Brott Music Festival
Brott Music Festival (formerly Boris Brott Summer Music Festival), presents annual classical, opera, jazz, pops, and children's education concerts in Hamilton, Halton and Niagara regions in Ontario, Canada as well as touring to other music festivals in southern Ontario. The festival was founded by late conductor Boris Brott and has grown into Ontario's only and Canada's largest orchestral music festival. The orchestra in residence is the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, Canada's only professional orchestral training program. It is also home to BrottOpera, a training program for Canadian emerging opera singers. Its current artistic director is Tania Miller. History The festival began as a way to provide cultural activity during the summer months in Hamilton, Ontario, and was founded as a two-week summer music festival in 1988 by conductor Boris Brott. Its budget has increased from $50,000 to under $1.5 million, and it has become Canada's largest orchestral music festival. It is praised in music circles for emphasizing nontraditional and multidisciplinary performances. Brott draws musicians from across Canada. The orchestra in residence is the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, which is a training program for aspiring professional musicians. The NAO is the only program of its kind in Canada and is similar to the Orchestra of the New World in Florida. BMF's main activities take place in June, July, and August annually, but the festival also presents educational concerts for elementary students at Hamilton Place every autumn and three performances of Handel's Messiah every December. BMF performs in concert hall settings such as Hamilton Place, Dofasco Centre for the Performing Arts, Mohawk College's McIntyre Theatre and the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. It also performs in churches, including Christ's Church Cathedral, Melrose United, St. Christopher's Anglican in Burlington, West Highland Baptist, and St. John's Anglican in Ancaster. Other venues include the Royal Botanical Gardens, Dundurn Castle, Whitehern Museum, and the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Festival Highlights 1988 BMF founded by late Artistic Director Boris Brott in 10-day Festival in Hamilton 1989, Brott founds the NAO, a mentor-apprentice training program, with masterclasses & seminars, prepares its graduates for realities of life as professional artists. The NAO becomes BMF's orchestra in residence. 1995, BMF begins first of its annual NAO “runouts” which enrich other Ontario festivals with orchestral repertoire & provide touring experience for students 1997 - BMF gives first annual concert on front lawn at the newly restored Windermere House at Lake Rousseau, Ontario 1998, NAO recognized as a National Training School by the Department of Canadian Heritage 1999, BMF expands programming to add Children's Education Concert series at Hamilton Place & Handel's Messiah to its annual performance calendar 2000, NAO profiled in a documentary on CBC's The National. Brott conducts Bernstein's Mass at the Vatican for Pope John Paul II 2000 - NAO and BMF garner national attention with appearances by former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell who narrates a performance with her spouse, Broadway star Hershey Felder 2002, NAO performs for Pope John Paul II & 800,000 for