Orchestras Canada

Last week, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra learned that it had been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall, as one of six North American orchestras performing at the 2014 Spring for Music Festival. The WSO will give its first performance in Carnegie Hall since 1979 on May 8, 2014.

S4M began in 2011, and is designed as a celebration of the quality and creativity of North American orchestras. Orchestras are invited to participate on the basis of the imagination and boldness of their proposed programs, as judged by an expert panel of evaluators. The Orchestre symphonique de Montreal closed out the 2011 festival, and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra will be featured in 2012.

The WSO will perform three works that have also been featured at its annual New Music Festival: 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. And, of course, WSO music director Alexander Mickelthwate will conduct.

For more information, please visit springformusic.com.

Late last week, the Ontario Arts Council announced the winner of the 2012 Oscar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance: Toronto-based cellist Shauna Rolston. The $20,000 award was presented on January 30 at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival, where Ms Rolston performed the world premiere of a new cello concert by WSO resident composer Vincent Ho. Widely recognized as one of Canada’s most unique musical talents, Ms Rolston has commissioned more than 50 new works for cello, performed in many of the world’s major concert halls and was the featured artist at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. In addition to her touring and performance schedule, Shauna is also Professor of Cello and Head of Strings at the University of Toronto and a Visiting Artist for the Music and Sound Programs at The Banff Centre.

January 28 to February 3, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra presents its 21st annual New Music Festival (NMF) – this year focusing on music from Nordic cultures, particularly Iceland.

The festival is a typically intrepid NMF mix, marrying outstanding local and Canadian artists with distinguished international visitors. Here’s a quick rundown:

Local stars: the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, led by Alexander Mickelthwate; the Canadian Mennonite University Chorus; Prairie Voices; WSO principal violist Daniel Scholz (featured in Giya Kancheli’s Styx); Groundswell Ensemble; and composers Vincent Ho, Jim Hiscott, Gordon Fitzell, Michael Matthews, Diana Macintosh, and Jesse Plessis (a student at Brandon University who recently won the Canadian Music Centre’s Emerging Composer award).

Canadian guests: cellist Shauna Rolston (performing a new concerto by Vincent Ho for carbon fibre cello and orchestra), dance troupe La La La Human Steps, composers Alexina Louie and Tim Hecker.

International visitors: violinist Jennifer Koh, composers Kaija Saariaho, Daniel Bjarnason, Nico Muhly, Valgeir Sigurdsson, Gavin Bryars, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Atli Heimir Sveinsson

Venues: Centennial Concert Hall, Westminster United Church, Winnipeg Art Gallery

In line with Glenn Buhr’s long ago comment that “the New Music Festival is better than Christmas: it lasts longer, and it’s way cheaper”, Festival passes are a distinct bargain: $99 (regular) $89 (senior) $59 (student). For more information please visit newmusicfestival.ca.

Earlier this month, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra held its annual general meeting, where board chair Dorothy Dobbie proudly announced that the WSO not only achieved an excess of revenues over expenses of $119,000 for the season, but also eliminated its accumulated deficit.

“Our music director Alexander Mickelthwate, and executive director Trudy Schroeder, along with all their staff and all the musicians of the WSO, have worked tirelessly to achieve this year’s excellent results,” says the WSO Board President and Chair Dorothy Dobbie. “I thank all of the members of the board who gave generously of their time, talents and treasure to preserve and protect the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. They have made excellent progress in our fundraising and friend-raising efforts, both, and their thoughtful guidance has been an inspiration to me.”

Artistic highlights included the 20th annual WSO New Music Festival, curated by Music Director Alexander Mickelthwate and Composer-in-Residence Vincent Ho, and the orchestra’s first performance in Ottawa in almost 35 years as part of the Prairie Scene Festival in May at the National Arts Centre.

“The development of a healthy, artistically vibrant, fully engaged and financially stable orchestra is a complex process, and there is not one easy answer for rebuilding and growth,” says WSO Executive Director Trudy Schroeder. “They say that it takes a village to raise a child, and the same concept holds true for the diverse kinds of support needed to sustain and nurture a robustly healthy symphony orchestra in our community.”

Inspired by his voyage to Canada’s arctic on a scientific research vessel last year, Winnipeg Symphony Resident Composer Vincent Ho has written a 30-minute symphony that will get its world premiere performance at the gala opening of the WSO’s New Music Festival.  The concert, scheduled for February 6, will also include works by Steven Stucky and John Tavener, and will be conducted by WSO music director Alexander Mickelthwate.

Featured performers in the new work include the Nunavut Sivuniksavut Performers, a group of throat singers from various Nunavut communities, and recorded sound-files of the Arctic environment.

Talking about the creative process, Dr. Ho notes:  “In the summer of 2008, I was provided with the opportunity to visit the Arctic region as part of an ‘Artist on Board’ program through the Circumpolar Flaw Lead System Study (CFL).  I was taken on board a state-of-the-art research vessel, the CCGS Amundsen, where I was introduced to studies conducted by many of the world’s leading arctic research scientists. I was also taken to Inuit communities to learn about their culture and how the current state of the environment has impacted their way of life. The goal was to provide me with first-hand experience of the Northern region while gaining a better understanding of climate change (from both the scientific and the cultural perspective)… I found myself developing a spiritual connection with the environment, and for good reason: I was in a vast open area; I was constantly being subjected to the environmental conditions of the region; and I was continually surrounded by nature’s angelic beauty, untouched by utilitarian society. I therefore felt that the music needed to express this spiritual connection that had formed.”

For tickets, visit here.