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Symphony Nova Scotia was formed in 1983 following the demise of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, with Brian Flemming leading the Board of Directors and Boris Brott as the first Music Director. The Symphony began with 13 permanent musicians and used contract players to fill out the orchestra when needed. By 1984, the number of permanent musicians had doubled and by 1987 the orchestra had grown to 39 members.

In 1987 Georg Tintner replaced Boris Brott as Music Director. During Tintner’s tenure from 1987 to 1994, the Symphony made six recordings, toured Ontario and Quebec, and initiated popular community outreach programs such as the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute concert and the annual Nutcracker production in collaboration with Halifax Dance and Mermaid Theatre.

In 1995 the Symphony had a deficit of $900,000, which led to major restructuring, fundraising and cost-cutting, avoiding bankruptcy and achieving a balanced budget for the 1995/1996 season.

The 1996/1997 season began with a new music director, Leslie Dunner, who re-established programs cut during the budget crisis, such as school visits and free concerts, and oversaw a period of great artistic and community success. Dunner’s tenure lasted until 1999, at which point the Symphony invited six candidates to lead the orchestra throughout its seventeenth season. Simon Streatfeild was hired as the artistic advisor in 2000 and in 2002 Bernhard Gueller was appointed music director.

Dr. Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan was born October 3, 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey. She did her undergraduate studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (1973) and got her PhD in Geology from Dalhousie University in 1978, during which time she undertook many oceanographic explorations in the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 1978, Sullivan became one of six women hired by NASA. During her time as an astronaut, she did three missions in space, including the installation of the Hubble Telescope in 1990. She was the first American woman to walk in space.

Sullivan conducted a large amount of research during her time at NASA. She was appointed Chief Scientist at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA) in 1993. Her work focused on fisheries biology, climate change, satellite instrumentation and marine biodiversity. She then became the President and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio and the Director of the Battelle Center for Mathematics and Science Education Policy at Ohio State University. In 2013 she was named Acting Administrator for NOAA having previously served as Acting Chief Scientist, and was confirmed as NOAA Administrator in March, 2014. In February 2016, Dr. Sullivan was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She was also named a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Dr. Sullivan has also served on the National Science Board (2004-2010) and as an oceanographer in the U.S. Navy Reserve (1988-2006).

Igor Stravinsky was a well-known Russian composer, pianist, and conductor, who is considered one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century. He is perhaps best known for his first three ballets, written for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911) and the Rite of Spring (1913), the latter of which provoked a famous riot after its premiere performance in Paris.

He studied with the Russian composer Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov until the latter's death in 1908. In 1910, Stravinsky moved to France with his wife, Catherine Nossenko and their children. Following the First World War, many of Stravinsky's works can be described as Neoclassical, referencing historical genres of music. In 1940, he moved to the Hollywood, California with his second wife, Vera de Bosset. His works following World War Two are more serialist in nature, following the styles of Viennese composers like Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton von Webern. He died in New York City on April 6, 1971.

Marjorie Stone is McCulloch Professor Emeritus of English at Dalhousie University, where she was first hired in 1983. She is the author of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1995), co-editor of Literary Couplings: Writing Couples, Collaborators, and the Construction of Authorship (2006), co-editor of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Selected Poems (2009) and a Volume Co-Editor for 3 of 5 volumes in The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (2010).

Stone is a past president of the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English (1996-98) and was a 2011 Fellow of the National Humanities Centre in the National Research Triangle, North Carolina. She served on several granting council committees in Canada, on the advisory boards of journals including Victorian Review and English Studies in Canada, and on the NAVSA Advisory Board.

Sir William Alexander was born in Menstrie, Scotland in c.1567. Alexander was educated grammar schools and university, and would go on to be an accomplished poet, author and scholar. His poems became the entertainment of the Royal Court. In 1609, Alexander was appointed Gentleman-Usher to Prince Charles, followed by appointments as Master of Requests for Scotland in 1614 and a member of the Scottish Privy Council in 1615.

In 1621, King James I granted Alexander a royal charter appointing him mayor of a vast territory that comprised most of Miꞌkmaꞌki, the traditional and current territories of the Mi'kmaq people. Alexander worked with King James to colonize this territory and establish a “New Scotland” in the footsteps of New France and New England. He was granted the three Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspè Peninsula. This grant however included territory governed by the French, known as Acadia. After some years of unsuccessfully encouraging Scottish settlers to immigrate to Nova Scotia, King James created the dignity of baronet on any Scottish person that would pay for Scottish settlers to immigrate. The Baronets of Nova Scotia became land owners in New Scotland. 85 baronets were purchased by 1631, when Alexander was forced to surrender his colony at Port Royal to the French.

Alexander was appointed Secretary for Scotland in 1626 and held that office for the rest of his life. He died in 1640.