A Night of Song & Dance

Thursday, October 13 · 8:00 PM

Renowned internationally as a virtuosic pipa (Chinese lute) performer, Wu Man has also carved out a career creating and collaborating on projects that give this ancient Chinese instrument a new role in today’s music world. In addition, Camerata Nova will be performing Andrew Balfour’s Wa Wa Tey Wak (Northern Lights); and rounding out our program is Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas who painted images in sound like no other among his country’s composers. We feature his hypnotic film score La noche de los Mayas, complete with special choreography and performed by Bolero Dance Theatre.

Andrew Balfour: Wa Wa Tey Wak (Northern Lights)
Lou Harrison: Concerto for Pipa with String Orchestra
Silvestre Revueltas: La noche de los Mayas

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Camerata Nova
Wu Man, pipa
Bolero Dance Theatre

Beethoven 5

Saturday, November 12 · 8:00 PM

All-Beethoven means timeless masterpieces! We are proud to present Beethoven’s most famous piece, Symphony No. 5, as well as his Piano Concerto No. 3 in the companion key of C minor. Soloist Michael Kim is the recipient of a multitude of awards, including the grand-prize of the Canadian Music Competition and the CBC National Radio Competition for Young Performers.

Beethoven: Egmont: Overture
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Michael Kim, piano

Mozart & Schubert

Saturday, January 14 · 8:00 PM

A Mozart concerto-times-four and a chance to hear the WSO’s fabulous principal wind players in one of his most delightful compositions! And in this evening of great symphonic music, we continue with Schubert’s mighty Symphony No. 9 – his true orchestral masterpiece!

Mozart: Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major, K. 297b
Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C major (The Great)

Andrew Grams, conductor
Patricia Evans, horn
Micah Heilbrunn, clarinet
Bede Hanley, oboe
Alexandra Eastley, bassoon

Saariaho & Kancheli

Saturday, January 28 · 8:00 PM

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 her monumental work Graal Theatre 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.

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

Saariaho: Graal Théâtre for violin and orchestra

Giya Kancheli : Styx, for viola, choir and orchestra

Parker Plays Brahms 2

Saturday, March 3 · 8:00 pm

The great pianist Vladimir Horowitz, who played and recorded Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with his father-in-law conductor Arturo Toscanini, called it “the greatest music ever written for piano,” and we are honoured to have the exciting Canadian pianist Jon Kimura Parker to perform it. Composer Robert Schumann is a natural pairing with Brahms for it was Schumann who became the most influential person that ever came into the life of Brahms.

Schumann: Symphony No. 1 (Spring 1)
Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Jon Kimura Parker, piano

Brahms Requiem

Saturday, April 7 · 8:00 PM

It was the German Requiem that first won international success for Brahms. Composed in tribute to his late mother, the music traverses a journey from earthly suffering through faith, consolation and ultimately joy. Composed at the time of his famous ‘Sea’ Symphony, Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs begin with an evocation of Easter.

Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs
Brahms: A German Requiem

Alexander Mickelthwate, conductor
Brett Polegato, baritone
Betty Waynne Allison, soprano
Mennonite Festival Chorus, Rudy Schellenberg & William Baerg, co-directors