BROTHERHOOD OPENS THEATRICALLY IN REGINA
Audiences in Regina excited to return to the big picture, big sound of the movie theatre can now
experience Brotherhood, the true, Canadian story of the Brotherhood of St. Andrew and their ill-fated
canoeing adventure in 1926, when it opens at Rainbow Cinemas Golden Mile on July 30th.
Brotherhood follows a band of teenage boys who set out across Ontario’s Balsam Lake in a 30-
foot war canoe, with two camp leaders, and are capsized by a deadly summer storm. Brotherhood
was co-financed by Creative Saskatchewan and co-produced by Saskatoon’s Karma Film. The
score was composed by Saskatoon-born and bred composer William Rowson (Big Muddy), who
will debut as a guest conductor at the Regina Symphony Orchestra, this fall.
“Tobi Lampard and her team at Creative Saskatchewan were essential in getting Brotherhood
financed,” says Vancouver-based director Richard Bell. “Film financing is a bit of a Rubik’s
Cube, but we figured out early on that a co-production between Ontario and Saskatchewan was
our best strategy. We’re stronger together, which incidentally is a theme of the film.”
The survival / adventure drama was the 2020 winner of the Canadian Screen Award for
Achievement in Visual
Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/Zcd9_MgqKaM
Conductor William Rowson
Hailed as one of Canada’s most compelling and versatile young artists. He currently serves as the Artistic Advisor and Music Director of the Stratford Symphony Orchestra. In 2019 he completed a 3-‐year tenure as the Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, where he led the Grammy and Juno award-‐winning ensemble in over 160 performances. To great acclaim, he conducted the VSO’s inaugural Sunset Beach outdoor concert to a crowd of over 14,000. William has collaborated with vocalists Meredith Hall, Rufus Müller, Lawrence Wiliford, Krisztina Szabó and Jann Arden, as well as instrumentalists Sarah Pratt, Nicholas Wright, Sharon Wei and astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Highly regarded in the New Music community, Rowson has conducted the premieres of over 65 new works and is a strong advocate for music by Canadian composers. An active composer as well as conductor, Rowson’s Fanfare for Canada’s 150th was premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Dausgaard. This performance has been viewed
140,000 times on YouTube. In August 2018, his Short Variations on Waves was given its premiere by Ensemble Made in Canada at the Festival of the Sound, and has since been performed in every Canadian province and territory. Rowson has also composed the scores to several films including the 2019 Canadian feature film Brotherhood, which is playing in theatres across Canada throughout 2020.
In addition to performances with the Stratford Symphony, upcoming season highlights include appearances with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, Guelph Symphony Orchestra, Regina Symphony as well as return engagements with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and the VSO.
Bill grew up in a musical family, starting the violin at age 3 in his hometown of Saskatoon. He began conducting while studying at the Curtis Institute of Music. He also holds degrees from the University of Toronto and Western University and has benefited from the mentorship of conductors Bramwell Tovey and Otto Tausk.
