Broderyck Olson retires after 65 years as Edmonton Symphony Orchestra violinist

Broderyck Olson, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra's assistant concertmaster for 45 years, has retired after a record-setting 65-year tenure as a violinist with the organization. The 82-year-old cited a non-cancerous tumor in his ear that affected his hearing as the reason for stepping down.

"After being there for 65 years, it was maybe time to move on," Olson said. "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."

Olson witnessed the ESO's transformation from a part-time community ensemble of lawyers, dentists, and doctors rehearsing evenings and weekends — with fewer than a dozen performances yearly — into a professional full-time orchestra. The shift happened in 1971, when the orchestra became a daytime operation and began auditioning musicians from across North America.

"During the '50s and '60s, you were a lawyer, a dentist, a doctor, whatever, and you were playing in the symphony at night," Olson recalled. "In 1971, when we became a daytime orchestra, all those people then went to their real job."

Over the years, Olson performed alongside major rock bands, pop concerts with film and video game scores, and his final ESO performance was a Harry Potter night. He spoke about the difficulty of performing John Williams' orchestral music. "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."

The ESO moved from the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to the Winspear Centre during Olson's tenure, underscoring the institutional changes he witnessed and helped shape.