Ellen Himmer achieves her dream

Ellen Himmer’s musical life began in a suburb of Philadelphia, when her class had tickets to hear the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. Yehudi Menuhin played Brahms. Then and there, eight-year-old Ellen resolved to learn the violin and play in an orchestra.

Fast forward a few years and several music scholarships later, and we see Ellen graduate from the music program at Duquesne University and Youngstown University with degrees in cello performance.

She moved to Canada in 1970.

In 1974 she got her dream job as Principal Cello with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Orchestra. Dancers and musicians travelled by bus to many corners of the U.S. and Canada, and as Ellen tells it, a splendid time was had by all.

Then Life happened in the shape of a farm and 5 children in rural Manitoba. When she was able to leave (18 years later), Ellen remembered Victoria from her travels as “a nice place to live”.

She moved to Sooke, met Norman Nelson, joined the Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, and played all concerts as well as the Stagewest musicals. In the early days of the SPO, with Norman, Alison Crone and Volker Metz, they performed many small concerts as outreach to promote the orchestra. She set up a studio as a music teacher and counts at least 200 students, several of whom (like Shane Beech) went on to become talented musicians themselves. She served and still serves as the organist at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, and has been invaluable as the liaison between church and the SPS.

Ellen retired from teaching a few years ago but continues to be supportive of the Harmony Project. She enjoys refurbishing worn-down musical instruments and furniture as well as working in her allotment garden at Sun River.

Plus of course, she is looking forward to another season playing with the cellos in the Sooke Philharmonic.