Lauren Baron
BRANT NEWS

The Brantford Symphony Orchestra will kick off its 2012-2013 season with the 1960s Motown stylings of Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner and the sounds of 1980s pop musicians Annie Lennox and the Bangles.

London-based Jeans ’n Classics will bring its rock ’n’ roll band and trio of female voices to the Sanderson Centre for the Performing Arts stage to ring in the new season alongside the BSO with a performance called Sisters Soul on Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

“It’s a great musical sound and concept to have an orchestra with a rock band,” said Jeans ’n Classics founder Peter Brennan. “It’s not elevator music or Mantovani-esque treatments of pop music. It’s the real deal and you don’t hear what we do every day.”

The concert will feature R&B, pop and Motown classics punctuated with orchestral music. The entire show focuses on strong female voices from the 1960s to 1990s.

“When you speak of classic rock or classic pop, everyone’s mind goes to Queen, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin,” Brennan said. “It’s important to us to really get our female side out there.”

The Jeans ’n Classics show is only the beginning for the BSO, which is offering a full season of shows in a variety of genres.

Back by popular demand is Christmas Favourites, Once More, featuring the alumni chorus of St. Michael’s Choir School from Toronto, on Dec. 9 at the Sanderson Centre.

“They performed the Christmas show with us two years ago and the audience was overwhelmed with the choir itself and the repertoire,” said BSO music director Philip Sarabura. “It was one of the most positive feedbacks I’ve received on a show ever, so we had to do it again.”

On Jan. 26, the orchestra is trying something new with Emerald Isle Fantasy at New Covenant Church.

In partnership with Marlin Travel, the BSO will perform popular Irish music while travel experts showcase pictures and video of the Emerald Isle.

Local youth will shine on Feb. 24 during Hey Kid, You Want to Play With an Orchestra? at the Sanderson Centre.

Pianists Tatyana Palmer and Bryn Blackwood and violinist Emma Morrison will take centre stage performing a movement of a concerto.

The concept is a new one for the BSO and Sarabura said it will stick around. Youth will be invited to audition every other year for a spot on stage with the orchestra.

“There are fine musicians who have come out of Brantford, but the opportunity to develop more of these younger musicians in Brantford can be expanded,” Sarabura said. “We can do more.”

The Brantford Symphony Orchestra’s Salon Orchestra returns with special guests The Brant Men of Song on April 20 at New Covenant Church with Let Us Entertain You, featuring music from the early 20th century.

“It’s the era of flappers and the Charleston,” Sarabura said. “Cole Porter features pretty big in the program.”

The season will take a more traditional turn on May 5 with Nobility Comes to Town at the Sanderson Centre. The concert opens with William Walton’s famous Crown Imperial March, played at the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, followed by Beethoven’s Emperor piano concerto and Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.

The concert will feature a performance by guest pianist Jiayun Sun, winner of the 2010 CCC Toronto International Piano Competition.

The season ends as it began, with a performance by Jeans ’n Classics featuring the music of U2 on May 31 at the Sanderson Centre.

Visit www.brantfordsymphony.ca or call 519-759-8781 for ticket information.