Oakville Chamber Orchestra: Entertaining Burlington, Mississauga & Oakville
2010/11 marks the 27th season of the Oakville Chamber Orchestra, originally known as the Oakville Chamber Ensemble. Founded in 1984 as a group of amateur string players, this musical group has steadily grown in size, aspirations and quality into its current form.
The core of the orchestra is that of string players, with professional section leaders, augmented by wind, brass and percussion players, allowing for the presentation of a large musical repertoire by masters of all periods. While the number of musicians changes according to the needs of the music performed, the basic raison d'être remains as amateur musicians presenting the music they love in a smaller, more intimate chamber setting. The Orchestra also appears occasionally as the guest performer in events run by local organizations, for example Oakville Children's Choir, Canadian Music Competition and Halton Youth Symphony.
Support for all of this progress has come from a volunteer Board of Directors first set up in 1997 under its then President, Chuck Havill, who has been ardently involved in the Oakville arts scene for many years. Other Board members have donated their many business, organizational, financial, creative and musical talents to the behind-the-scenes running of the Orchestra.
In recent years, benefactor Gerry Wilson has been instrumental to our continued growth through numerous individual donations and through the Community Foundation of Oakville. Her contributions allow the OCO to continue striving for excellence.
Above all else, we thank our valued audience members from Oakville, Mississauga, Burlington, Milton, Toronto and beyond. Our audience fuels our passion for presenting great music in intimate settings.
