The musical escape of Ottawa’s Divertimento orchestra

‘N ow let’s do it again, and watch me this time.”

That order will be repeated time and time again, over two and a half hours by conductor Gordon Slater, as he masterfully leads the 50-odd members of Ottawa’s Divertimento orchestra through the weekly Thursday evening rehearsal.

Our last practice was on March 12, 2020, the day after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A few days later, all members received the much dreaded — but reasonable and expected — news that the rest of our season was cancelled.

Our final concert, a mostly beautiful (Moyzes’ Symphony No. 3, you’re the odd one out) repertoire of Czech, Slovak, Hungarian and Polish pieces, was to be played April 17 and 18.

I miss it so very much.

As a reporter, my work is always somehow on my mind, even when I’m off the clock. Did I put in the right quote? Did I ask the right questions? Trivial details can eat at you well after you’ve put a story to bed, making relaxation near impossible after tough or long days.

But there’s something beautifully militaristic about orchestra. A group of roughly 50 strangers playing over a dozen different instruments are guided by a single conductor into battle against a composer’s creation.

At orchestra, there’s little time to think about anything other than the music, the waving hands of the conductor, the rhythm of the piece and the sounds coming out of my instrument and those around me.

At orchestra, I’m not just distracted from my cellphone and email and social media; I physically cannot access them, because one hand is filled with my violin and the other with my bow.

Particularly in these times when home and office have become one, when work and play seem weirdly intertwined, I miss the escape of Divertimento orchestra.