On The Scene Reporting From Montreal

No, I'm not at Montreal today to cover the CBC protests (although it would be nice to take at trip) but Adaptistration readers will get an on the scene report from one of the protest event organizers, Alexandra Fol. Alexandra. a Bulgarian-born composer who moved to Canada because of what she described as "its known commitment to concert music" is also the admin for the Save the CBC Radio Orchestra! group at Facebook.com. I spoke with Alexandra  at 12:00 noon ET this afternoon  for a few minutes as the protesters were getting set up for their demonstration. Here's  the audio from that conversation:

Barring any technical or weather related difficulties, you'll find some photos and video from the event too. Regardless of the outcome, it will be as close to live coverage as we're going to get...

When asked why she started the Facebook group, Alexandra said she put the group together shortly after learning that the orchestra was to be dismantled.

"The decision to [dissolve the orchestra] was announced to the players only 6 hours before the official press-release and was done without any consultation with the public," said Alexandra. "I was convinced that the public whom the change was supposed to serve, was not going to be thrilled once they know. Within six-seven days my Facebook group grew to be 5,447 members.

The demonstration was suggested by me, but called by fellow composer Frans Ben Callado, who proposed the date and time.," said Alexandra. "For a demonstration to be noticed it has to happen during office hours when people - including CBC officials - work, and students have classes.

UPDATE, 3:25PM ET: Snow storm indeed, here are the latest photos from the protest rally: