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Two musicians from Regina will be playing a major role in the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday in London.
A couple of months ago, an organizer of the coronation for the new King reached out to the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) and asked it to nominate members who would be interested in playing at the big event.
“They had this plan to take musicians from all of the orchestras that are patronized by the former Prince of Wales, now King Charles III,” said Gordon Gerrard, the music director of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. “Each orchestra — and there are eight of them — are sort of contributing musicians to this orchestra that will be performing Saturday. It’s very exciting.”
The Regina Symphony Orchestra will be the only orchestra from Canada represented at Saturday’s big event.
Two of the RSO’s members were selected to go to London.
“We submitted a list of our musicians to them and they sort of chose what instruments they needed to make up a full orchestra,” Gerrard explained. “We basically offered up everyone and they chose based on the instruments they needed.”
Charles has been the royal patron of the Regina Symphony Orchestra since 2008 when it celebrated its 100th anniversary. In 2008, the RSO was invited to celebrate Charles’ 70th birthday, but didn’t get to perform or do anything like what the two musicians will be doing on Saturday.
Because of an embargo implemented by organizers, Gerrard could not say who from the orchestra will be performing or what instruments they will be playing. Organizers are expected to release that information closer to the big day.
But from what he gathered from the two who will be playing, they were excited about the opportunity of a lifetime.
“They had their first rehearsal on Monday and they’re rehearsing every day this week and that’s basically all I know,” Gerrard said. “I talked to them before they went and they were very excited to be part of the event, but also they have a big-deal conductor conducting the orchestra and he’s the conductor of the Royal Opera in London.
“It’s very exciting for them. It’s quite an honour for all of us.”
