After a brief but thorough renegotiation process, TBSO President\u00a0Linda Penner and TBSO Music Director Paul Haas are pleased to announce the renewal\u00a0and extension of his contract with the Thunder Bay Symphony for the next four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more delighted to have Paul for another four years,\u201d says Penner. \u201cNot\u00a0only will the community and our audiences have the opportunity to enjoy the full range\u00a0of what he brings to our stage, but it gives the orchestra greater stability both\u00a0artistically and operationally over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came to Thunder Bay almost three years ago I was excited by the challenges,\u201d\u00a0says Haas. \u201cAfter Arthur Post left there was a period of time when the orchestra was\u00a0without a music director, so it was somewhat adrift artistically. The orchestra also faced\u00a0financial challenges. I also learned that the social and cultural dynamics of the\u00a0community were changing. It was an interesting time to be here.\u201d He continues. \u201cSince\u00a0then we\u2019ve added annual Indigenous concerts to our schedule, we\u2019ve upped our\u00a0educational program, we\u2019ve created new repertoire to reflect our unique geographic\u00a0location in the world, and we\u2019ve reached out to our loyal patrons and new audiences.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s gone a long way to help pay down our deficit, so it\u2019s been quite a ride.\u201d\u00a0Linda Penner concurs. \u201cPaul has brought new energy to our orchestra in a time of\u00a0transition. There are many new faces on stage as our older musicians retire and others\u00a0move on. Since Paul has arrived more than a third of our players are new. Paul\u2019s\u00a0collaborative style with his team has made these\u2014and many other transitions\u2014the\u00a0smoothest they could be, and the sound of the orchestra has never been better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Given the support Haas has received in 2017 it seems the community agrees. At the\u00a0signing after Tuesday\u2019s board meeting, Haas recognized his Musician Chair Sponsors,\u00a0Brian and Gail Scott, who are financially contributing to supporting his position annually.\u00a0\u201cWithout supporters like Brian and Gail, keeping this orchestra alive and thriving would\u00a0be far more difficult. Their support, and the support of others like them, allows me to\u00a0concentrate on delivering the best music possible, without the additional stress of financial pressure, and I\u2019m very grateful for that,\u201d says Haas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Scotts, who were out of town and unable to attend the signing added, \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to have Paul with us for another four years. He brings magic to the podium and an energy to the orchestra that takes us all to another level. What good news!\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to officially signing, Penner and Haas announced to the board that programming for the next four years has already taken shape. \u201cApproaching programming with a longer horizon in view means we can create a more cohesive arc for our music. For example, we can plan a multi-year presentation of Brahms or Nordic composers,\u201d Haas says. \u201cWith my four-year contract renewal I can see all of that through, and that\u2019s a great gift.\u201d<\/p>\n You can catch Maestro Haas\u2019work his magic with the TBSO in their next mainstage performance, \u201cSibelius Sings\u201d, featuring soloist Thomas Cosbey, the Thunder BayYouth Orchestra and the Thunder Bay Symphony Chorus on Thursday, February 6th at the Auditorium. Yes, music lovers, the ever-popular Finlandia is on the program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n About TBSO:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra is one of the most remotely located symphonies in Canada. Its host city is the smallest in the country to have a full-time professional orchestra. Currently, in its 59th season, the TBSO continues to entertain and enrich the lives of Northwestern Ontario residents with mainstage concerts, outreach performances, regional touring, educational programs and concerts, and recordings of both classical and popular music. The TBSO has evolved and matured over the years, developing a strong sound from its relatively small core of 30 players. Its repertoire includes Canadian compositions, such as the premi\u00e8re of Jordan Pal\u2019s Starling and Into the Wonder in 2015, as well as choral works featuring the Thunder Bay Symphony Chorus, which is now in its 43rd year. The TBSO continues to evolve. Because of its isolated geographic location, it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After a brief but thorough renegotiation process, TBSO President\u00a0Linda Penner and TBSO Music Director Paul Haas are pleased to announce the renewal\u00a0and extension of his contract with the Thunder Bay Symphony for the next four years. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be more delighted to have Paul for another four years,\u201d says Penner. \u201cNot\u00a0only will the community and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[346],"class_list":["post-28033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northern-ontario","tag-thunder-bay-symphony-orchestra-tbso"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-16 17:26:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28034,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28033\/revisions\/28034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}