There is nothing like an annual report to bring on a bit of soul-searching. Isn’t it what we all do on New Year’s Eve?
It has been a year punctuated by loss at both ends. In the early fall it was the demise of my wonderful father and just a couple of weeks ago the skilled extraction of my gall-bladder. The later was far less painful. Fortunately, for the balance sheet, there have been many more happy and beneficial experiences and a number of these have been shared with other members of the RCCO.
As an organization which has as its focus ensuring that there will be public support for organs, organists and organ literature, we have similarly had our “hits and misses”.
Our activities began with an organ crawl to a number of north Toronto churches: St. Clements Anglican, St. Georges United Church and Glenview Presbyterian. While the instruments and the lunch organized by Tom Fitches were of the highest order, an attendance of no more than a dozen members made us think that either it was the wrong event, or the wrong day. Or was it both?
A return visit to this City and the organ of Metropolitan United by Dr. Thomas Murray did much more for the public advancement of the instrument, and gave a number of our students some valuable instruction in the course of his master class the following day. Who cannot help but be wooed by his musicianship, technical skills and charm?
Many of these same students took to the same organ on October 29th for our annual “Phantoms of the Organ” event. It should be known that this event, thought to be in its 8th year, was initiated by two of our students at that time, Ryan Jackson and Christopher Ku. The proceeds of the event are used to offset the membership fees of our full-time organ students.
Perhaps the one of our greatest successes was the Organ Skills Workshop of late last November which was so well organized and marketed by Gordon Mansell. The thesis behind this event was that a) there ARE musicians out there (usually pianists) who are being confronted with the organ, but are not properly trained, and b) that for the most part these individuals live in the outlying areas, and not in downtown Toronto. The morning and afternoon workshops were, therefore run in Markham and in Mississauga. The attendance at each session exceeded expectations.
A bit of a promotion for the instrument came by way of the Globe and Mail in mid-December. It was at that time that the Government of Quebec became excited about the possibility of losing the distinguished Casavant Organ the Très Sainte Nom de Jesu Church in Montreal to an “out of province” buyer. When this news hit the press, John Allemang, arts writer for the Globe and Mail, was instructed by his editor to find out more about the state of the organ in Toronto. When John called me wondering what organ activities he could pursue within the ensuing week, I was pleased to report of the weekly concerts which take place around town, and he was able to get some good copy and pictures by attending that week’s “Noon at Met” recital and speaking with members Patricia Wright and Alan Jackson.
Our New Year’s Dinner brought out a record number of members for such an event—in fact we hit the limits of the venue, the Chefs’ Kitchen, and were encouraged by Eric Friesen’s presentation: “A case for Elitism”. We were also happy to share Eric’s observations with the rest of the national membership through the publishing of his lecture in Organ Canada (March Issue).
In February an event organized by our Vice President, Elisa Mangina , provided us with a “Professional Support Day” during which our clinician, nation treasurer, Brian Sweetman of Windsor capably addressed issues including tax laws and copyright, which affect organists. Although in what we thought was an accessible location and at an appropriate time of the year, this event was another which was poorly supported by the membership.
For the twenty-five members who blocked out the afternoon of March 19th for the Choral Techniques Workshop by Hilary Apfelstadt, organized by Mary Legge, there was little doubt that the time was well-spent. What we must remember is that, while we are for the most part organists, many in our membership are challenged by responsibilities for choirs. Ms. Apfentedt shared with us many of the techniques she has built up over her illustrious career as a choir leader and pedagogue.
We are blessed to have a month-long celebration of the organ here in Toronto: “Organix”, founded and artistically directed by William O’Meara and Gordon Mansell. To that end, we have been happy to provide annual assistance for one of the concerts each year for a number of years. This year it was a concert by the organist of the Berlin Cathedral, Dr. Andreas Seiling, which was followed by a workshop on registering Classical repertoire on a Romantically voiced organ. This was organized using our talented students, and underwritten by our organization. It should be noted that our honored colleague, William Wright, also provided financial assistance to Organix for Dr. Sieling’s concert.
So it has been a full year, with much to be commended. It is sometimes disappointing to see how few might attend an event knowing the planning required to organize an activity and often the cost to our treasury. On the other hand, we should not measure impact in the number of bodies who happen to be in the room.
What has been useful to the broader membership has been the often “instructive” reviews of events by our volunteer journalists and the beautiful way that our devoted editor, Tom Fitches, has disseminated this information in our monthly Bulletin. We thank these contributors and also Tom his work.
As for the financial issues, we would be on shakier ground without the wise council and services of our treasurer, Ron Jordan. As you will see, we are solvent, and able to present an equally interesting programme to our membership during the 2011-2012 season. The planning of this season has been by a Programming Committee but we are indebted to Lydia Pedersen for steering the group to the conclusions presented this evening.
At a national level the Royal Canadian College of Organists has been struggling to clarify what its identity and role should be in the Canadian musical world. Many of you hopefully responded to the national Membership Survey which was organized by the National “Membership and Brand Committee” to get a better sense of the needs of our membership. The response from across the country was more than 60%. Results are being analyzed with some “conclusions” being available at our national AGM scheduled for the Hamilton Organ Festival (July 17 to 21). For your interest, national membership as of March 2011 was sitting at 1111 members. That represents about 15 members less (more than 10% slide) than March of 2010. The Toronto Centre continues to represent about 25% of this total membership.
So, in spite of an enthusiasm for the organ on the part of many of you, this enthusiasm does not translate into a large membership.
I would like to remind you that the organization is as dependent on those who are thrilled by the experience of hearing some inspired organ playing of good organ repertoire, on a fine instrument, as those who make their “bread and butter” from the organ.
You will note that a ballot which is currently out to the membership for a 2nd Vice-president includes the names of two candidates who are not, in the main, organists. By way of back-ground this is a position which will move the successful candidate into the Presidency three years from now. Normally this position would have been filled over the past year but the candidate named by the Nominating Committee reconsidered taking on the commitment. By the time the Committee called me, I won’t fool myself that there weren’t others approached, but also a nomination had come in from Grey Bruce Centre for Rev. Edward Wagner. As there were two nominations on the table—one from the Nominating Committee and one from the Membership—a formal ballot process is underway and notwithstanding that the mail system is not cooperating, these ballots must be at the national office by June 27th. I hope you recognize that my nomination is probably more related to the importance of the Toronto Centre to the continued vitality of the organization than it is related to my qualifications. There has been a history of Toronto Centre Presidents moving into the national Presidency.
Not to make this address into a campaign speech, I would simply encourage you to become involved in this election process and leave the choice to your conscience.
As I pass this meeting to other officers of your centre, I would thank you for your attendance this evening, and above all to you for supporting the goals and activities of the RCCO. Thank you, fellow members of our Executive for your faithful service and a special word of thanks, as well, to David Weind who organized the use of this venue this evening, and for a number of this past year’s executive meetings. Thanks also to: Gerald Martindale, Supply Organist Roster; The Rev. Sherman Hesselgrave, Chaplain; William Wright, Recording Secretary; Joanne Hart, Regional Representative to National Council; and Hazel Ogilvy, our Past President and currently Membership Chair.