MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR
On behalf of the City of St. John’s, I am pleased to extend warm greetings to the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra as you launch your 2025/2026 season, Obsessed, Onstage, Onfire.
This year’s theme reflects the passion, dedication, and energy the NSO brings to our community year after year. Through inspiring performances, meaningful education programmes, and steadfast community engagement, the NSO continues to ignite a love of music that enriches the cultural fabric of our city.
My sincere thanks go to the musicians, staff, volunteers, patrons, and sponsors who make each season possible. Your commitment ensures that the symphony not only thrives, but also continues to inspire audiences of all ages.
On behalf of Council, I congratulate the NSO on another exciting season and wish you every success as you share your extraordinary talent with our community.
Warm regards, Danny Breen Mayor of St. John’s
Message from the Lieutenant Governor
As Honorary Patron of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, it is my great pleasure to extend greetings and very best wishes for the 2025-2026 season.
The NSO is a wonderful orchestra, which has served to cultivate and profile many of the exceptional artists we have in our province. The gift of the NSO’s rich orchestral music has become an integral part of the cultural fabric of Newfoundland and Labrador. Again this year, a variety of performances are planned, sure to delight audiences and inspire us all.
This season is the first under the artistic leadership of Music Director Simon Rivard. Congratulations on your new role, and welcome!
I hope you will enjoy the performances the NSO has in store this year. To everyone involved: the musicians, staff, crew, and all who have a hand in producing this season, I thank you and wish you the best.
Joan Marie J. Aylward, O.N.L Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador
We acknowledge the province of Newfoundland and Labrador as the traditional territory of diverse Indigenous groups, and we acknowledge with respect the diverse histories and cultures of the Beothuk, Mi’kmaq, Innu, and Inuit of this province. We strive for respectful relationships with all the peoples of this province as we search for collective healing and true reconciliation and honour this beautiful land together.
HALLOWE’EN SPOOKTACULAR THE PARANORMAL POPCORN PATROL
Saturday, October 25, 2025 • St. John’s Arts & Culture Centre
Presented by Newfoundland Power and NTV
Martin MacDonald, conductor
Original script written by Kyle McDavid
Starring:
Dianna Connors | Claire Dermody | Neave Dermody
Cooper Hunt | Sadie O’Connell | Lucy White | Kiley White
PROGRAMME
John Carpenter
Theme from Halloween (Halloween)
Danny Elfman Wednesday Theme (Wednesday)
Hector Berlioz
Dies Irae from Symphonie Fantastique (The Shining)
John Williams Suite from Jaws (Jaws)
Modest Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain
Kyle Dixon, Michael Stein Stranger Things Theme (Stranger Things)
Johann Sebastian Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor
Danny Elfman This is Halloween (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Jerry Goldsmith Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters) - Choreography created by Kiley White
CONDUCTOR MARTIN MACDONALD
Martin MacDonald is one of Canada’s most dynamic and outstanding conductors and has been awarded both the Heinz Unger Award and the Jean-Marie Beaudet Award for orchestral conducting. In January 2022, Martin was named Music Director of the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Most recently, Martin was named Artistic Partner of the Brott Music Festival based in Hamilton, Ontario where he conducted several programs throughout the 2024 summer and fall season and will continue for the 2025 season. Martin has guest conducted extensively across Canada having worked with the orchestras of Toronto, National Arts Centre, Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Kingston, KitchenerWaterloo, London, Niagara, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Windsor, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. He has served as a Cover and Guest Conductor for the National Ballet of Canada for several productions, and has worked with the Minnesota Ballet, Atlantic Ballet, and Halifax Dance. Martin has recorded extensively for the CBC and for several commercial recordings. Most notably, Martin has served as Resident Conductor, Associate Conductor, and a regular guest conductor of Symphony Nova Scotia since 2008 with over 200 performances in a diverse range of programs and artists. Previously, Martin served as Associate Conductor of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada, and has participated in several international conducting workshops and competitions. Recently, Martin has led several live orchestra to film productions and has produced orchestral and opera livestreams and recordings for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Against the Grain Theatre.
Martin has a Master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from McGill University. At McGill, he studied conducting with Alexis Hauser, served as assistant conductor to the McGill Symphony Orchestra, and worked with both Opera McGill and the McGill Contemporary Music Ensemble as well as several other orchestral and chamber music activities. Martin has a Bachelor’s degree in Cello from Memorial University. Martin further studied conducting with Bernhard Gueller, Boris Brott, and Michael Jinbo; and in workshops with Kenneth Kiesler, Gustav Meier, Jorma Panula, and Johannes Schlaefli. Martin’s conducting activities have been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. As a cellist, Martin has performed extensively with many orchestras and chamber music ensembles throughout Canada.
Cape Breton born, Martin is the youngest of twelve children and has a diverse musical background with a strong Celtic music tradition including extensive touring and performing with members of his family throughout Europe and North America. Martin resides in Toronto, Ontario with his wife, Kristen and their daughter, Frances.
