Kindred Spirits Orchestra
The Kindred Spirits Orchestra (KSO) is an auditioned-based civic orchestra based in Markham, Ontario, Canada. It performs regularly at the Flato Markham Theatre, the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts, and the CBC Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. Music director Kristian Alexander first discussed creating an orchestra in Markham in 2007. Auditions began in April 2009 with rehearsals in September and the orchestra's first concert was performed at Glenn Gould Studio on 3 November 2009. In its early years, the KSO had 38 musicians and focussed on presenting Baroque and classical repertoire. Since then , it has grown to 86 musicians required for more complex and large-scales compositions. The KSO has commissioned original pieces and has performed works of Canadian composers Brian Current, Gary Kulesha and Larysa Kuzmenko. Outside of its subscription concert series, the KSO has performed special concerts for Canada Day, Chinese New Year, and the Markham Contemporary Music Festival. In 2017, the KSO accompanied Bollywood composer A. R. Rahman at the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts (now Meridian Hall). The orchestra has also performed at the Isabel Bader Theatre and the Unionville Millennium Theatre. The KSO also has community outreach  and educational programs, with professional development opportunities for music teachers, conductors, and musicians. In 2021, the KSO became the first orchestra in Canada to migrate to a fully digital library platform that permanently replaced paper-based music parts with iPad Pro tablets made available to all musicians.