Zee Zee, a renowned piano soloist from China, joined the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra in their inaugural concert of the year on Feb. 22 at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa. The performance featured Zee Zee for Liszt’s second piano concerto and concluded with an orchestral performance of Bruckner’s seventh symphony.
Zee Zee is an internationally-recognized pianist, having played with many of the world’s top orchestras. As a founding member of Z.E.N Trio and founder of the Z+ international music festival, she has earned a strong reputation as a passionate and driven musician. She said this was her first time in the region and she was drawn to the orchestra because she previously knew the conductor.
“ I love the orchestra. They sound amazing,” she said. “We put everything together with a very short amount of time and I’m very, very happy with the concert.”
Founded in 1957, the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra has been bringing classical music to local audiences for decades. Marco Parisotto is the current musical director, and he said he witnessed the orchestra grow from an amateur group to a professional one over the 29 years that he’s been conducting here. There were a lot of changes in recent years, he explained and in the past few years the Ontario Philharmonic has grown to new heights.
“The orchestra is sounding really fabulous,” he reflected. “It’s got, really, a world-class level.”
Parisotto is an award-winning conductor and one of Canada’s most prominent on international stages. For him, each concert is an opportunity to connect deeply with audiences. According to him, the music is more than just entertainment – it’s “ music that touches your soul very much,” especially when performed with intensity and passion.
He said his choice of music is very deliberate and he tries to select pieces that are very profound and that audiences can experience on many levels.
“ I think we’ve been able to achieve that at every concert now in the past years where the audience comes out not only excited and happy from what they heard, but also somewhere, I hope, they’re transformed inside of themselves,” he said. “It’s a beautiful experience to listen to these great works of art that we perform.”
Audience members Sharon and Jeff Bells have been attending concerts for years, and they agreed that the experience is beautiful. They said that having the orchestra in the region provides a unique form of entertainment for listeners and contributes to the community’s art and culture scene.
“For us, it’s fantastic. I think it’s wonderful for the community,” Sharon said. “ I like that they have guests all the time, whether they’re vocalists, soloists, instrumentalists, pianists … and that makes it more rounded, too.”
“It’s a rich program,” Jeff added. “There’s always something new to listen to.”
Their son Wesley Bells is a second violin player in the orchestra and they said this has provided him the opportunity to grow his career as a musician. They explained that Wesley has been playing in the orchestra for a long time and became a full-time member three years ago.
“He loves it. He enjoys it,” Jeff said.
“We come from Aurora, so it’s a little bit of a drive,” Sharon explained. “But it’s worth it.”
For musicians and music-lovers, the existence of an orchestra in a community can have a deeper impact than it might first seem, going beyond just providing a place to play and enjoy music. Research by social science expert Salvino Salvaggio has shown that participation in an orchestra can promote social and personal growth and for audiences, orchestras can act as “a form of social therapy and a space for cultural communication.”
Local audiences can investigate these potential benefits for themselves – the Ontario Philharmonic Orchestra’s next concert will be their Soloist Series on March 14, featuring seven notable solo orchestral pieces performed by the orchestra’s lead musicians.