The Calgary String Collective
Classical, and a little outside the box
Concerts & Events
Christmas Concert
Saturday December 10th, 2pm
Christ Church Elbow Park
3602 8th Street SW Calgary
Tickets $15 from CSC Members or $20 cash at the door.
Children 12 and under are FREE.
Winter Workshop: January 16, 7-9pm
New Venue!
Banff Trail Community Centre
2110 20th Ave NW
Come join the Calgary Strings Collective for a
Rhythm Workshop - Time to Play Funky Rhythms with Confidence!
If you play any instrument, you will not want to miss this fun workshop with Calgarian teacher and composer, Tim Janz (www.janzmusic.studio).
Monday, January 16, 7-9 pm
Banff Trail Community Centre
2115 20th Ave. NW Calgary
Fee: $25 (which will be applied to your membership fee if you decide to join CSC).
Rehearsals
We are now accepting registrations for the Calgary String Collective's (CSC)
2023 Winter semester. Please email calstrings@gmail.com for more information.
Rehearsals
Start date Monday, January 23, 2023
Monday evenings, 7:00 to 9:00 PM for 12 weeks
Spring Break (no rehearsal): March 27, 2023
Location
Banff Trail Community Association
2115 20 AVE NW Calgary
Spring Concert
Saturday May 6, 2023
Calgary String Collective COVID-19 Policy
Our top priority as we resume rehearsals is for the health and safety of our players and audience. We will follow local health recommendations and venue requirements as they evolve.
Masking is voluntary for participants in the CSC. However, participants are required not to come to rehearsal if they are not feeling well or if they suspect they may have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or any other contagious illness.
Contact us for more information at calstrings@gmail.com
About
Formed in 2019 we are string orchestra for intermediate to advanced players based in Calgary, Alberta that is completely "player managed" hence the "clever" name!
Our group consists of players that have played together in different ensembles and music camps over the years... Blue Arch Strings, Baroque & Busking (Elisa Serono-Janz), Civic, Ambrose, Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra, WCAMS summer camps, Mountainside chamber music retreat, Shivering Strings to name a few. We are a "collective" of accomplished players, adults that started learning instruments later in life and players that are revisiting their instruments after a period of inactivity! In fact, some of our current players have played together in the Calgary Youth Orchestra way back :)
Playing music have forged friendships and a sense of community over the years and we hope that you will join us in making this coming season an awesome one!
We welcome Elisa Serno-Janz, who is picking up the baton as Music Director for 2022-2023.
"Classical and a little outside the box"
Our tag line is representative of the music we have played together in the past - baroque (a lot of Vivaldi - Elisa's favourite!), classical, new works written for us by Tim Janz, John Abram and Arthur Bachman, Celtic music arranged by Elisa Janz, tangos, and more.
In addition, we have also collaborated with choirs like the German Canadian Male Chorus of Calgary and performed with guest soloists (violin, cello, flute, guitar, lute, harpsichord etc) as well as singers - our favourite being Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. We are also fortunate to have worked with Linda Melsted (www.salishseaplayers.org) in many workshops through the years. She is a brilliant baroque violinist, an inspiring and passionate musician with a great sense of humour and a lover of cats. That goes a long way in our books :), and of course, the bow in our logo goes beyond the boundaries of the box!! So in essence, we will play anything as long as we play together!
Rehearsals are on Monday evenings 7-9 PM at the Banff Trail Community Association (2115 20 Ave NW Calgary). Our Autumn 2022 season will start on September 12, 2022
Please feel free to contact us at calstrings@gmail.com if you have any questions
Music Director
Elisa Sereno-Janz
Elisa Sereno-Janz is a violinist and violist specializing in baroque music and traditional styles. She is the founder and director of Baroque and Buskin’ Strings, which later became Blue Arch Strings, a community string orchestra for teens and adult amateurs in Calgary, Alberta from 1998-2017. Elisa is a graduate of Western University with both an Honours Bachelor of Music in Performance and a Bachelor of Education.
As a freelance musician, Elisa has performed with the Calgary Philharmonic, the Prince George Symphony, the Symphony of the Kootenays, the Red Deer Symphony and the Lethbridge Symphony, as well as her trio Fine Blend (1984-2005) with Tim Janz (flute) and Arthur Bachmann (viola).
Throughout her teaching career which spans almost forty years, she has been interested in the idea of teaching music through folk songs and folk music. She has written and arranged over 30 pieces for string orchestra and string quartet based on traditional music.
Elisa and her husband Tim Janz founded the Celtic traditional band, Prairie Ceilidh in 1994. In the eleven years that they were writing music, performing and touring, they also recorded two albums, Dry Island and A Prairie Ceilidh Christmas.
Elisa's interest in baroque music led to her attendance at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute in 2003 and 2004. She has presented papers at the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention in Aberdeen, Scotland (2006) and Derry, Northern Ireland (2012).
In 2010 Elisa returned to school to pursue her other artistic passion, and earned a BFA from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2014. Her multimedia project, FiddleLights where she integrates music and visual art has been presented at the Electronic Visualisation and the Arts conference in London, England in 2013 and the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention 2015 in Cape Breton.
Elisa is happy to return to conducting, and is looking forward to an exciting season with the Calgary String Collective.
Contact Us
Registration
The CSC is a string orchestra for intermediate to advanced level players. There are no auditions for entry. Admission is at the discretion of the Music Director. Ideally players should have reached RCM Level 8 or higher. It is possible for players at RCM Level 7 to play most of the repertoire on our programmes, however to play the more advanced repertoire it is recommended to have the guidance of a music teacher.
Please fill in our registration form. You can scan or take a picture of the completed form and email it to us at calstrings@gmail.com
Fee is $300 per semester, $200 for each additional member from the same household.
CSC_Fall_Winter_2022_23_Registration.pdf
