity for audiences to hear what we do and love doing so much," Looysen said. "But all of that other community investment, the lessons we teach the next generation of musicians that are being produced to to fill our shoes when we go … that's what's really in in jeopardy."

Rick Krieger, owner of Regina's Rail Yard Saloon and former board member of SaskMusic, said the RSO is an invaluable part of the city's social fabric.

"The RSO is the longest serving symphony in the country. I think it's that heritage and legacy that's very important to the the identity of the city, and something that should definitely be supported and preserved," Krieger said.

Krieger said he believes symphony orchestras are part of what makes a community breathe, and provide residents with an enjoyable quality of life.

"It's hard to put a financial number on that," he said.

"People will definitely know if it's not there. They'll wake up one morning and wonder what happened. You need to have the people support it and I go out and buy the tickets and enjoy those shows. Because if you don't, one day they're not there. And then you have to scramble to try to fix it, and by that time it's usually too late."

The RSO has four shows scheduled for May, including two season wrap-up performances at the Government House on May 20.

LISTEN | Regina Symphony Orchestra struggling to bring in audiences and bounce back, post-pandemic: