Live orchestral music in non-traditional spaces, where the audience and musicians are up close, and the music’s impact is magnified — that’s the kind of experience that The Urban Orchestra wants to create.
As the organization points out, it’s actually about bringing that experience back to its roots as an everyday genre that was performed in local bars and cafés as well as princely palaces, where the music was close enough to be felt.
Their next concert takes place on May 12 at Toronto’s Lula Lounge.
The Urban Orchestra
Music Director Greg Hawco is a conductor and composer whose catalogue includes orchestral works as well as scores for film and TV, such as the CBC series Republic of Doyle. From 2018 until 2022, he performed as a percussionist with the Toronto production of Come From Away. His classical compositions have been performed by varied ensembles and orchestras in North America and Europe.
As a conductor, he’s worked with The Ontario Philharmonic, Berlin Sinfonietta, London Classical Soloists, and The Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.
He earned Bachelor’s Degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland, followed by a Master’s Degree in Orchestral Performance from McGill University. Greg’s own roots also lie in traditional music of Newfoundland, and he performs as a member of the traditional Newfoundland group, The Rowdymen.
Urban Orchestra President Murray Foster spent decades on the road touring with Canadian bands Moxy Früvous and Great Big Sea as a bassist, and was nominated for a JUNO Award for his contributions. When his performing career ended, he took up songwriting, founding the Toronto Songwriting School in 2014. That same year, he penned the song Lay Me Down for the band Fortunate Ones, which shot to the top of the CBC Top 20 charts for two weeks.
Today, he is a professor at Seneca College in their Independent Performing Songwriter program.
Along with songwriting, he is also a filmmaker, and launched a company called Choir Nation, which looks to work with Canadian companies linking corporate choirs with top tier musicians.
The Urban Orchestra came about essentially because of their musical friendship — and a love of Western art music.
Murray Foster talks about how The Urban Orchestra was formed in a statement.
“Greg Hawco, the Artistic Director of Urban Orchestra, asked me out for a beer in 2017, and over that beer he said those powerful and fateful words, ‘I have a dream.’ His dream was to do something in Toronto that was actually fairly common in Europe: put on an orchestral concert where the audience is right next to the orchestra, so that people could feel the power and majesty of an orchestra the way he did as a conductor. Thinking it was a fairly decent dream, I decided to help him.
“Eight years later, Urban Orchestra is a registered charity that has put on five shows and counting. We’re still excited by Greg’s dream to give people a TRUE orchestral experience — up close, not in a massive concert hall or through a car stereo. Part of our mandate is also to offer an affordable ticket price, so that this incredible experience isn’t reserved just for rich people (although rich people are certainly welcome). Currently we’re looking to spread the word about Urban Orchestra as we continue to showcase the very best Canadian and international orchestral pieces.”
Sounds of Spring Concert: May 12
The program features traditional works as well as a contemporary work by Canadian cellist and composer Samuel Bisson. Bisson’s other works include the scores for an award-winning short film titled Nuit Blanche, as well as a Mandarin-language feature titled Lovesick.
The music:
- Samuel Bisson: Overture to a Distant Present (Original Canadian Composition)
- Franz Schubert: Symphony No 8 in B minor, “Unfinished”, D 759. Allegro Moderato
- Bedřich Smetana: Overture: The Bartered Bride
- Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 in F Major, “Pastoral”, OP 68
Tickets are available with a range of options that include a prix fixe dinner and more. Details [HERE].
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