How Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Musicians Helped the Orchestra Recover from Bankruptcy

In Tuesday’s (11/12) Globe and Mail (Toronto), Josh O’Kane writes, “When the players of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony were told in September, 2023, that their season would be cancelled and the organization would enter bankruptcy, they refused to let it go quietly. It was devastating, both artistically and financially, says French horn player Kathy Robertson…. The musicians took the symphony’s fate into their own hands. They got in touch with its foundation and creditors, and built a new board, tapping Bill Poole, a retired local lifelong arts administrator, to chair it. The newly formed team of directors and musicians spent months trying to find a way to resuscitate the Southern Ontario symphony. In October, they pulled it off, getting the approval of both creditors and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. ‘If it weren’t for the musicians, we would not be here today,’ Poole says…. It will likely be a long time before the orchestra will return to Kitchener, Ont.’s 2,000-seat Centre in the Square concert hall or deliver its musicians the regular income they once enjoyed. But the orchestra now has a fresh start…. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice approved the proposal to annul the bankruptcy on Oct. 9.”