Winnipeg Free Press
April 28, 2011
Gwenda Nemerofsky
Tonight, at a special gala dinner at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra is recognizing one of its own. Double bass player Stan Label is hanging up his bow after 43 years. The familiar jovial face at the far right of the Centennial Concert Hall stage will finish his orchestral career at the end of this season.
What many people may not know, however, is that this long musical career almost never happened.
“In my first year with the WSO, I developed a hernia,” Label said during an interview at a local coffee shop. “My doctor wanted to operate, but I said ‘we’re really busy right now. Let’s wait until the end of the orchestra season.’ That year was a short season and we finished in late April. I had the surgery but had a severe reaction to the general anesthetic.”
At 24, Label nearly died.
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