CULTURE GECKO
Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra Aims to Bring Bouncy Bassoon Energy with Their Spring Fever Concert
By Ezekiel McAdams
March 3 2026
The Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra (SSO) returns March 7th 2026 with their Spring Fever concert.
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This concert promises to evoke the upcoming spring season with a breezy and bouncy energy.
One of the pieces, Mozart’s “Bassoon Concerto in B-Flat Major” will prominently feature the bassoon. Bassonist, Stephanie Unverricht, will play the piece.
The concert will be guest conducted by Tania Miller. Miller is both artistic director and conductor of the Brott Music Festival and National Academy Orchestra of Canada (NAO) in Hamilton, Ontario.
Unverricht is excited to showcase the bassoon, which she has often felt the instrument doesn’t get its due. “We are often called the clowns of the orchestra as we jump and play around the rest of the instruments” she said.
Born in Saskatoon, she was initially unsure of going into the field due to both parents being musicians. “Part of me didn’t want to go into music because both of my parents are musicians. Until I was around it, it was something I did, but I didn’t want to copy my parents go into the family business. I definitely had a moment in the middle of grade twelve, I was thinking going into science because I liked chemistry but I really, really love the bassoon and I can’t not do this” she exclaimed.
Unverricht revealed the concert’s theme is simple “Part of it has to do with the date. We’re getting a bit nicer temperatures and it’s nice to get outside and finally get a break from dreary winter. The music on this program is full of life and joy. The first piece, the Beethoven Egmont’s Overture, is very intense as Beethoven’s music always is. The Vaughan William’s string piece will be gorgeous and up next is my bassoon concerto. The second half is the Schumann symphony and I’m not in any of those pieces except the bassoon concerto.”
While slightly nervous taking centre stage, Unverricht, is excited to perform the piece and feed off the energy of her colleagues. “Lots of feelings, I’m terrified, it’s very nerve-wracking, despite having two degrees in performance, getting up on stage in front of crowd like that, brings a lot of nerves,. There’s a lot of things that could happen but I’m really excited to share this piece with everyone, last time I did a solo I could really feel the energy of my colleagues behind me supporting me and I felt so loved on stage.”
Unverricht said Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto piece is a staple of her instrument.. “So the Mozart Bassoon Concerto is pretty standard of the repertoire of the bassoon. We don’t have a lot of music written for us, compared to say pianists, violinists. This one is on every single audition, so when I auditioned for university and my job here, this is the piece they want to hear, specifically the beginning called the exposition. The piece is in three movements; the first is bubbly and fun and dramatic. Mozart was eighteen years old when he wrote it so it’s full of young enthusiasm. The second movement is really beautiful, I like to think of it as a little love letter. The third movement is very light, bubbly, very fun and the bassoon kinda dances around the whole orchestra and I don’t play the main melody until the very end” she said.
Guest conductor, Miller chose pieces that would take the audience on a musical journey. The program begins with the opening darkness of Beethoven’s Egmont then into the prayerful reflection of Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallisby Vaughan Williams the audience is primed for brighter days. That lightness comes through in Mozart’s playful concerto and the joy of Schumann’s Symphony No. 1 aptly nicknamed “Spring”.
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“For me, this program is all about contrasting, so much of what we really hear emotionally in the musicis in relationship to hearing other things,” says Miller. “I know how it’s going to flow and feel, the waymy pulse is quickened in this moment, then having peace wash over me in another, and then joybubbling over in the next, it’s going to be a memorable trip.”
The SSO's Spring Fever concert is on March 7th at TCU Place at 7:30 PM in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. Tickets can be bought online here, the box office or the venue.
“The Egmont Overture is always fun. I love Beethoven’s music and it’s such a treat to listen to the strings, they are like the waves of the whole orchestra. It will be really beautiful to listen to.” Unverricht said.