Since its formation in the summer of 2007, the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra has performed two series of concerts, in September 2007 and February 2008, has added new members, with more woodwinds and brass, and has slowly but surely expanded its repertoire. The concerts, performed in St. Andrews, Eastport and Machias, are generating excitement around Passamaquoddy Bay, as the sound of an orchestra is able to inspire people with its breadth, complexity and transcendence. Under conductor Trond Saeverud of Robbinston, the members of the orchestra in turn have been inspired to grow and perform at a level they may not have achieved in the past. The PBSO consists of musicians from around the Passamaquoddy Bay area, ranging in age from 14 to over 70. Saeverud has conducted community and professional orchestras in Norway, Denmark and the U.S. and currently is the concertmaster of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra. In addition to performing three programs a year, the symphony is considering a number of collaborations, including working with the chorus at the University of Maine at Machias, commissioning new works for orchestra, producing an opera and offering a summer orchestra experience for seniors.
2010 Performances
The Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra (PBSO) begins its 2010 season with a series of concerts in Eastport and Machias, Maine, and St. Andrews, New Brunswick. Conductor Trond Saeverud will lead the community orchestra, an artistic collaboration of musicians from Washington and Charlotte Counties which celebrates its third anniversary this spring.
Concerts will be held at the Eastport Arts Center on Saturday, April 24, at 7 p.m.; at the University of Maine at Machias Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 1, at 7 p.m.; and at the Van Horne Ballroom of the Algonquin Hotel, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, on Sunday, May 9, at 2 p.m. (Atlantic Time).
The program will include Beethoven's Symphony No. 1, described by orchestra member and PBSO board member Helen Swallow as "very Beethoven: stirring, then cheerful and lyrical, dramatic and sometimes thunderous."
The orchestra will be joined by trumpet player Ray Phillips of the Farmington Community Orchestra to play Proclamation, a contemporary composition by Ernest Bloch. "It is short and shiny and gorgeous," says Swallow.
The third piece in the concert was written by PBSO conductor Trond Saeverud's grandfather, Harald Saeverud, a beloved and revered composer in Norway. They will play his Sinfonia Dolorosa, written in a time heavily influenced by the German Occupation of Norway during World War II. Trond Saeverud conducted the Bangor Symphony playing this work last year.
Tickets to the concerts are $10 per person or $20 for families.
Conductor Trond Saeverud
Trond Saeverud, director of the UMF Community Orchestra and instructor of violin, has performed as violin soloist with major orchestras in Europe and in the US, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Lincoln Center in New York City.
He has produced solo CDs on the Simax, Grappa and BIS labels as soloist with Danish and Norwegian orchestras. His recital CD "HIKA" was chosen as "Strad Selection" in the May 2002 issue of Strad Magazine. Saeverud has build an conducted several community orchestras in Scandinavia, led annual chamber music workshops in Colorado and Missouri, and created his own school outreach program in Maine.
Currently, he is concertmaster of the Bangor Symphony, first violin in the Nor’easter String Quartet, artistic director of the HaraldSaeverud Chamber Music Program and founder and conductor of the new Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra with musicians from Canada and the U.S. Mr. Saeverud has just recently received the Guptil Award, which recognizes artists who spotlight Washington County.