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.

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.

“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.”

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.”

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