It will be a full-circle moment for emerging flutist Gillian Derer when she joins the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO) as a soloist for the “Inspired” concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 12 at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough.
The PSO was one of the first orchestras for which she was a substitute while studying at the Glenn Gould School of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto. She subbed as a second flute and piccolo player during the PSO’s 2023-24 season.
“We played Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony in my first concert with the PSO which, for the flute player, is an insane gymnastics piece,” Derer says. “It’s so difficult. It’s famously difficult. So, I was so nervous as a student coming to join the orchestra to play that piece because it’s just so challenging, and we had the best time. It means a lot to be coming back to play as a soloist.”
Originally from Tillsonburg in Ontario, located southeast of London, Derer is currently studying at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in pursuit of her Master of Music degree. Recently named a Burkart Emerging Artist by the Boston-based flute and piccolo maker, Derer has worked under a variety of acclaimed mentors and has earned first prizes in competitions internationally, including the Canadian International Music Competition, the Schubert International Music Competition, and the Charleston International Music Competition, among others.
With a passion for mentoring the next generation of musicians, she maintains a private teaching studio, gives guest lectures around North America, and uses her platform of almost 42,000 Instagram followers to make classical music more accessible to new audiences. This passion stems from her appreciation for teachers who immersed her in music education despite limited access to the arts while growing up in a small community.
“I think there are so many people in my position who, growing up, either didn’t have the right teacher to help them fall in love with music, or they just don’t have an arts presence in their communities to have a look into what this world is like,” Derer says. “For me, to help keep our industry relevant and meaningful in the 21st century, I definitely use social media as a way to pull back the curtain and help reach new audiences — both people wanting to study and people wanting to just fall in love with what we do.”
The PSO’s matinee concert on April 12 will be welcoming spring with a varied program that explores music inspired by nature, tradition, and visual art and spotlights some of the orchestra’s own soloists. Canadian composers Marjan Mozetich and Glen Buhr will be featured, with the former’s 1998 Postcards from the Sky, a tribute to watching the clouds paired with the latter’s atmospheric and expansive Akasha/Sky, which first premiered in 1990.
The PSO will also perform Ottorino Respighi’s 1927 Botticelli Triptych which pays tribute to three paintings by Sandro Botticelli, a leading artist of the Italian Renaissance. Each of the three paintings honoured in Respighi’s work explores themes of birth, awakening, and arrival, making it a good fit for a spring concert.
The PSO will also explore Igor Stravinsky’s love letter to Italy, Pulcinella Suite, which premiered in 1922. The suite is a pared-down version of his one-act ballet and has both a playfulness and old-school music with a slightly mischievous twist.
During the concert, Derer will make her solo debut with the PSO for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 1778 Flute Concerto No. 1 in G Major. Derer says it’s one of the first concertos a flutist typically learns, as it’s an “important educational piece” to learn Mozart’s style and how to perform a concerto with an orchestra. She refers to the composition as a “lifelong labour of love.”
“I’ve been playing this piece since I started my undergraduate studies about eight years ago, and every single time I return to the music, there’s something new that I notice — whether it’s a repeat over here, he’s quoting himself here, or Mozart’s being a little bit silly over here,” she says.
This will be her third time playing the piece accompanied by an orchestra, and her second time this season, which she notes is “the dream.” She played it last October with the Niagara Symphony Orchestra, and with the National Academy Orchestra of Canada in 2024.
VIDEO: “Movin’ On” by Rhonda Larson performed by Gillian Derer
“I’m always going to be able to bring something new to the piece and, in return, I think Mozart always brings something new to me every time I get to return to it,” Derer says. “It’s very fun. The third movement is very cheeky, which I like a lot about Mozart. He’s kind of mischievous in that way. The second movement is just completely beautiful. It’s lullaby-esque and really stunning. And the first movement is one of the most iconic things that we, as flute players, play. So, it is really the most special flute concerto to me for all of those reasons.”
Derer explains that she’ll be reflecting on how her life experiences have changed her reading of the concerto and how she can represent that by focusing on a specific minutia or other adjustments depending on the orchestra.
“Sometimes that minutia maybe doesn’t work when you’re playing with an entire orchestra behind you rather than by yourself, so there’s always a little bit of flexibility and living on the edge,” she says. “I think that even in Mozart, you have to live on the edge a little bit. And that flexibility piece always comes in the first rehearsal. You have to make adjustments and that’s really fun too. It keeps the music alive all the time.”
Derer says she’s excited to make these adjustments alongside PSO music director and conductor Michael Newnham and in front of an audience she says has “always been good to me.”
“It’s a really, really special community that it always feels like I’m returning home, even though I’m not even from Peterborough,” she says. “I’m just so excited to be able to come back in this different role and make music with them. It’s going to be such a special career highlight for me, for sure.”
The “Inspired” concert on April 12 will follow a “Meet the Maestro” pre-concert talk beginning at 2:15 p.m., where Newnham will take to the stage for an intimate chat with the audience about the afternoon’s program. Audience members are also invited to the lower-level Cogeco Studio during intermission to join Maestro Newnham and the musicians.
Tickets for the concert are $36, $50, or $57, depending on the seat you choose, with student tickets costing $15 for all seats. Tickets are available in person at the Showplace Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, and one hour before the concert, or online anytime at showplace.org.
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s 2025-26 season.
