![\"Violinist](\"https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/edmontonjournal/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/20260716db039.ej_304322923.jpg\" "\\"Violinist")
Long-time patrons of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra may notice something amiss next year, a difference in the violin section from the past half century; Broderyck Olson will no longer be on stage.
For the first time in 65 years, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will be without the long-time violinist and assistant concertmaster. The 82-year-old is calling an end to a career with the ESO that has spanned more than six decades after a non-cancerous tumour in his ear has affected his hearing. Olson has hung up his violin and move into retirement, leaving a spot for new talent to come to the organization.
“After being there for 65 years, it was maybe time to move on,” says Olson. “The players that are coming in now, auditioning for the same thing, are fantastic players. Every generation seems to be, you know, the level seems to go up.”
What the organization is losing is institutional memory, a violinist who has been through major changes with the orchestra. He was the assistant concert master for 45 years, saw the organization move from the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to the Winspear Centre and, most importantly, moved from a part-time community organization to a professional orchestra.
From the orchestra’s modern founding in 1952 to 1971, all the musicians were locals who had day jobs. They practiced and performed on weekends and evenings, coming together for less than a dozen performances every year.
“During the ’50s and ’60s, you were a lawyer, a dentist, a doctor, whatever, and you were playing in the symphony at night. Rehearsing at night,” says Olson. “In 1971, when we became a daytime orchestra, all those people then went to their real job: lawyer, doctor, dentist, or whatever. I mean, we were faced with having to find players and audition throughout the world. And now, we have players coming from everywhere to play.”
Over the years he’s performed alongside major rock bands, pops concerts with movie scores and video game music and his final ESO performance was a Harry Potter night. He talks about the difficulty of performing the music of John Williams.
“That music is so bloody hard. It’s all over the bloody place. When you’re sitting in the audience, you can’t tell that we’re sweating bullets up there and we’re missing half the notes. I always come off the stage and say, ‘Geez, I only played half the notes tonight.’ The music went by so bloody fast.”
His favourite remains the work of the masters, the music of the romantic period and composers such as Tchaikovsky or Brahms. The beautiful melodies and the large orchestration appeal to Olson, with full brass and woodwind sounds coming together to create something greater than the sum of their parts.
Is he going to miss performing after six-and-a-half decades? Sitting in the cavernous Winspear Centre where he performed his last show, he takes a second to think. His eyes wander up to the seats at the back and the rafters and his voice hitches slightly.
He talks about the 100 to 110 performances every year, which he won’t be a part of, or the practices as they gear up at the end of the summer preparing for the annual Symphony Under the Sky, which again he will miss this year.
“But I’ll be … yeah, I’ll be missing it,” he says.
It will be the first time in the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s modern history that someone from Olson’s family won’t be performing. His father was one of the founding members, starting with the violin section in 1952, the year the orchestra started.
He had been a long-time music teacher in the city, starting the Olson Music School in 1936. Olson worked at the school from the age of 12, getting into teaching at 14. Teaching would be a side-hustle he would keep throughout his career, teaching at the University of Alberta, the Banff School of Fine Arts and even out of his home. He only gave up teaching about a decade ago.
Olson also retires as one of the longest-serving orchestra members in the world. According to a list compiled by classical music news site Slip Disc, he’s tied for fourth place alongside violinists Felix Resnick and Lois Fees, both of whom played for American orchestras. Many of the other musicians on the list are retired or have passed away, leaving Olson’s record unlikely to be challenged. The top spot was from a bass player from Atlanta, who had 71 years under her belt.
While he won’t be performing, Olson has been invited back to the Symphony Under the Sky at the beginning of September, the orchestra’s return to Hawrelak Park after years away during renovations. He will be giving a quick talk on the importance of the orchestra and talking about Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, that evening’s performance.
Retirement looks like philanthropy for Olson, who will work with friends to raise money and awareness for groups helping survivors of sexual and physical abuse, such as Little Warriors, who also runs the Be Brave Ranch east of Sherwood Park.
“I’m going to get a bunch of my retired buddies to join along with me and see what we can do to help,” says Olson.
","slug":"broderyck-olson-hangs-up-his-violin-after-65-years-with-eso","publicPath":"/news/2026-07-21-broderyck-olson-hangs-up-his-violin-after-65-years-with-eso"}}