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The Festival Wind Orchestra was founded in 1996. In just over ten years, our membership has grown from a handful of dedicated musicians to over 40 members, resulting in a community orchestra of exceptionally high calibre. This is a tribute not only to the talent of our musicians, but to our conductor and musical director, Gennady Gefter - an accomplished professional flautist and conductor. What makes our non-profit community orchestra so special? For one thing, we keep raising the bar of our own musical standards. As more musicians join, their talents and skills combine to enhance the level of the FWO's performance. This, in turn, attracts new members who are seeking a musical organization that is more stimulating and challenging than the average community-level band. It also allows us to expose our audiences to a higher quality of performance and a wider spectrum of music. Education has always been a cornerstone of our orchestra's existence. We encourage people of all ages and walks of life to join us, from high school students to retired seniors. We seek to enlighten our audiences at every performance, through our choice of music, interactive question and answer periods and informative introductions of every piece. We showcase and provide young musicians with stage experience for their talent. We rehearse to perform public concerts three times per year. As part of our dedication to community service, we also perform concerts at local hospitals, seniors' homes and health-care facilities. There's a feeling of family in our orchestra and we are always looking for new members to join us. Musicians must know how to read and perform music at a grade 6 or higher RCM (Royal Conservatory of Music) level or equivalent. If you play a concert band instrument at an intermediate/advanced level, we invite you to attend our next rehearsal. Our season runs from September through June and we rehearse every Tuesday from 7:30 to 9:30 in the Yonge and Sheppard area. For more information, please call 416-491-1683.