It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for the Symphony on the Mountain event. First held in 2015, organizers decided last December to schedule the event for July 9 and 10 this year, due to the speed of the vaccine roll-out. They then made the decision to postpone it a year due to uncertainty regarding restrictions.
However, with the way things are looking now and the lessening of restrictions, and knowing they already had the dates booked at Kimberley Alpine Resort, the organizing team has announced a new event called Reconnections which will take place at KAR on July 9 and at Moir Park in Cranbrook on July 10.
Ticket purchased for the Symphony on the Mountain will be honoured at the full event next year.
READ MORE: Tickets on sale now for Symphony on the Mountain 2021
One of the driving forces behind the event, Jim Webster, said originally the idea was to have four or five musicians up on top of KAR and bring in a videographer who could create a video to use as a promotion for next year’s symphony. Instead they have decided to hold two mini concerts.
The first will be held Friday, July 9 on KAR with 13 musicians, essentially the string section from the Symphony of the Kootenays, and an audience of about 100 people. That concert will start at around 8 to 8:30 p.m., with guests loading up and heading up the mountain at around 7 p.m.
Then on Saturday, July 10 at 7:30 p.m. there will be another concert with the same program and same amount of guests held at Moir Park in Cranbrook.
There will also be an open dress rehearsal that will be on Thursday, July 8 at Rotary Park in Cranbrook.
Webster said that they were then contacted by Telus, who will actually be sending out a film crew to record the two concerts and then put together a one-hour television documentary that will be added to some of their on-demand channels, and will also be given to the symphony afterwards, so that they can put that up on YouTube and social media.
“It’s kind of gone from this bummer situation to something actually quite exciting,” Webster said.
“We came up with the name Reconnections, because we thought as we’re coming out of COVID, it’s a chance for the symphony to reconnect with the community, but also people are reconnecting with their friends and their families and things like that.”
Webster said what they’d like to do is dedicate the concert to all of the frontline workers who have had a tough go through the pandemic.
“Even tougher than a lot of us who’ve just had to wear masks and stay home, because they’ve been dealing with the pandemic on a day-to-day basis,” Webster said.
A sponsor has come forward and bought a certain amount of tickets, so organizers will be working out to frontline healthcare workers and inviting them to attend one of the two concerts for free.
If you would like to purchase tickets you can search Reconnections – Symphony of the Kootenays on Eventbrite.
You can also get the link through the Symphony of the Kootenays Facebook page or by going to www.symphonyonthemountain.com and tickets are on sale now.
The Kimberley concert is $80, which includes the concert and the ride up and down the mountain. The Cranbrook concert is $55. There is also a special price for youth of $20.
The free tickets for frontline workers will be on a first-come-first-serve basis, through the email list that organizers will be reaching out to.
The concert will be about an hour long and will consist of uplifting, feel-good classical music that should be familiar to many.
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Symphony on the Mountain has been renamed Reconnections for this year and will be held on July 9 at Kimberley Alpine Resort and July 10 at Moir Park in Cranbrook. Neil Webster photos.
