FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3 8:00 PM

Jóhann Jóhannsson: A Prayer to the Dynamo (World premiere)*
Atli Heimir Sveinsson: Symphony No.2 (North American premiere)

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jóhann Jóhannsson, computer
Prairie Voices; Vic Pankratz, director

W are proud to present two monumental works by two of Iceland’s leading composers. Jóhann Jóhannsson joins us for the world premiere of his work, A Prayer to the Dynamo, commissioned by the WSO. Known for his ethereal colours and sonorous harmonies, Jóhannsson’s new piece will leave you breathless as he takes you on an emotional musical journey. To conclude our Festival, we bring you a major musical event: Atli Heimir Sveinsson’s Symphony No. 2. Hailed as an Icelandic masterpiece, Sveinsson’s magnificent work makes its North American premiere tonight with Winnipeg’s own Prairie Voices and an extended WSO.

MASTERWORKS B: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate or guest conductors on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

*Commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra with the assistance of the Danish Arts Foundation

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

Sponsored by:

FEBRUARY 10, 11   8:00 PM
FEBRUARY 12   2:00 PM

Richard Lee, conductor
Gavin Hope, lead vocals
Jeans ’n Classics Band:
Kathryn Rose – vocals
Lis Soderberg – vocals
Katalin Kiss – vocals
Peter Brennan – guitar
Donald Paulton – keyboard
Mitch Tyler – bass
Jeff Christmas – drums

“It was with great pleasure that we put together this tribute to Michael Jackson. As we thought about his incredible gifts and legacy we knew this show must happen….and we love it. It is a pure celebration of Michael Jackson’s staggering talent and the great music he created. We go back to the earliest Motown days of the Jackson Five and include ABC and the beautiful I’ll Be There.

As Michael broke away from the group he created amazing material, some of which we present from ‘Off The Wall’ before finally stepping into some of the best material from the Thriller and Bad albums.” – Peter Brennan, artistic director, Jeans ‘n Classics

With Michael Jackson classics like Billy Jean, Off the Wall, Beat It, The Way You Make Me Feel, Thriller, Ben, Never Can Say Goodbye, Man in the Mirror and so much more, this show will have you reaching for your white glove and sparkle shoes so you can dance up a storm in the aisles.

With four albums, constant touring, and a Juno nomination, Michael Jackson tribute artist Gavin Hope ventured into theatre, where highlights include RENT, and having the opportunity to play the role of Simba in the original Canadian company production of The Lion King.

MUSICIANS IN THE MAKING: Come and listen to various student groups perform on the Piano Nobile Level 45 minutes prior to concert.

DINNER & A SYMPHONY: Enjoy the return of Dinner & A Symphony with Bergmann’s on Lombard for our February 11 concert with American Cuisine, 3-course meal on the Piano Nobile at 5:30 pm. Dinner and concert start at $85!

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

Winnipeg Free Press
January 24, 2012
Shane Minkin

How does the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice — and a few thousand clicks of a mouse.

The WSO announced Monday that it is one of six major regional orchestras heading to the famous New York City venue in 2014 for the fourth annual Spring for Music (S4M) festival. The orchestra plans to perform pieces from its New Music Festival, including Derek Charke’s 13 Inuit Throat Song Games featuring throat singer Tanya Tagaq, WSO composer-in-residence Vincent Ho’s The Shaman: Concerto for Percussion and Orchestra featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie, as well as R. Murray Schafer’s Symphony No. 1.

Read the rest here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/music/wso-to-play-carnegie-hall-137946143.html

Winnipeg Free Press
January 21, 2012
Holly Harris

The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra got its groove on Friday night as its latest pops concert, Hot, Hot, Hot! A Night at the Copa, promised to put the sizzle in symphony.

The booty-shaking concert featured husband-and-wife team of Andrzej and Jennifer Przybyl with the orchestra led by Grammy-winning conductor/pianist/composer/arranger Victor Vanacore. The 14-number program showcased Vanacore’s orchestral arrangements of Latin hits such as Malaguena as well as twists on more classic fare like Over the Rainbow and a nifty take on Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Samba in Blue.

After a brief orchestral opener, Hot Hot Hot, the mostly older crowd had their first taste of the long-limbed dancers in Oye Como Van/Patricia as they spun and twisted their way through the Cuban-inspired medley. The Polish-born Andrzej Przybyl has won international competitions including the Rising Star Latin Dancing Championships, before teaming with his wife, Jennifer, whom he met after coming to the U.S. in 2002. The two are now based in Detroit, Mich., where they continue to tour and teach.

Read the rest here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/arts/wsos-hot-hot-hot-really-not-not-not-137812833.html

Winnipeg Free Press
January 15, 2012
Alison Mayes

La La La Human Steps, the internationally acclaimed Montreal dance company famous for risky movement done at breakneck speed, will perform Feb. 2 at the Centennial Concert Hall.

The show is part of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s 21st annual New Music Festival, running Jan. 28 to Feb. 3.

The 31-year-old troupe led by choreographer Edouard Lock is currently touring an 85-minute, 12-dancer piece called New Work that had its debut last year.

Contemporary composers Gavin Bryars and Blake Hargreaves have reinterpreted Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Gluck’s Orfeo and Eurydice into a score performed onstage by a four-member ensemble.

