THE GRAND SALON
CANADA'S PALM COURT ORCHESTRA

STRATTON CONDUCTING A BUSY LIFE
John Terauds, Toronto Star, April 6, 2006

"Kerry Stratton may have just gotten off a plane from Vienna the previous day, but you'd never guess it from the infectious energy with which he relates his recent musical exploits. "The Toronto-based conductor has been spending an increasing amount of time in Central Europe, but his heart - and family - is very much in Toronto.

"He has returned home with a tantalizing musical treat in the form of the Vienna Concert-Verein, a 20-year old ensemble of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra…Tonight's Toronto engagement at the George Weston Recital Hall includes hot, 30-something Italian guest pianist Roberto Plano, in a Mozart piano concerto, Schubert's Symphony N.5 and the Sinfonietta, Op. 48 by Malcolm Arnold. This is part of a wider tour of Ontario towns this month under the umbrella of Stratton's International Touring Productions…Next year, he returns with a core ensemble of the Czech Philharmonic. (making their North American debut).

"When in these parts, Stratton also conducts the Toronto Philharmonia, which is the resident orchestra at George Weston Hall. And he's also hard at work building a salon orchestra. "It's black tie, it's vermouth. It's manners and grace." Says Stratton of the 21-piece band that will play music from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The group, which so far has been playing at private functions, has seven public concerts lined up for 2007… His aim is to have several programs ready, including light European fare, North American music ("Porter, Gershwin, Jerome Kern" ), songs by Noel Coward and a Tango program as well as Christmas (and Valentine) selections.

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