King’s orchestra in a church

The Orchestra is just one of the Co-op’s ensemble (Photo supplied by the Halifax Music Co-Op Orchestra)

The Halifax Music Co-op Orchestra, which left the King’s Student Union (KSU) last April, has found a permanent home at St. Philip’s Anglican Church in the West End. While executive director Faye Bontje says there has never been a feeling of departure from the King’s community, their change of environment has been drastic.

The co-op now has access to an entire nave for practice, a two-room office floor, and an $80,000 Casavant pipe organ. At King’s, the orchestra would have to move equipment to Bontje’s apartment for storage after practice, or hide it at the back of the chapel.

“There is no free space at King’s,” said Bontje. “We were running the whole thing out of my bedroom.”

Noah White, VP (student life) of the KSU, said the society was “growing beyond what the university could provide for them, and they were outsourcing more than the university could allow for. We would have been unable to continue supporting them.”

But a lack of space wasn’t the only reason for the move.

The co-op, which began in 2010 as the King’s College Orchestra, did not pay rental fees for using Prince Hall to rehearse. They were approached by a Sodexo employee, the company which owns the space, last April and told they would be charged $200 per day.

Bontje says this only made a long-expected departure immediate. The society grew from 35 to 70 people from 2010 to 2011, and to around 150 in 2012.

“It was ready to stand on its own two feet,” she said. “That was the straw, or the tipping point.”

White says the orchestra needed that kind of push.

“This is a small school; it was too big of a fish.”

The HMC has introduced a chamber music orchestra in addition to their regular orchestra and wind ensembles since moving to St. Philip’s. They hire three full-time staff, two part time, and 11 teaching faculty. As a registered non-profit, they can now apply for government grants.

The church gives them storage, office, and practice space free of charge. In exchange, the HMC provides musicians for Sunday worship and other events.

Bontje says that, in many ways, nothing much has changed.

“To us, it hasn’t been a split. Our goal is that everyone in Halifax has access to affordable music. King’s is still a part of Halifax, and therefore it’s not a departure.”

Bontje said they make use of every room available every day, and, with the new facilities, the HMC has room to grow.

“We live here now,” she said. “It’s a gluttony of space and breadth.”