March 18 2002 Local Events Over The Edge Page 10 Night with the Symphony: A Look at the PGSO Season By Lorenzo Sia The 2001-2002 season of the Prince George Symphony Orchestra has been fraught with excitement and tragedy. Last September brought the PGSO new faces and new ideas. Our music director, the late Wallace Leung, came into the scene with freshness and promise. A native of the lower mainland, he came to our community with ideas. He planned to have a more com- munity oriented symphony that made connections with the young. He brought with him the notion of the orchestra per- forming throughout northern communities; wanting to bring chamber music and its culture to the far reaches of this dis- trict and land. Musical series were created and programmes set which promised music diverse and interesting to the listener. Music that we have heard and seen from the PGSO this past year include the famous Symphony No. 5 of Beethoven to the interesting and modern form of Moz-Art a la Haydn by Schnittke to such dramatics as the “London” Symphony No. 104 in D Major by Haydn. PA Le ‘ = = The symphony orchestra is for all people from chamber music lovers who take to heart the slightest detail to those who attend for love and plea-— sure of listening to chamber music, or for those who want to have a beautiful evening out with something that is at times subtle and at others, dramatic and involved. Although the PGSO is smaller in comparison to her larger neighbours to our south and east, the PGSO’s success in performance lies in the heart of the members who practice day in and day out, who teach music to students in -the city and district, and who play for love of their profes- sion, and more importantly, for the enjoyment of others to lis- ten to their artistic capabilities. The PGSO has had guests play such as renown violinist Jonathan Crow to the PGSO’s own Simon Cole. Cole, a clar- inettist, has performed several times, including a performance of a composition of his own. The PGSO has also per- formed in collaboration with Judy Russell of her Enchainement Dance Studio. She has choreographed and produced two productions with the PGSO and the Prince George Theatre Workshop. Over the year, we have seen two productions, one in December — the Nutcracker with the music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and last February — Oklahoma with music from Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein Ill. Both productions were suc- cesses as the collaboration showcased the latent talent that is ever present in Prince George. With Leung’s passing, Bradley Thachuk has been the interim conductor for the PGSO. The PGSO has three more performances, the last major performance with be on April 6-7 for the last of the Masterworks Series - Masterworks Four: Music of the North featuring Stephanie Chow in piano and the music of Schiptzsky’s Aurora Borealis, Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor - op. 16, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D - op. 43. Business Development Bank of Canada Banque de développement du Canada UBC Conference on International Security Dana Schwehr March 9th, 2002, was the annual Conference on International Security at UBC. This one-day conference is an opportunity for students of var- ious universities around British Columbia to gather and pre- sent, debate, and discuss problems in international rela- tion. This year, the main focus was on the events of 11 September 2001, and their aftermath. Various subtopics were discussed, such as “Should the budget of the Department . of National Defense be increased?” and “Have international politics changes since September 11?” Each topic is discussed by three students: one that argues the pro side of the question, one that argues the con side, and one student that UNBC Students and professor Ken Wilkening debate peace at the UBC conference on international security. Stratégie _emploi jeunesse questions the two arguments. Afterwards, the members of the audience may question the presenters as well. This year, four UNBC stu- dents, Joanna _ Hutchings, Nedinska MacEhern, Chris Mikulasik, and Stephen Omelus, as well as Ken Wilkenning of the International Studies Department, were for- tunate enough to attend this event. Both MacEchern and Omelus were able to present topics, with MacEchern argu- ing to pro side of “Is terrorism a threat to Canada?” and Omelus speaking on the pros of “Can the Middle East peace process be revived?” Both stu- dents did very well; according to Wilkenning, all the dele- gates involved “did a very good job of upholding the UNBC standard.”