Winston Webber, a member of the National Arts Centre Orchestra for forty years, will talk about the transcendent, the near transcendent and the ludicrous sides of the musical life, reading from his recently published book “Best Seat in the House, Love Letters to a Profession.”
Readings will be illustrated by unprintable asides and rare historic recordings of the orchestra.
About Winston
Winston was born in Detroit—“the Motor City,” “Motown”— back when cars for the world rolled off its assembly lines by the thousands, just a few years after tanks and bombers rolled off its assembly lines by the thousands and saved the free world. Really, it did, you can look it up. Detroit back then was full of great expat musicians with names like Mischakoff, Zerounian, and Bistritsky, so he learned to respect the music of Beethoven and Brahms as much as they did. Of course they respected it. Beethoven and Brahms saved their lives.
Over a fifty-year career, Winston was a member of two international orchestras. In 1972 he joined the Toronto Symphony at the invitation of the late Karel Ančerl. After taking a break to study conducting in New York and sciences at the University of Toronto, he joined the National Arts Centre Orchestra beginning with its 1985 tour to Japan. In 2026 he retired from the NAC Orchestra at the end of his fortieth season with that wonderful ensemble.