Cherish the spirit of listening to music as a community
This is the last in a series of three articles by Tania Miller, who retires this spring after 14 seasons as music director of the Victoria Symphony. In the series, Miller reflects on memorable aspects of her tenure here.
Over my past 14 years as music director of the Victoria Symphony, I have spent many happy days and weeks — some alone, some with my family — living and working in our condo overlooking the Inner Harbour, with its amazing view and the sounds that go with it: pipers, buskers, seagulls, tinkling boat rigging, floatplane engines, lapping waves.
I love it that one of the bestknown symbols of Victoria centres on classical music. Symphony Splash, which brings tens of thousands of residents and visitors to the Inner Harbour for a concert every summer, is a dramatic demonstration of the power of the collective experience of listening to music. I vividly remember my first concert as music director of the Victoria Symphony. It was a Symphony Splash concert, no less (not an easy place to start).
I realized as I walked through the massive crowds for the first time that I was in for something life-changing and I was terrified! The wind was ravaging my score up on the barge, the sun was beating down on my terrorized head, and thousands upon thousands of faces were peering at me across the water. What had I gotten myself into?
As the program progressed and the evening started to dissolve into hushed twilight against the twinkling backdrop of the Parliament Building lights, my nerves calmed and the magic of the occasion took over. Actual cannon and fireworks in the 1812 Overture were amazing to my ears. And then there was the unexpected emotional welling from the entrance of the pipers that came with the gratitude for being a part of such a community and such a special moment.
Fourteen years later, the unique allure of Symphony Splash has never once eluded me. It’s a dramatic confirmation of the way music affects us in this special city, both individually and as a community.
There is something more special, more meaningful, more memorable, more social about listening to music beside other people — whether friends, or strangers, or strangers who are about to become friends. The music defines our sense of community in that moment. It takes thousands of people who don’t know each other, who might not have much in common, and brings them for a brief, but potent, moment in time and space, into one community — the beautiful community of Victoria.
Some of the greatest and most memorable moments in individual lives, and in world history, have emerged out of impactful, shared experiences: peaceful protests, great speeches, even World Series victories. They change us as individuals and as a society.
I believe music might be the most poignant yet powerful example of a force that can communicate simultaneously a private message to our most intimate selves, while, at the same time, uniting all who experience it in a powerful group experience. Given current global realities, which inevitably affect us, such a force and such an experience are perhaps as or more important now, than they have ever been.
This is why Symphony Splash — and all of the many other great concerts that we’ve experienced together with the Victoria Symphony — are invaluable and unforgettable: because they have brought so many people together to experience this unique journey of music, making us feel grateful and happy to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and bonded for having shared something extraordinary.
I feel humble and grateful to have been part of that experience. And my wish for Victoria is that it may continue to cherish the community spirit that makes it such an incredible place in the world to live, and to make and listen to great music.