Orchestra London Canada

The London Life Community Music Program

Orchestra London believes that live, classical music must be available to all members of our community. The London Life Community Music Program, which presents education and community concerts in London and surrounding communities, is an important part of every season.

The London Life Community Music Program was strengthened with a $150,000 grant (payable over three years) from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2004/05. This grant enabled Orchestra London to hire its first Education and Outreach Manager, Doug Walker, to oversee and strengthen these programs.

�What a thrill it was to sing with you, and for our audience to hear you here in our own backyard.�
Kate Emerson
Secretary, West Elgin Choral Society

Our community concerts take Orchestra London out of the concert hall and to the people with low-cost concerts held in local churches, community centres and school auditoriums. Orchestra London often partners with school and community choirs, who enjoy the chance to perform with a professional ensemble.

Orchestra London would like to thank the corporate sponsors who make these important initiatives possible: London Life; Columbia Sportswear Company; St. Willibrord the Credit Union, and The New PL.

For more information about this year�s Community Music programming, please contact Doug Walker at [email protected] or call 679-8558 x 241.

Reaching Our Community
Recognizing the needs of our community and specifically the accessibility issues faced by some people, we have attempted to reach out to the community in a variety of ways. In 2000 we established our Education Concerts which are performed at area schools. This has allowed us to foster a knowledge, respect, and hopefully love of classical music with the youth of our community.

Building on the success of our Education Concert series program, Orchestra London has launched our new London Life Community Music Program which will reach other segments of our community. This program focuses on members of our community who may not have access to our regular concerts due to a variety of reasons such as,

financial barriers,
mobility challenges,
cultural diversity, and
geographic distances.

Orchestra London’s London Life Community Music Program will address these issues in several ways:

by providing free or low cost concerts;
by performing concerts in parks, community centers, malls, churches, nursing homes, and medical facilities;
by performing daytime concerts; and,
by performing concerts in rural communities.

In addition, we will be targeting specific community groups such as seniors, ethnic groups, and service clubs in order to build on the community focus of this program. The benefits of this new program are many.

We strive to reach members of our community whose financial circumstances may be a deterrent to attending regular concerts. Quality music is not for the financially privileged of our community - it is for everyone.
We strive to reach members of our community who, because of physical barriers, may not be able to attend at our regular concert venues. This includes performing for seniors in nursing homes, community centers, and churches, and may also include performing in medical facilities for long term care patients.
We strive to reach the rural segments of our community who may not be able to travel the distance to the City of London to attend a regular performance.
We strive to reach a wider segment of our community by providing daytime concerts for people who are unable to attend regular evening performances.
We strive to reach ethnic members of our community by diversifying our repertoire to include pieces which appeal to specific groups in our community such as Italian, Portuguese, German, and Native Canadian.
We strive to reach members of our community who are active members of our communities’ volunteer network by providing “Volunteer Appreciation” programs at existing concerts and at Community Concerts.

Orchestra London recognizes that we must do more to reach those who have not traditionally been exposed to classical music. By planning more Community Concerts, like our recent performances at Colborne Street United Church and Strathroy District Collegiate Institute, we hope to continue to meet the needs of our community.

For more information about this season's Community Concerts please contact Doug Walker, our Education & Outreach Manager at [email protected] or call 679-8558 ext. 241.