O Symphonic Canada!

Monday night's visit to the symphony ended as all musical pieces should - on a high note. Morrie and Em invited us to join them for the season finale of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO).

It was a Russian evening of composers, Rimsky-Someone and Igor Somebody Else. I enjoy classical music but don't count me as a connoisseur. I was impressed with how Morrie and Em could discuss the ebb and flow of the music. They are further up the totem of music than I. My appreciation of music is like that of art. I don't know any of the finer details but I do know what I like.

Now Rimsky-Someone I enjoyed very much. It was everything a good classical piece should be: soothing, pleasant, rousing, dramatic and easy on the ear. Igor on the other hand was more along the lines of stupefying. No wonder this particular piece befuddled the 1913 patrons on its opening night and caused a riotous outcry. Too bad the order of the program wasn't the reverse I thought. I'd rather end the night on a good note than a befuddled one.

But the evening wasn't done. Considering that it is a Vancouver Canada Olympic year and the VSO recorded the Canadian national anthem played at our 14 gold medal ceremonies, Maestro Bramwell Tovey chose to end the evening and the season with 'O Canada!'

The Olympics has changed the face of Canada and its appreciation of its national anthem. Before the Olympics, I was often annoyed at the ambivalence many Canadians showed toward their national anthem. Canadians seemed uncomfortable with any display of national pride. Their attitude appeared to be a way they distanced themselves from their patriotic flag-waving hand-on-the-breast-singing neighbours to the south.

The Vancouver 2010 Olympics changed all that.

Vancouverites plunged themselves into its sheer joy and excitement. With each medal won, the excitement and pride compounded and increased exponentially. Canadians became proud of their athletes, their effort, their achievements and their national anthem. We outdid our neighbours to the south with our unbridled display of patriotism. We surprised ourselves, and the rest of the world, with our spontaneous singing of 'O Canada' on the streets of Vancouver.

And here we are at the Orpheum, four months later, keen to sing our national anthem once again. We stood as the VSO struck the chords of 'O Canada' and away we went, proud to be Canadian.

Canada gold, Russia silver and bronze.