VIOLIN 1
Heather Kao (concertmaster)
Dominic Greene (asst. concertmaster)
Andy Kao
Anastasia Kiseleva
Whit Fitzgerald
Claire Boudreau
Lauren Smee
VIOLIN 2
Nancy Case-Oates (principal)
Elena Vigna
Ilyas Duissen
Jacquelyn Redmond
Amanda Yee (OCP)
Zhongli Hu
Stewart Gillies
VIOLA
Kate Read (principal)
Ema Shiroma-Chao
Chantelle Jubenville
Rosaura Aguilar
Emily Pynn
Jonathan Stevenson
CELLO
Nathan Cook (principal)
Nulibeth Ortiz (asst. principal)
Amy Collyer-Holmes
Laura Ivany
Katherine Shipley
MUSICIANS
BASS
Frank Fusari (principal)
Denise Lear
Nick Howlett
Jim Vivian
FLUTE
Sarah Comerford (principal)
Donna Spurvey
Gillian Morrissey
OBOE/ ENGLISH HORN
Annie Corrigan (principal)
Kathy Conway
CLARINET
Glenn Rice (principal)
Brenda Gatherall
BASSOON
Grant Etchegary (principal)
Gabriel Theriault
Chris Williams (contra)
HORN
Emily Dunsmore (principal)
Libby Brennan
Michelle Stevenson
David Natsheh
TRUMPET
Katie Sullivan (principal)
Jill Dawe
Christian Berglander
TROMBONE
Darren McDonald (principal)
Erin Sullivan
BASS TROMBONE
Andrew Cooper (principal)
TUBA
Catherine Tansley (principal)
PERCUSSION
Rob Power (principal)
Etienne Gendron
Jenna Grant (OCP)
Amy Parsons (OCP)
J Benson
PIANO
Brian Way (principal)
HARP
Sarah Veber (principal)
GUESTARTISTS
Best Kind Productions
We are a theatre company based in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
We produce high quality musicals and plays with an outside-thebox sensibility.
We are an incubator for the development of new Canadian musical theatre, contributing to the artistic landscape of our province.
We are committed to nurturing imagination, commitment, and kindness in our province’s youth, through performance and educational experiences.
We are community builders, bringing great people together to collaborate and dream. We are Best Kind.
Kyle McDavid (writer/director, The Paranormal Popcorn Patrol) is a producer, director, writer/composer, educator, and graphic designer. As Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Best Kind Productions, he has produced 40+ events over the past 15 years, wearing many hats both on and off stage in mainstage musicals and plays, the annual outdoor children’s musical at the Bowring Park Amphitheatre, cabarets, readings, and workshops. He has performed with many local theatre companies and directed productions in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Ontario. Kyle is an alumnus of Up with People (performing in the show Roads with an international cast, touring for 1 year in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.)
As a musical theatre writer and composer, he has written original musicals including Impresario, based on the life of St. John’s-born Broadway legend, John Murray Anderson, which was produced through the Resource Centre for the Arts in 2017, children’s musicals How Do You Get to Jellybean Row?, Sidewalk Dandelion (commissioned by Shallaway Youth Choir’s neurodiverse ensemble, Lauda), and and Shallaway Youth Choir’s upcoming Remembrance Day choral-musical, Lightkeepers
Kyle is a composer/pianist for Ladies Who Lunch Productions’ Three Tales of Terror series, Untellable Movement Theatre (Eli & The Death Curse), has created scripts for the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra’s family pops concerts and 2022 Labrador Tour. He has led ArtsSmarts musical theatre/songwriting projects with Beachy Cove Elementary and Ecole St. Matthew’s School students, and is a multi-time nominee for MusicNL Educator and Graphic Designer awards, as well as ArtsNL’s Educator of the Year award in 2023. Love to Megan, Annika, Lachlan, and Rosalie.
UPCOMING CONCERTS
OVATION A STANDING FOR OUR SUPPORTERS
NSO Staff
Simon Rivard, Music Director
Martin MacDonald, Principal Pops Conductor
Hugh Donnan, CEO
Lynn Ann Pye, Patron Relations
Jennifer Brennan, Education & Outreach Coordinator
Maria Penney, Marketing & Development Manager
Dominic Greene, Personnel Manager
Steve Power, Production Manager/Video Production/Editing
Jenny Griffioen, Librarian
Kyle McDavid, Graphic Designer
NSO Board
Tom Hickey (Chair)
Jessica Chapman (Vice-Chair)
Paul McDonald (Past Chair)
Douglas Wright (Treasurer)
Conor Stack (Corporate Secretary)
Michelle Davis (Exec. Committee Member)
Heather McKinnon
Andrea Rose
Duncan Fitzpatrick
Glenn Colton
Alana Walsh-Giovannini
Aimee Letto
Robert Decker
Jennifer Massey
Jing Xia
Karen Bulmer
Chris Williams
Amanda Mann
Robert Thompson
Charlie Byrne
