Hadfield makes solo orchestra debut in Windsor

by Justin Prince

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has always reached for the stars. He continued to do so after making his solo orchestra series debut in front of a capacity crowd in Windsor.

Hadfield, known for his songs such as Space Oddity and In Canada, performed with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra in four concerts over three days at the Capitol Theatre from Oct. 17-19. All four performances in the Capitol Theatre’s Pentastar Playhouse were sold out. According to Shelley Sharpe, the communications manager for the WSO, seats had to be added. The WSO had previously added a fourth performance in March 2014 due to the popular demand to see Hadfield perform.

“It’s always interesting to share an artistic creation,” said Hadfield before the first concert. “You want to show it to somebody you can trust. You want to show it to somebody who you know will give you an honest opinion, but not a wicked opinion … There’s great comfort in bringing your own invention to somebody you can trust.”

Hadfield worked on the performances with WSO Maestro Robert Franz, but it wasn’t their first time working together. Franz, who previously worked as an associate conductor for Musiqa, a contemporary music company in Houston, first heard Hadfield’s music in 2011, when Hadfield was preparing to perform a new song with a group of elementary school students. After Franz agreed to conduct the song, it later made its debut at Symphony in Space, a family concert held by the Houston Symphony as part of the Weatherford Family Concert series in April of 2011. The two would later perform the song twice more, including for one of his YouTube videos from the International Space Station. According to Franz, he didn’t realize what kind of talent Hadfield really had until he was hired as the music director of the WSO in July 2013.

 
“One thing I have to say about Houston is, because it’s the home of a NASA centre (Johnson Space Center), there’s astronauts everywhere. Astronauts always performed at our concerts all the time. I didn’t know how special Hadfield’s talent was. That he was this really talented musician,” said Franz. “So I called him up after I got the job here and I said ‘listen, it would so increase my ‘Canadian-ness’ if you could maybe come and sing one song with the WSO.’ And he said ‘I wrote all these songs about space and if you could help me orchestrate them, maybe we can do a whole show.’ And immediately we embarked on it.”

Hadfield’s visit meant more than just music in terms of its impact on Windsor-Essex County. Hadfield spoke to more than 6,000 elementary school students over a live broadcast from the Capitol Theatre Oct. 17. Hadfield, who just released his latest book You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes, answered multiple questions about space, from how to eat in space to how insects respond to zero gravity. The Windsor-Detroit region was on the cover of the book. He also spoke to students at Canada South Science City four times in the two weeks before the concerts with Dr. Bill Baylis, a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Windsor.

“I wasn’t there the entire day as I was running around a bit (during the webcast session), but there were some really interesting questions,” said Sharpe. “The kids have a unique way of looking at things with this wonder and curiosities that aren’t mitigated by many of the things that come to us as adults … The kids are just free and open, and they come up with these wonderful and unique questions. The crux of all is this curiosity.”

There were rough patches before the start of the concerts. Sharpe said the show didn’t come together completely until Oct. 16, the night of final rehearsals. On opening night, Hadfield had to restart his first song due to playing in the wrong key. When asking the audience if he could start again, the crowd cheered him as he restarted the song.

“What is the worst thing that can happen from playing music,” said Hadfield when asked about the worst-case scenario if something went wrong before opening night. “I mean if I’m standing up here, is it probable that I burst into flames? No. Am I going to run out of oxygen? Probably not. Is our stage going to be hit by a meteorite? Maybe, but the odds are really small. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe I mess up a word or two or forget the words. These are friendly people. We’re all Canadian.”