Previewed by Daina Janitis
(Pictured: London Symphonia Guest Conductor Tania Miller.)
If you recall the disaster of that season – and were part of the London spirit that helped to rebuild – you really should join in celebrating the spirit of resistance and revival that has taken London Symphonia toward its 10th anniversary.
And the program of the final concert of the 9th season – as well as the musicians – of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh will be an evening of three survival strategies: a spinning cartwheel, a searing letter from a war‑torn city, and a symphony that refuses to stop dancing.
I was the Volunteer Committee Chair in 2015 when Orchestra London formally filed for bankruptcy, ending decades of orchestral history in the city. And I had the joy of seeing London Symphonia incorporated later that year, picking up the tradition that began back in 1937 and continuing as the only professional orchestra to offer a full season in the region. Many current players, including concertmaster Joe Lanza, bridge both eras, having performed with Orchestra London and now with London Symphonia. And the community helped with trust and creativity. The glorious concert space of “The Met” would not have happened without Londoners’ belief in all the gifts of the spirit.
This concert is music about resilience, played by an orchestra that had to prove its own.
(Pictured: LS Principal Flute Laura Chambers.)
And what a dazzling group of talents our London orchestra has brought together in these nine years. Laura Chambers is the LS Principal Flute. Her solo work, ensemble contributions, and innovations are renowned across Canada- but did you know …
- She’s a lover of the outdoors. Her performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring for an audience of over 30,000 at sunset in the Nevada desert is her most memorable to date.
- She’s a passionate educator. Laura’s studio of students spans in age from 5 to 85, and she is welcomed as a guest clinician at schools, music camps and festival workshops throughout Canada.
- In addition to her performance and private teaching, Laura is a PhD candidate at York University, where her research is focused on the recontextualization and sustainability of classical music in today’s world.
- She currently holds a sessional lecturer position at the University of Toronto and is a faculty member of the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Oscar Peterson’s School of Music.
And because you supported us for the last nine years, LYS has thrived. You can now be part of a world premiere- the flute concerto that Laura Chambers commissioned from Alexis Marsh just for Laura by London Symphonia.
(Pictured: Composer Alexis Marsh.)
Alexis Marsh, a Canadian composer from Winnipeg, built her career in Los Angeles, scoring films and series like TNT’s Animal Kingdom, animated feature Next Gen, and numerous indie projects. She’s used to writing music that lives inches away from the camera, following tiny facial expressions and shifts in mood. A concerto lets that language move into the open, onto a stage.
You’ve heard Laura Chambers in countless moments this season—now imagine an entire work tailored to the way she phrases a single line. The concerto’s title, View of a Cartwheel from an Ascending Plane, sounds like a film shot: a spinning shape seen from above, slowly receding.
And Tania Miller is one of London Symphonia’s favourite guest conductors. Of course, the musicians like her; they know what it means to rebuild something, and so does she. In her writing on leadership, she talks about being “the fuel and the fire,” about creating a spark and then “sometimes letting them play and standing back to enjoy the performance. She sees orchestral work as a “collective search for the meaning in the music,” emphasizing fresh ideas and connection rather than top‑down control.
(Pictured: Tania Miller.)
She is a builder herself, renewing ensembles, most famously as music director of the Victoria Symphony for 14 years, where she developed a reputation as a visionary leader and innovator. She was the first woman to lead a major Canadian orchestra, appointed to Victoria at 33, and now directs the Brott Music Festival and its training programs, all of which underscore her comfort with change and institution‑building. She’s a creative risk-taker — leaving a secure position in Victoria to become, as one article suggested, a guest conductor for hire exploring ‘uncharted waters.
Beginning to sound like a feminist manifesto? No apologies from me- but even the Old White Dead Guy pieces chosen for this program are exciting expressions of resistance and revival.
Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op. 110a came to life as a string quartet dashed off in three days in bombed‑out Dresden, dedicated ‘to the victims of fascism and war’ and packed with his own musical initials like a secret signature—a grief‑stricken protest from someone who knew all about other kinds of terror. It was a piece written amid literal rubble, carrying both an official dedication to war’s victims and a coded act of resistance from a composer who knew about other kinds of terror in his life under Stalin’s iron rule.
Ludwig Van’s Seventh? He composed it in 1811–12, and it was first heard in Vienna in 1813 at a benefit concert for soldiers wounded at the Battle of Hanau, one of the late‑war clashes that helped drive Napoleon’s army out of German territory. No wonder the symphony feels like resistance turned into rhythm—an entire orchestra insisting on life while a collapsing empire limps away in the background.
Its rhythms carry little melancholy. Wagner called it “the apotheosis of the dance” – and other musical worthies of the time said it was “exuberant,” “boisterous,” and “life-affirming”. Don’t we need something right now to remind us that we can choose to dance in the face of pointless war and the threat of domination?
Londoners … every ticket bought since 2015 has been a small act of faith, and on this night the orchestra pays that faith back in music about survival, defiance, and hard‑won joy. You helped the rebuilding – now come to the concert and celebrate this local source of pride.
IF YOU GO:
What: London Symphonia presents Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh
When: Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 7:30pm.
Where: Metropolitan United Church, 468 Wellington Street, London, Ontario.
Tickets: Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Marsh | London Symphonia
Previewed by Daina Janitis
The Beat Magazine 2025 