When she received the news that the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS) had canceled their 2023-2024 season just 48 hours before it was set to begin, Kendra Grittani, a cellist who played in the now-defunct orchestra, felt a deluge of emotions: “I was so depressed, so helpless, so sad, so angry.” However, Kendra wasted little time sitting in her shock, and instead quickly sprung into action.
She started by sharing a post on her personal Facebook page explaining the unfolding situation at the KWS. At the time, the orchestra had shared very little information about the season cancellation with musicians and patrons. In her post, which was shared over 700 times, Kendra attempted to answer the flood of questions she and other KWS musicians had been receiving about what was going on at the symphony. Just a few days later, the KWS declared bankruptcy.
Kendra Grittani (Photo by Sara Reza)
Kendra’s Facebook post represented a first effort in the major leadership role that she has taken on since the dissolution of the orchestra. She has coordinated fundraising efforts and benefit concerts, managed the committee’s social media accounts, and communicated with the press. “My wanting to help stemmed from making that initial post on my personal page, and finding that [channeling]all of those feelings I was having […] into work made me feel better,” she explains.
It is unsurprising that Kendra would need an outlet in the aftermath of the KWS’s bankruptcy and the other challenges of recent years. The plight she has endured is reflective of that which many emerging classical musicians have faced in the shifting post-pandemic climate: dwindling professional opportunities, delays, and uncertainty.
Born into a musical family, she began playing cello at only four years old, going on to study in a pre-college program and later at McGill University. She graduated with her master’s degree in 2018 and spent a year auditioning for orchestras, making it to the final round of the KWS’s cello section auditions just before the pandemic hit. Due to covid restrictions, the orchestra was unable to continue with formal auditions for the open cello position. Consequently, for the next two years Kendra played sporadically in the KWS as a substitute while the chair sat empty. As soon as restrictions were lifted, she auditioned for and won the position. She had just finished her first complete season with the orchestra when it was forced to fold due to financial turmoil that had been partially spurred by a dip in subscribers during the pandemic.
Kendra’s frustration over the board’s decision to dissolve the KWS is exacerbated by her knowledge of the community’s overwhelming support for the orchestra and its musicians. Messages of support have poured in from all over the world, and to date over $450,000 has been donated to the musicians’ GoFundMe campaign, with more funds being raised through benefit concerts, one of which recently featured internationally-acclaimed pianist Emanuel Ax.
She wishes that the board had recognized and turned to that community for help sooner, rather than waiting until it was too late.
Kendra Grittani (Photo by Sara Reza)
Kendra also notes that, despite a decrease in subscribers, the KWS had seen an increase in single-ticket sales during the 2022-2023 season, a phenomenon experienced by orchestras across the country as Canadians’ concert-going habits change post-pandemic. The most recent season had featured two out of the orchestra’s three highest-grossing concerts in its history – a program featuring video game music, and a concert version of the television show Murdoch Mysteries. To Kendra, all of this clearly refutes the notions that classical music is outdated, or that Kitchener-Waterloo is not a welcome home for a professional orchestra.
Kendra intends to remain involved in the activities of the KWS Players’ Association, which continues to curate a series of benefit concerts, disperse donated funds to the former KWS musicians, and work towards establishing a new orchestra. However, the loss of her job has forced her to reevaluate her options. She has decided to leave Canada and plans to move to California with her husband, who is American, for a new start.
When she won her position in the KWS, Kendra felt the immense relief and gratitude that comes with earning a salaried, stable position as a musician. She recalls thinking, “I get to know what the next year of my life is going to look like for the first time in my entire career. Wow, that’s wild!” Now, as she begins to plan for auditions in the United States, she worries about having to rebuild her career from scratch in a new country, and fears that it will be hard to trust another orchestra again. Kendra’s departure from Canada’s classical music community is a great loss, and warns of the possible draining of young Canadian talent from their home country, should other institutions suffer the same fate as the KWS.
For more information: https://www.savethekws.ca/home
https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-your-kwsymphony-musicians
