The NSO: A Brief History
Research indicates that there was an orchestra in St. John's as early as 1850. The St. John's Symphony Orchestra, the precursor orchestra to the NSO, came into being in the late 1960's. By 1970 the completely amateur orchestra rehearsed regularly in order to perform three concerts a year. In 1971 the first full time professional musician, Peter Gardner, was engaged as Resident Artist and concertmaster. The NSO was incorporated in 1979 and its development was sporadic until 1985 when a gradual building programme was established under Mario Duschenes as Music Director and Peter Gardner as General & Artistic Director — this programme resulted in the creation of the Atlantic String Quartet, the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra, the Philharmonic Choir of the NSO, the Sinfonia, the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Choir and the NSO Light Orchestra. The current Principal Conductor, Marc David was hired in 1992.
| G.C. (Gerry) Germain |
Chair |
| Heather McKinnon |
Vice Chair - Fundraising |
| Kenneth W. Jerrett |
Vice Chair - Special Projects |
| Gary T. Walsh |
Treasurer |
| Griffith Roberts |
Corporate Secretary |
| Paul Antle |
Member-at-Large |
| Andrew F. Noseworthy |
Member-at-Large |
| Peter Gardner |
Artistic Director |
| Gordon Stockwell |
Players Council |
| Bernice Batten |
|
| Gunther Baumgartner |
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| Ron Beer |
|
| Alan Brown |
|
| Philip Buckingham |
|
| Fred Cahill |
|
| Frank Collins |
Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orch. |
| Mardi Dunn |
|
| Niall Gogan |
Philharmonic Choir of the NSO |
|
Dir. School of Music MUN |
| Katharine Hickey |
|
| Tom McGrath |
|
| Greta Melville |
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| Jennifer Newbury |
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| Janet Peddigrew |
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| Andrea Sparkes |
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| Victoria Warford |
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| Patricia White |
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The Board of Directors listing has been updated as of December 3, 2009.
