A Look Back and a Leap Forward
What a year it has been for the RDSO! Let’s take a look back at the milestones from last season and share our vision for the exciting year ahead – which also happens to be RDSO’s 40th anniversary.
The 2025-26 season was defined by optimism, enthusiasm, and growth, all made possible by the collective efforts of hundreds of individuals across the Central Alberta region. To our donors, sponsors, volunteers, and advocates: thank you for supporting us, believing in our work, and contributing your time, talents, and resources to better our organization and community.
Our Mission in Action
The RDSO’s core mission is to “engage, educate, and inspire Central Alberta through music,” and it acts as the primary lens for every strategic and operational decision we make. This past year, we focused our energy on two main pillars:
Elevating Artistic Production
To meet the expectations of our growing and enthusiastic audience, we invested heavily in the quality of the music presented on our stage:
- We involved more musicians throughout the year.
- We provided expanded rehearsal time to ensure the “finished product” maintained the highest possible quality all season long.
- No matter which concert you attended, the music you heard was on par with the finest orchestras anywhere.
Strengthening Organizational Health
Just like a tree in a windstorm, an orchestra needs deep roots to survive and thrive. We spent countless hours behind the scenes ensuring that your investment and engagement with the RDSO is built on long-term stability and sustainability. This included:
- Reviewing and refining our core governing documents.
- Successfully negotiating a new agreement with our musicians’ union.
- Onboarding a brand-new donor management platform to better serve our supporters.
The 2025-26 Season by the Numbers
The metrics from this past season prove that the RDSO’s relevance and community reach continue to climb year over year.
These record-breaking numbers are thrilling, with audience capacity up 21% and ticket sales up 4% year-over-year, but they also bring unique challenges regarding heightened demand and limited seating inventory. Since we can’t simply add more seats to the Arts Centre, finding creative solutions to ensure everyone who wants to attend an RDSO event can do so is a major focus for our upcoming season.
What Your Donations Actually Accomplish
When you read our thank-you letters, emails, or social media posts, you’ll frequently see us write, “Your donation makes a difference.” But what does that look like in real life?
On a practical level, every single contribution keeps us steady. We finished the 2025-26 season with a $550 surplus. Relative to our annual revenues, this represents a razor-thin 0.1% margin of error, illustrating just how critical every individual gift is to our daily operations.
On a deeper level, your support builds confidence. Because of you, we don’t just keep things the same year after year. We are able to continuously develop, test new ideas, and ask “What if?” with the trust that our community has our back.
This combination of practical and moral support is invaluable, and “gratitude” feels like too small a word to express how deeply we appreciate everyone who champions our cause.
Our Commitment to You: Looking to the 40th Anniversary
As we prepare for a bigger, bolder, and better year of celebration, the RDSO remains committed to keeping our concerts and programs accessible, affordable, and rewarding.
- Frozen Ticket Prices: We will keep ticket prices completely unchanged for the 40th anniversary season.
- Financial Integrity: We promise to always exhaust cost-cutting measures and pursue new revenue opportunities before turning to our ticket buyers’ wallets to fund our growth and ideas.
- World-Class Value: We are incredibly proud to present music on par with (and sometimes a little better than) orchestras in much larger centres. Being able to deliver this calibre of music at a price point that is 50% lower than those larger cities is a particular point of pride for us.
We will continue to innovate, think differently about what a 21st-century orchestra can be, and explore new ways to connect with the community where we live, work, and play.
Thank you for being an essential part of the RDSO story!
Matthew Whitfield
RDSO Executive Director
