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The Music Director of the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra announced his retirement on Friday.
Bruce Dunn will finish his current contract, which expires in June 2017.
Dunn, who will celebrate his 72nd birthday next week, will have served as the music director for 27 years.
“Clearly we’ve been blessed to have Bruce in this challenging role for so many years. He’ll be leaving u with big shoes to fill,” said Kathy Humphreys, General Manager of the Kamloops Symphony Society.
Dunn has been involved in orchestral performances for 52 years. He joined the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as a French horn player in 1963.
He said he plans to continue to be active in the music community after his retirement, continuing to arrange music scores and appearing as a guest conductor whenever possible.
“I think I’ve finally got to the point where I can afford it,” Dunn said of his retirement. “It’s not a job or profession that you just quit doing. Any conducting opportunities that come along I will do.”
Dunn also said a transition in the age of the musicians led him to think it was time to allow someone else to assume the role of conductor.
“The orchestra, probably 99 per cent is way younger than I am,” he said. “It’s a young orchestra and I was thinking today back when I started here it was a lot of retirees. I think if the music director is the same age as the people who are leaving the audience, maybe it’s nice to get a younger person in who has some fresh ideas.”
Dunn was a part of transitioning the KSO from a community group into a professional orchestra. He said it was not necessarily intentional, but as members moved out of town they were replaced by professional-calibre musicians to the point he noticed entire sections of professional players.
For example, Cvetozar Vutev, the current concert master, moved to Kamloops from Bulgaria to join the KSO.
“All these things helped to stabilize and make it a more vibrant organization,” Dunn said. “It’s gone from seven rehearsals for five weeks to do a concert, and now for this show we had one yesterday and one today and that’s it. It’s a huge difference, that’s what professional orchestras do.”
During his time with the KSO he also served as the Music Director for the Symphony of the Kootenays for 13 years and as instructor of orchestra conducting at the University of British Columbia for 16 years. He also directed the Thompson Rivers University chorus for several years.
Dunn was also instrumental in developing the Kamloops Symphony Music School in 2002 to have symphony members teaching lessons for young musicians.
The search for Dunn’s replacement is expected to begin in the next few weeks.
Applications will be accepted over the next few months, and the Kamloops Symphony Society will shortlist five candidates who will each come to Kamloops as a guest conductor for one concert during the 2016-17 season.
The new Music Director is expected to be in place by June 2017.