About

The Journey Begins

Spend a morning with us at FirstOntario Concert Hall and watch the HPO in rehearsal. This is a fantastic opportunity to give your students a behind the scenes look at the inner workings of professional orchestral life.

Enter through our stage door, and get a glimpse of backstage before joining us in a conference room to learn about what you are about to hear. Music Education manager, Megan Benjafield, will provide a brief introduction to the HPO and the concert program so that students know what to expect from the day’s rehearsal.

After learning about the pieces, schools are escorted to the first balcony where they have the opportunity to watch a rehearsal in progress from the best vantage point in the house. We have a microphone set up so that students hear the feedback the conductor is giving to the orchestra, and get an opportunity to see first-hand how that feedback then sounds in the orchestra.

Our rehearsal experiences are available on a first-come, first-served basis. We can accommodate a maximum of 50 students. Please click here to request your rehearsal experience.

This concert celebrates beginnings by bringing the first major work by each composer to the stage. It’s a wonderful opportunity to inspire the budding composer in your classroom with a glimpse into the early careers of these composers. 
 
For this rehearsal, watch the orchestra prepare for a soloist with an orchestra-only rehearsal of Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto. Written when Prokofiev was only 20 and first performed by the composer himself at the age of 21, this concerto already demonstrates Prokofiev’s complex musical language and style. Students will have to pay close attention as this short, 15-minute, single-movement piece moves rapidly through keys, tempi and themes.  
 
Sibelius’ En Saga is the other piece planned for this rehearsal. Through this work, students can learn about the Orchestral Tone Poem, and gain an understanding of a through-composed work.  Although its title, En Saga, is Swedish for ‘A Fairy Tale’, this Tone Poem is unusual in that it does not have a programmatic narrative to guide its composition. The original version of this piece was for either a septet or octet, but it was reworked into an orchestral composition. It’s a great lesson in revisions, editing and multiple drafts! 


Please note: Our bookings are based on the planned rehearsal schedule. Students may not see all repertoire being rehearsed, and the repertoire is subject to change without notice.