{"id":189429,"date":"2026-08-31T12:08:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T12:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/189429\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T12:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T12:08:21","slug":"edmonton-symphony-orchestra-celebrates-40-years-of-outdoor-music-with-symphony-under-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/189429\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Symphony Orchestra celebrates 40 years of outdoor music with Symphony Under the Sky"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a year of celebrations and anniversaries as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra returns to William Hawrelak Park. That return holds an extra special place for conductor Bob Bernhardt.<\/p>\n

The long-time and popular conductor will pick up the baton as the ESO celebrates 40 years of their late-summer music festival. He will mark 20 years at the helm of the special event, Sept. 3 to 7.<\/p>\n

“One of the reasons I keep coming back is because the ESO feels like family for me,” says Bernhardt. “We have so many friends now in Edmonton and in the symphony; we eagerly come back every year.”<\/p>\n

Bernhardt started conducting with the ESO in 2005 and the organization asked him to pick up the baton at the outdoor festival in 2006, then in its 20th year. Bernhardt and his wife Nora have travelled up to Edmonton from their home in the United States frequently for performances with the ESO. Nora was diagnosed with breast cancer last September and missed large parts of the last season but has completed her treatment and will be coming with Bob to “join our Edmonton family.”<\/p>\n

\"Conductor<\/p>\n

Conductor Bob Bernhardt leads the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra during Symphony Under the Sky, in Edmonton\u2019s Hawrelak Park in this 2007 file photo.<\/p>\n

Now they are returning to the place where the late-summer performance began 40 years ago, at that time called Pops in the Park. They started the concert series the year after the Heritage Amphitheatre opened in 1985. The summer festival was moved to Snow Valley for the last three years as the City of Edmonton finished renovations on Hawrelak Park.<\/p>\n

“We loved being at Snow Valley, but Hawrelak has always felt like our home. Being back there is a big thing for us,” says Bernhardt. “It’s a chance for the orchestra to really strut its stuff and really shine.”<\/p>\n

Without a permanent performance space at Snow Valley, the ESO had to bring in a stage which only held 36 orchestra members, so programming had to be chosen carefully in order to meet the smaller group. Being back at Hawrelak Park means they can have a much larger ensemble, up to 70 performers on the amphitheatre stage.<\/p>\n

There are two shows planned for this year’s Symphony Under the Sky, alternating back and forth between three evening and two afternoon performances. The first features popular music from films such as Titanic, The Wizard of Oz, and even Kpop Demon Hunters called Hollywood at Hawrelak.<\/p>\n

\"Musicians<\/p>\n

Musicians take part in the dress rehearsal for Symphony Under the Sky on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022 in Edmonton. Greg Southam-Postmedia<\/p>\n

The other performance is more traditional, with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 taking top billing. It’s also a chance to show off the work of Heinreich Schmuhl, a graduate of the Young Composers Project at the symphony who will see the world premiere of his music. The project helps young musicians and composers get their start.<\/p>\n

“Variety is the spice of attendance, especially in Edmonton where the audience seems to really welcome the combination of old and new,” says Bernhardt.<\/p>\n

That variety has led to major interest from the public. The ESO had originally planned four performances but had to add a fifth day; they had sold out of two performances by the second week of June.<\/p>\n

The outdoor festival means watching the sky and working with mother nature. Geese flying overhead or a squirrel scampering across the stage are the least disruptive things for the five days in Hawrelak. Strong winds or thunderstorms can disrupt the performance, and weather has wreaked havoc on outdoor festivals and performances already this summer. Heritage Festival had to close a few days early due to weather problems and the Post Malone concert was hit with incredible downpours one night before getting cancelled.<\/p>\n

A group of organizers from the symphony will meet every day to decide whether they can proceed. Inclement weather will mean moving that evening’s performance into the Winspear Centre.<\/p>\n

“We had one year where there was 90 km\/h hour winds but the sky was sunny. No one could play because no one could turn the pages on their music,” says Jerrold Eilander, the Orchestra Operations Manager for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. “We have those days during Symphony Under the Sky days blocked off at the Winspear Centre. If the weather isn’t great, if the smoke is at a level where the musicians can’t play or if it’s too windy or possibly have a thunderstorm roll in around seven o’clock, we have the option of moving inside. Other festivals don’t have that option.”<\/p>\n

Moving will mean losing some people who had purchased tickets. The amphitheatre seats about 1,100 with another 1,200 people on the grass. Unfortunately, anyone who purchased tickets in general seating on the park grass will not be able to join the symphony if the performance is moved indoors.<\/p>\n

Symphony Under the Sky<\/p>\n

When: Sept. 3 to 7<\/p>\n

Where: William Hawrelak Park, 9330 Groat Road<\/p>\n

Tickets: Starting at $39, youth 17 and under free on the grass with a paid adult ticket. www.winspearcentre.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a year of celebrations and anniversaries as the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra returns to William Hawrelak Park. That…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59755,59749,19073,59748,1772,52,59756,34929,59751,59753,59754,8883,59750,59752,28329],"class_list":["post-189429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-40-years","tag-bernhardt","tag-bob","tag-bob-bernhardt","tag-david-bloom","tag-edmonton","tag-hawrelak","tag-hawrelak-park","tag-nora","tag-sept-3-to-7","tag-snow-valley","tag-summer","tag-symphony-no","tag-symphony-under","tag-william-hawrelak-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}