The CBC Radio Orchestra played its last concert Sunday (November 6) afternoon, to a sold-out crowd at the Chan Centre.

Protests over the ensemble's dissolution were kept to a minimum: a few people from the Stand on Guard for CBC group handed out flyers, but there were no demonstrators or anyone waving placards, as has occurred at recent CBCRO concerts.

The program made a bold statement. The second half featured Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92, but the first half consisted of five new works, all of them CBC commissions by Canadian composers: Welcome to Kelowna by Owen Pallett; Polarlicht: Study No. 2 for Orchestra by Samy Moussa; Requiem Fragments by Kati Agocs; Ancestral Alloys by John Stetch; and Lonely Child by Claude Vivier.

It was as though the musicians and producers were saying: "See? Here we are, furthering Canadian talent. We have never been more relevant."

It was a virtually flawless performance, which the audience responded to with a defiant standing ovation that seemed to last forever, continuing on despite host Bill Richardson's attempts to silence the crowd.

Alain Trudel made a short statement about the orchestra's future, but did not mention his plans to rebrand the group as the independent National Broadcast Orchestra.

With director of the UBC School of Music Richard Kurth, Montreal businessman Philippe Labelle, and managing director of the Chan Centre Sid Katz by his side, he stated simply that "We have shown that our tradition and purpose are alive and well, and just as meaningful and important as they ever have been....We look forward to coming back to UBC, the Chan Centre, and airwaves of CBC with a new mission." 

As the last musicians left the stage, a few listeners shouted "Shame on the CBC!" And that is how, after 70 years, North America's last radio orchestra came to an end.