Milton Barnes
Milton Barnes
In the 1964-1965 season, Milton Barnes of Toronto was chosen to replace Pearlman. He had been studying orchestral and operatic conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music. He was also an accomplished composer. The orchestra received a $2000.00 grant from the Ontario Arts Council. Milton Barnes announced a contest for young composers to submit a theme of at least six bars to be orchestrated by Barnes and performed by the symphony. The response was so great that five themes were chosen and incorporated into a Children's Corner Suite which was performed at a Young Person's Concert. Barnes made a concentrated effort to attract young people to symphonic music.
A very ambitious project was the performance of Der Freischutz by von Weber. This was performed in English by the orchestra and chorus. Six soloists performed in the opera. John Heidebrecht was the only soloist who wasn't imported from other groups. By all accounts, the acoustics weren't good and attendance was poor. The performance was quite good but it was not a lucrative venture.
The symphony has always been willing to try new ventures. In the 1970-1971 season the City Muffin Boys from Toronto joined the orchestra to perform Dance of the Pink Rver Horse by Art Charpentier. Barnes was hoping to bridge the generation gap by combining orchestral and electronic music. This concert received mixed reviews. One of the comments was that "it was loud."