Read the rest here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/arts/new-music-festival-steps-up-dance-component-136722068.html

Winnipeg Free Press
January 14, 2012
Holly Harris

THE Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra celebrated its own Friday night, showcasing four of its principal wind players in its latest Masterworks concert, Mozart and Schubert.

Theprogramfeatured:PatriciaEvans (horn), Bede Hanley (oboe), Alexandra Eastley (bassoon) and Micah Heilbrunn (clarinet) performing Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b — a charming little gem not played by the orchestra — amazingly — since 1983. American maestro/violinist Andrew Grams leads the orchestra for the pair of weekend concerts.

Composed in 1778, the Austrian composer’s three-movement work recalls the good-natured buoyancy of his likespirited serenades, perfectly crafted to please the ear while spinning endlessly inventive thematic material. This is light-hearted music that puts a lilt in the step that one wishes to hear again, soon. The four musicians play as equals, taking turns soloing and accompanying the other, while exhibiting the unique capabilities of their respective instruments.

Read the rest here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/arts/Celebration-of-WSOs-wind-players-137434793.html

Winnipeg Free Press
January 11, 2012
Gwenda Nemerofsky

It was a fortunate day for Winnipeg, when in 1987, musical power couple, pianist David Moroz and violinist Gwen Hoebig moved here from Montreal. Both 27-year-old graduates of the esteemed Juilliard School, they returned to Moroz’s hometown where Hoebig began her position as concertmaster of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

They soon began to make their mark here. Both quickly became sought-after performers and teachers, but they wanted more. They had played chamber music regularly as members of Les Chambristes de Montreal, but realized that there was nothing quite like the group in Winnipeg at the time.

“When we decided to start up a chamber music concert series, Max Tapper, then the general manager of the WSO put me in touch with Bill Loewen,” Moroz said in a telephone interview. “Bill was heading up Comcheq Services Ltd. at the time and they became our first sponsor and continued to sponsor us for many years.”

Read the rest here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/music/chamber-group-strong-after-25-years-137076653.html

Winnipeg Free Press
December 31, 2011

March 18 — Albert Horch, 93. He was 15 when his brother bought him a wooden flute he taught himself to play. During the Second World War he enlisted in the RCAF band and joined the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra after being discharged in 1948. He played 30 years with the WSO and left to teach full-time, teaching more than 1,300 students.

June — Esther Genser Kaplan, 95. Her first community service was teaching English to Holocaust survivors through the National Council of Jewish Women. She was vice-president of the board of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and sat on other boards including the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She was president of Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Sisterhood and then Midwest branch president of the National women’s League of the Conservative Synagogues of America. She was a founding member and first president of Winnipeg ORT, part of the largest non-governmental network of vocational and technological schools and programs in the world. She helped plan and create the Manitoba-North Dakota Peace Garden as part of the board of the Manitoba Centennial Corporation and was appointed a founding board member on the National Arts Centre representing Manitoba. She was elected to the board of Fidelity Trust, the first woman in western Canada to be appointed to such a position.

See the entire list here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/fyi/notable-manitobans-who-died-in-2011-136470368.html

Winnipeg Free Press
December 8, 2011
Alison Mayes

Judy Garland’s ‘other daughter’ performing Christmas songs with WSO this weekend

For the family of legendary entertainer Judy Garland, some of the most significant memories are wrapped up with Christmas.

Garland’s very first vaudeville performance as a precocious two-year-old was of Jingle Bells.

When the singer/actor was 21, she filmed the 1944 movie musical Meet Me in St. Louis. It includes an iconic Christmas Eve scene in which Garland’s character sings the touching Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas to comfort her five-year-old sister, who is upset about moving away from St. Louis.

“It was such a magnificent and beautiful role for her,” recalls Lorna Luft, who is often called Garland’s “other daughter” because of the greater fame of her older half-sister, Liza Minnelli.

Read more here: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/music/a-luft-letter-to-her-mom-135232618.html

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 8:00 PM

Kaija Saariaho: Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra
Giya Kancheli: Styx, for viola, choir and orchestra

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jennifer Koh, violinist
Daniel Scholz, viola

Graal Théâtre (1997), an explosive violin concerto, with Jennifer Koh as the soloist, closed the concert. This 30-minute concerto combines visceral power and sheer beauty. Ms. Koh gave a stunning, high-energy account of the almost continuous solo line. – New York Times

The music (Styx) first transfixes, then scalds, and when consolation intervenes it feels multi-faceted and somehow palpably wise. – Gramophone

Winner of the Grammy Award and Musician of the Year Award (2008, Musical Americas), Kaija Saariaho has become one of “the few contemporary composers to achieve public acclaim as well as universal critical respect.” We are excited to present to you her monumental work Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra, a raptly beautiful work that showcases the violin’s shimmering sound world of both transience and dramatic force. Also featured is Giya Kancheli’s most celebrated work Styx (scored for choir, viola and orchestra), a work of great spirituality filled with haunting aural images, varied colors and textures, sharp contrasts and shattering climaxes.

MASTERWORKS C: Pre-Concert Chat hosted by music director Alexander Mickelthwate and guests on the Piano Nobile Level at 7:15 pm.

Single tickets are on sale now at the WSO Box Office, 949-3999 or online.

Sponsored by: